VA Rolls Back Trump-era Workforce Policies

VA Rolls Back Trump-era Workforce Policies

The Veterans Affairs Department last week announced that it would move to implement President Biden’s executive order rescinding Trump-era workforce policies and aimed at restoring more collaborative labor-management relations.


Biden’s executive order, issued on Jan. 22, rescinded former President Trump’s trio of executive orders aimed at making it easier to fire federal workers and reducing the role of unions in federal workplaces. Those orders restricted the scope of topics that agencies could negotiate with unions over, shortened the timeframe of those negotiations, severely restricted union employees’ access to official time and cut unions off from using free agency office space and office supplies like computers and email services.


Following guidance from the Office of Personnel Management, Ophelia Vicks, acting executive director of the VA’s Office of Labor-Management Relations, sent the American Federation of Government Employees a letter outlining the steps the department is taking to unwind those Trump-era policies. The letter confirms that the department recognizes its 2011 contract with the union as the “current agreement in effect” and restores unions’ access to official time and office space as it was prior to Trump’s orders.


“VA will no longer charge rent for union office space,” Vicks wrote. “Local facilities shall coordinate with the unions to either restore the same space they had or provide comparable space if they have repurposed the union’s offices for patient care and other mission-related needs.”


Thomas Dargon, supervisory attorney with AFGE’s National VA Council, said the letter marks a “step in the right direction.” He highlighted the importance of granting union officials access to facilities so that employees can easily and quickly report issues as ..

Support the originator by clicking the read the rest link below.