AFGE Rallies for Disabled Vets & Other VHA Workers

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)In the ongoing assault on public sector workers, federal employees have become a regular target of Republican leaders. Medical center directors at the Veterans Health Administration have been ordered to impose downgrades across the board, sometimes without speaking to any of the impacted employees, who are disproportionately veterans, disabled veterans, women, and minorities. In response, AFGE’s National Veterans Affairs Council has organized a major rally today at Lafayette Square, beginning at 11:30a. “Right-wing lawmakers continue to pay for new initiatives by slashing pay, pensions, and the critical services workers provide for low- and middle-income Americans, rather than finding new solutions for increasing revenues,” says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. Today’s demo begins at the Department of Veterans Affairs at 810 Vermont Ave NW (between H & I), and then marches into Lafayette Square for the rally. “Public employees aren’t just standing up for themselves,” says Metro Council President Jos Williams, “they’re also standing up for the public they serve; they’re standing up for you and me, so let’s stand with them!”