LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
Contracting Out of VA Jobs
VA is undertaking a growing number of direct conversions of FTEs to contract jobs, particularly in the wage grade sector. Housekeeping, laundry, grounds keeping, and IT are the most common areas being targeted. In response to multiple reports that cemetery groundskeeper jobs were being contracted out, we wrote to and met with the head of VA cemeteries. We were pleased to receive his commitment to hiring veterans in-house to the greatest extent possible. We have also been successful in slowing or stopping outsourcing in a number of medical facilities around the country by providing locals with model letters that they can use to inform management that their outsourcing policies are violating federal law.
We have also had a significant victory through the FY 2008 appropriations process. At AFGE's request, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) offered an amendment to the Military Construction - VA Appropriations bill during floor consideration which would block VA from engaging in direct conversions of VA jobs (essentially restating the VA's obligation to comply with government-wide competition rules with language that is VA-specific.) The amendment passed by a resounding vote of 52-39. The House and Senate agreed to keep that language in the conference bill, and to include additional language regarding the illegality of direct conversions in the conference report. To assist our lobbying efforts, we circulated to the Hill a list of thirty field reports of illegal outsourcing. By restating VA's obligation to comply with government-wide competition rules, this appropriations language will serve as a valuable tool for deterring more conversions and increased Congressional oversight.
Funding
After years of under funding on both the health care and benefits sides of the VA budget, the VA budget for the next fiscal year finally aligns with the recommendations of the veterans' Independent Budget - an annual set of recommendations made to Congress and the White House by four national veterans' organizations. AFGE is a long time supporter of the Independent Budget.
The House and Senate agreed in conference to increase the VA's health care budget by $6.7 and hire at least 1,100 claims processors. This comes on the heels of $1.8 billion in VA health care supplemental funding for FY 2007. Although the VA is currently operating on a continuing resolution, the VA appropriations bill to likely to be voted into law in the near future.
AFGE continue to support assured funding legislation to put VA health care on the mandatory side of the budget process, using a systematic funding methodology based the number of enrollees and current cost of health care. NST Cox testified at a July 25th Senate hearing on the adverse impact of an unpredictable, discretionary funding process on the VA health care workforce.
Bargaining Rights of VA Health Care Professionals
In 1991, Congress amended Title 38 to provide medical professionals who work at VA facilities with collective bargaining rights. Under 38 USC §7422, physicians, dentists, RNs, physicians assistants and other covered professionals can negotiate, file grievances and arbitrate disputes over working conditions except "any matter or question concerning or arising out of": professional conduct or competence (defined as direct patient care or clinical competence); peer review; or the establishment, determination, or adjustment of employee compensation.
Management has used these exceptions in recent years to block grievances of virtually every workplace dispute over pay, scheduling, assignments, promotion, information requests, etc. This hurts morale and recruitment and retention, and has allowed the VA to waste precious health care dollars through stonewalling and delay. The Department is also using this loophole in the law to engage in employment discrimination. A series of bad court decisions on this provision of the law have led AFGE to conclude that legislation was the only feasible solution.
This fall, Bob Filner, Chairman of the House VA Committee introduced legislation (HR 4089) to restore these bargaining rights by eliminating the ambiguous exemption language in the statute. He was joined by two Republican co-sponsors who have strong relationships with their AFGE locals: Rep. Tim Murphy (PA) and Rep. Steve LaTourette (Ohio). We are now working with the other VA health care professional unions to secure more co-sponsors.
Health Care Workforce Recruitment and Retention
On October 18th, NST Cox testified before the House VA Committee Subcommittee on Health regarding the impact of VA personnel policies on its ability to recruit and retain physicians, RNs and other VA health care professionals covered by pure Title 38 (e.g. RNs, physicians and, physicians assistants), hybrid Title 38s (e.g. LPNs, Pts, pharmacists) and Title 5 (e.g. nursing assistants). His testimony covered a wide range of issues, including noncompetitive pay and schedules, flawed educational loan programs, lack of bargaining rights, magnet hospitals (as a poor recruitment/retention tool), limited retirement benefits and lack of permanent status for part-time nurses.
