RNs from the Manhattan VA, union allies to speak out against massive reduction in force plan, attack on federal workers’ union rights

National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU) announced today that registered nurses from the Margaret Cochran Corbin VA Campus (formerly Manhattan VA Medical Center) will hold a rally on Wed., April 9, to demand an end to staffing cuts and attacks on federal workers’ union rights. Last month, VA Secretary Collins confirmed that the administration seeks to cut between 72,000 and 80,000 VA workers. 

VA reductions are happening amidst the presidential administration’s unprecedented attack on federal employees’ protected union rights. NNU, along with labor unions representing federal government workers across the country, sued the Trump administration over the president’s attempt to override federal law on collective bargaining rights through executive order and strip more than 1 million federal government employees of their union rights.

“Our veterans have earned the right to the specialized health care that the VA can provide,” said Joolie Lee, a primary care RN and Army veteran. “Cutting staff down to 2019 levels when we have more veterans to care for is cruel and an extreme disservice to our veterans. We are already short-staffed. More cuts to staff means delays in giving veterans the lifesaving care they need and deserve.”

Who: VA registered nurses, Nancy Hagans, RN and president of NNU and NYSNA, veterans, and labor leaders to speak
What: Rally to demand an end to VA staffing cuts
When: Wed., April 9, 12-1 p.m.
Where: Margaret Cochran Corbin VA Campus (formerly Manhattan VA Medical Center), 423 East 23rd St.

“Union nurses understand that collective bargaining rights are fundamental to carrying out our critical role as patient advocates,” said Estaban Ramierez-Orta, RN in infection control and local NNU director. “Nurses and other employees need union protections to speak out about patient safety issues to ensure the veterans seeking care at the VA get the highest quality of care.”

VA Secretary Doug Collins’s goal to return the VA to 2019 staffing levels would lead to severe short-staffing, as the VA announced in March 2024 that some 400,000 veterans enrolled in the VA from March 2023 to March 2024. The VA is already critically short-staffed. According to an August 2024 Inspector General’s report, 82 percent of VA facilities have severe shortages in nursing. 

Despite the staffing levels, studies highlight the high-quality care that veterans receive through the VA. A study published in 2023 found that veterans who were hospitalized in the VA system had significantly lower 30-day mortality rates for heart failure and stroke, compared with those in non-VA facilities. A 2022 study found that mortality rates are far lower for veterans who are treated in VA emergency rooms than for veterans who are treated in other hospitals. 

Privatization presents an existential threat to the VA and to the health care veterans receive. The VA’s own “Red Team” Executive Roundtable analysis, which reported $30 billion of VA spending on private-sector care in 2023, noted that privatization “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 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.