Tell Congress: Don’t let VA nurses’ voices be silenced!

Nurses are the strongest advocates for patient care — but current law silences the voices of nurses in the VA who care for our nation’s veteran heroes. We know that when RNs have a say in safe staffing levels, optimal personal protective equipment, and other patient safety issues, we can save lives.

Nurses must be granted the same right that other VA employees have, to have a voice in all matters at work. Use the form below to contact your representative and ask them to do everything in their power to help nurses advocate for our veterans and their care, including co-sponsoring the VA Employee Fairness Act!

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Don’t let VA nurses’ voices be silenced!

Nurses are the strongest advocates for patient safety and care. When nurses have a say in ensuring safe staffing levels, optimal personal protective equipment, and other patient safety issues, we can save lives and significantly lower the cost of care.

But Section 7422 of Title 38 of US Code limits the collective bargaining rights of registered nurses in the Veterans Health Administration, effectively depriving them of the ability to formally bargain over staffing, patient care, professional practice, wages, and benefits.

As a female-dominated workforce that makes up the largest share of Title 38 employees, registered nurses are being discriminated against when their full collective bargaining rights are not recognized. The VA must live up to the standard of the “model employer.” By silencing registered nurses and denying them the right to collectively bargain over substantial workplace issues, the VA is failing to meet that standard.

I am calling on you to do everything in your power to help nurses advocate for our veterans and their care by:

Co-sponsoring the VA Employee Fairness Act and urging Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough to support its passage;

Urging Secretary McDonough to immediately  sign the collective bargaining agreement as agreed to by the VA and  NNOC/NNU bargaining teams in 2018; and

Urging Secretary McDonough to fully implement President Biden’s Executive Order 14003, Protecting the Federal Workforce and revoke the USC 7422 decision letter on official time for Title 38 employees.

Nurses must be granted the same right that other VA employees have, to have a voice in all matters at work.

Thank you.