Physician Workforce Issues
Since the law to improve market and performance pay for physicians and dentists has taken effect, management has attempted to circumvent Congressional intent by setting market pay at each facility by secretive, biased processes and by denying performance pay to many rank and file physicians regardless of their competence. We have repeatedly brought this to the attention of lawmakers and hope that this will be the subject of a VA healthcare workforce hearing. In the interim, AFGE is considering legal action to challenge cases where facilities refused to comply with the statutory requirement to institute a performance pay system or make performance pay awards. We have also brought to the attention of the House and Senate VA Committee the fact that the VA has failed to comply with the statutory requirement to report to Congress by this fall on how effective the law has been in recruitment and retention and the VA's ability to reduce its reliance on costly contract care.
Nurse Workforce Issues
In addition to the tremendous impact that the "7422" bargaining rights problem has had on the ability of nurses to be treated fairly, we have a growing list of other nurse legislative fixes that we have presented to the Senate VA Committee at their request. Senator Mikulski has also expressed interest in addressing some of the following issues: unequal pay and rights for part-time nurses, pay caps for LPNs and nurse anesthetists, stronger nurse overtime laws, extension of compressed work schedules to LPNs and NAs, stronger rights to premium pay.
In addition, we are working with Cong. Corrine Brown (FL) on improving employment opportunities for VA nurses with two-year degrees. We have also asked Senator Patty Murray (WA) to look into the Department's policies and resources for patient lifting equipment.
VA Benefits
We participated in a House VA Committee Roundtable earlier this year where we spoke on ways to address the skyrocketing claims backlog through recommendations for better training, workforce succession planning, and better career ladders for veterans' service representatives and a scientific study to measure the staffing needs to adequately and timely process claims. In addition, at our request, the House VA Committee has asked GAO to investigate problems in the current VBA training program. We have also alerted Congress to current problems with VBA resource allocation, e.g. lower performing offices get fewer new FTEs than higher performing offices.
Oversight
The VA recently implemented Project HERO, a nonlegislative initiative use contractors to oversee VA contract medical care. We joined the veterans' community in expressing our great concern that this will lead to a vast increase in the use of contract medical care. We have reached out to members of Congress whose districts are in the four HERO pilot project areas to encourage them to carefully examine the cost and impact of HERO activities. We have also reached out to members of the Senate Military Construction-VA Appropriations Committee Efforts to increase oversight on spending on contracting and related activities such as Business Process Reengineering of laundry and food service jobs and other wage grade jobs in VA medical facilities. We are hoping to include oversight language in the FY 2009 appropriations bill. We alerted House oversight committee staff on the VA Committee about problems at the joint DOD-VA facility in N. Chicago. In addition, AFGE pointed out the inequity of rank and file bonuses when the issue of large VA management bonuses came to light. AFGE has provided Congress with many reports of VA manipulation of patient wait list data that understates the funding and staffing shortages at the VA. A new Inspector General report on distorted wait list data at the VA echoed these concerns. AFGE also plans to request data on the budget and staffing levels of Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISNs) to highlight the wasteful and unnecessary expansion of these entities at the expense of nurse staffing and other direct patient care needs.
Mental Health
AFGE recently submitted its views on a bill to increase contract mental health care for recent veterans. Our opposition to this proposal, and the sharing of numerous reports from AFGE members who are mental health clinicians at VA facilities played a key role in the Senate VA Committee's decision to support a much better proposal with very limited reliance on community mental health centers.
Veterans Preference
AFGE recently testified at a hearing of the House VA Committee Economic Opportunity Subcommittee regarding veterans' preference. We alerted Subcommittee members to the detrimental impact of outsourcing, OPM direct-hire authority, and DOD and DHS personnel rules on veterans' employment. In addition, we urged them to expand veterans' preference rules to cover transfers and promotions, and to extend the same statutory protections to VA employees under Title 38. The importance of better data collection on veterans' employment and increased training of selecting officials was also noted. In addition, AFGE urged Congress to address the adverse impact of new fitness requirements for DOD Civilian Police and Guards, many of whom were hired under special hiring authorities designed to increase veterans hiring in DOD. In addition, we prepared talking points for an AFGE internal work group addressing the DOD police/security guard fitness issue.
Marilyn Park, Legislative Representative American Federation of Government Employees Legislation and Political Action Department 80 F Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 202-639-6456 (office) 202-351-9940 (cell) 202-639-6492 (fax) Email: mpark@afge.org |
Alma L. Lee
