ANN ARBOR, MI — Beth Andersen stood in the sun Wednesday for veterans, democracy and the U.S. Constitution.
The child of World War II veterans, Andersen is critical of President Donald Trump’s administration, citing the president’s attacks on veterans’ First Amendment rights.
“I can’t stand to see what is happening in this country right now with our democracy,” said Andersen, a retired librarian. “Now they’re trying to make illegal protest and the right to freedom of speech, which is the First Amendment.”
Andersen joined about 30 union organizers Sept. 17 in front of the Lt. Col. Charles S. Kettles VA Medical Center on Fuller Road in Ann Arbor to protest Trump’s cuts to veterans workers’ union rights.
Organized by the American Federation of Government Employees Local 2092, which represents U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs workers in Ann Arbor, the protest in front of the VA site drew people passionate about the fair treatment of veterans and VA workers.
“Without bargaining rights, we believe veterans’ lives are at jeopardy,” Robert Malosh, 55, president of Ann Arbor’s government employees union chapter, said.
Demonstrators distributed pamphlets encouraging people to call Congress to pass the Protect America’s Workforce Act. The bill, sponsored by U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, would revoke a Trump executive order, issued in March, removing collective bargaining rights for workers at the VA and other federal agencies to “enhance the national security of the United States.”
The bill was referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and is awaiting release and a committee vote.
In February, the VA announced the termination of more than 1,000 non-bargaining unit probationary employees amid federal cuts to diversity, equity and inclusion programs and health care services.
About 40 employees in VISN 10, a network of medical centers and outpatient clinics serving veterans in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, Ohio, Indiana and northern Kentucky, were affected by the first round of cuts on Feb. 13.
Several were terminated in Ann Arbor, employees previously told MLive/The Ann Arbor News.
Christopher Arbino, acting communications chief for VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, defended the administration’s actions. He said the VA is prioritizing veterans under Trump and Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins, noting the VA has opened 17 health care clinics across the country since Jan. 20, offered veterans close to one million medical appointments outside normal operating hours and is investing $800 million in department infrastructure improvements, among other triumphs.
Malosh, a veteran, said he receives his health care from the VA, a reason why he advocates for veterans.
“One of the things that taking bargaining rights away from employees is when we identify an issue that affects our working conditions, it’s always inhibiting our ability to provide top notch care,” Malosh explained.
He defined a union as “a democracy in the workplace,” which allows workers to “get to voice the concerns you have.”
Sue Reismann, 66, attended Wednesday’s protest to support her son-in-law, who is a veteran.
“He’s really given his all for his country and veterans do not deserve to have any benefits taken away nor reductions in their health care at veterans’ administration hospitals,” said Reismann, a former administrative assistant at the University of Michigan Department of Public Health. “They deserve everything that we can give to them.”
She said Trump is “funneling a lot of the money up to the top so that people who are in the lower ranks of society are getting less, and it’s not right.”
Jason Anderson, national vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees District 7, which covers Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, said veteran’s union protections relate to both labor and democracy.
“This is not just a labor issue, it’s a fight for the future of democracy and for the very principles upon which this country was built,” Anderson said at the event. “History tells us that every gain working people have ever made was won because workers refused to give up.”
He pushed for Congress to pass the Protect America’s Workforce Act so that VA employees and other federal workers can receive bargaining rights under a union.
“Through every attack, every crackdown, every law meant to silence us, workers have organized, survived and won and we will again,” Anderson said.
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