Major Victory: AFGE, VA Agree to Roll Over Largest Union Contract in Government

[Omaha Steve]

https://www.afge.org/article/major-victory-afge-va-agree-to-roll-over-largest-union-contract-in-government/

April 10, 2023

AFGE’s National VA Council and the Department of Veterans Affairs have reached a tentative agreement that defends critical protections for VA workers while modernizing the hiring process.

The tentative agreement includes a revised version of Article 23 (Title 5 Merit Promotion) and a rollover of the remainder of our 2011 Master Agreement, the largest union contract in the federal government. With the revised Article 23, we hope these improvements will help address the chronic staffing shortages that NVAC members have been sounding the alarm on for decades.

This agreement allows us to save existing health and safety protections, disciplinary procedures, performance plans, investigation rights, official time for union reps, bargaining rights, fair overtime procedures, transparent telework rights, upward mobility, and career advancement. The negotiating team also fought hard to secure revisions to Article 23 that will modernize and improve the VA’s hiring procedures for the benefit of VA workers and the veterans we serve.

“Together, with the help of thousands of members, we fought through years of bad-faith bargaining under the Trump Administration, held over 50 local rallies, gathered +5,700 petition signatures, organized countless #RedforFeds Wednesdays, and withstood a barrage of attacks to weaken worker protections from the VA – and now we’re proud to announce that NVAC has reached a tentative agreement with VA that delivers the strong union contract we’ve all been fighting for,” said NVAC President Alma Lee.

FULL story at link above.

[Flip3]

1. Bravo!

My old union (I'm retired now).

[RussBLib]

2. Welcome to DU!