RNs and allies at Durham VA to protest massive reduction-in-force plans

Registered nurses at Durham VA Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, will hold a rally on Wednesday, April 2, to protest devastating cuts to VA staffing and to stand up for their patients, veterans who deserve the best care, announced National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU) today. This action is happening amidst an unprecedented attack on federal employees’ protected union rights by the current administration, which NNU nurses strongly oppose.

The VA secretary has confirmed what was first reported in a leaked memo, that the administration is looking to cut between 72,000 to 80,000 workers from the VA. More cuts would be catastrophic for patient care at the VA, which is already chronically short-staffed. Due to cuts to dietary staff, some nurses are delivering meal trays when they should be providing patient care. Additionally, nurses cannot easily access critical supplies and equipment because of cuts to stockroom staff. Massive cuts to staff would deeply affect the quality of patient care and result in longer wait times for veterans, closure of VA facilities, and more.

“It is clear to me and my coworkers that there is an attempted dismantling of the VA underway, and we won’t stand for it,” said Ann Marie Patterson-Powell, RN in the acute care unit. “Durham VA nurses and nurses around the country will unite to defend our VA and the specialized, veteran-centric medical services that we provide for veterans.”

Who:  RNs at Durham VA Medical Center
What: Rally to Save the VA
When: Wednesday, April 2, 3–4 p.m.
Where: Durham VA Medical Center, 508 Fulton St., Durham, North Carolina 27705

VA Secretary Doug Collins has said the goal of the cuts is to return the VA to 2019 staffing levels. But this goal is far below well-documented staffing needs, as the VA announced last March that some 400,000 veterans enrolled in the VA in the preceding year alone. Nurses know that staffing levels for the VA must increase along with the growth of the eligible veteran population. According to an August 2024 Inspector General’s report, 82 percent of VA facilities have severe shortages in nursing.

“This administration says they care about veterans, but as a veteran, I see this as a full-frontal attack on veterans and those I served with,” said Mildred Manning Joy, RN in the vascular specialty clinic. “Twenty-five percent of the workers they want to fire are veterans. Everything we do is in service to the VA’s mission to provide the best possible care to veterans. Cuts to the VA are unconscionable.”

Nurses understand the VA is currently facing an existential threat as a result of the private sector siphoning off billions of dollars from the VA, and the department is now cutting services and refusing to hire much-needed staff.

This privatization of veteran care was unleashed by the passage of the 2014 Choice Act and the 2018 MISSION Act. The VA’s own “Red Team” Executive Roundtable analysis reported the cost of care to the private sector rose to $30 billion in fiscal year 2023. The authors noted the cost of this private sector care “threaten[s] to materially erode the VA’s direct care system and create a potential unintended consequence of eliminating choice for the millions of Veterans who prefer to use the VHA direct care system for all or part of their medical care needs.”

NNOC/NNU represents more than 1,000 registered nurses at the Durham VA Medical Center. The union represents more than 15,000 registered nurses at 23 VHA facilities across the country, many of whom are also veterans.

National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States with more than 225,000 members nationwide. NNU affiliates include California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, DC Nurses Association, Michigan Nurses Association, Minnesota Nurses Association, and New York State Nurses Association.