Tucson, AZ – On Veterans Day, the progressive veterans’ organizations Common Defense, VetsFWD, and Veterans for Peace Local 13 will join with the Tucson Anti War Committee for a rally against Trump’s missile attacks and U.S. threats to go to war with Venezuela.

The rally will be from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. outside the entrance of the Davis-Monthan Air Force base. This base is home to the Air Force portion of U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM). SOUTHCOM claims that its “Area of Responsibility” is the whole of the Caribbean, the southern half of Central American and all of South America. Since Trump moved U.S. military ships, aircraft and troops off the coast of Venezuela, there have been 16 U.S. missile attacks on fishing boats with 70-plus people dead. As the USS Ford aircraft carrier moves to threaten Venezuela, the rally will highlight veterans’ opposition to another U.S. war for oil and empire.

No U.S. war on Venezuela!

Stop Trump’s attacks on boats and fishermen!

No U.S. war for oil and gold!

#TucsonAZ #AZ #AntiWarMovement #Veterans #Venezuela

Milwaukee, WI – A March 7 protest outside the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Milwaukee brought out over 300 VA employees and supporters to protest attacks on the VA workforce by billionaires Trump and Musk. It was the largest protest at the site in memory.

Ten probationary employees at the Milwaukee VA have been fired without cause since Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” began its scorched earth campaign against unionized federal workers. Government memos suggest that over 80,000 VA employees could lose their jobs if Trump and Musk’s plans are not stopped.

“We are not the billionaires. We’re the people who’ve had to earn a paycheck our whole life,” said Pam Fendt, president of the Milwaukee Area Labor Council, “we know that the end goal of the administration is to cut and then privatize for their own self-enrichment. And we know that privatization doesn’t lead to lower costs or better service.”

“None of us are disposable, the VA’s mission could not be achieved without each and every one of us,” said Monica Luecking-David, a nurse at the Milwaukee VA and chapter president of the Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals Local 5000. “We will lose our VA to the private sector, and your veterans’ healthcare will be administered by insurance companies,” warned Luecking-David, who helped organize the rally.

The bi-partisan MISSION Act signed into law by Trump in 2018 paved the way for the privatization of VA healthcare. The law created a framework to outsource veteran’s healthcare to private companies under certain conditions, such as for long wait times for appointments. If not stopped, the huge staffing cuts sought by Trump and Musk would result in reduction in services and long wait times, forcing veterans to seek healthcare from private providers. The largest healthcare companies in the U.S lobbied vigorously in support of the MISSION Act because they stand to profit from lucrative government contracts to replace VA services.

Tens of thousands of government workers are already out of a job, and many more will be harmed if Trump’s schemes aren’t stopped. It is vital that all organized labor rally in the support of the federal workers’ unions.

“We all need to come together to fight this reduction in force, the same way we do with every other fight, with tireless dedication to a righteous cause,” nurse Monica Luecking-David said.

#MilwaukeeWI #WI #Labor #Veterans #VA #FederalWorkers #Feature

Chicago, IL – Health care workers and veterans have been protesting at VA Hospitals across the country as President Donald Trump and his multibillionaire sidekick Elon Musk attempt to gut healthcare for veterans. Union members who work at VA Hospitals have been in the forefront of the fight to save veteran benefits.

VA hospitals were amongst the hardest hit by the firing of tens of thousands of federal workers. “We love our veterans,” Aimee Potter of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) told a February 26 rally outside the Jesse Brown VA Hospital in Chicago. “We are here to support them.”

U.S. military veterans have historically been given preference in hiring at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Despite this, Trump has already fired an estimated 6000 veterans in his first weeks in office. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs recently announced plans to cut 80,000 more jobs. Many of these jobs are held by veterans.

Pat Kearns is a registered nurse at the Iowa City VA and president of AFGE Local 2547. Appearing on the Fight Back! Radio podcast, Kearns noted, “Our patients are pretty fiercely loyal to us. Everybody at least has to give lip service, even in the Republican Party, to the fact that veterans deserve healthcare. And so I think it's death by a thousand cuts rather than one firing of half the employees in one fell swoop. The VA's been underfunded for a number of years. You don't have to kick it very hard to tip it.”

Workers and unions are not taking this lying down. Unions, including AFGE, have taken the Trump administration to court to block these illegal terminations. So far, many of the unions’ efforts have been successful.

Encouraged by the AFL-CIO, workers, including veterans, have been holding hearings to tell their stories. The Chicago Federation of Labor and the Jobs with Justice Workers Rights Board held such a hearing in Chicago, March 10, where VA social worker Denise Mercherson testified, ”The VA is the biggest employer of social workers in the country. We have 9.1 million veterans in the VA system. Are you aware of the number of homeless veterans? But we have closed the gap due not only to the social workers, but the VA healthcare system.”

The DOGE attack on the federal work force puts veterans, who make up 30% of the federal workforce serving in every department, directly in the crosshairs. But it is more than an attack on veterans, it is an attack on the working class.

Business and government’s all-out attack on unions over the last 50 years has reduced union membership in the private sector to 6.7% of the workforce. This is compared to a total union membership of 35% of the workforce in 1954. Currently half of all union members are in the public sector. Rather than rebuild worker power, Trump seeks to destroy it through attacks on the public sector workers and unions.

This was evident to Aimee Potter at the rally as she told the crowd, “We need solidarity and collective action. Democracy as we once knew it is no longer!”

Workers across the country will be joining immigrants and others under attack to march for justice on May Day, International Workers Day.

Richard Berg is the host of the Fight Back! Radio podcast. The current episode features President Pat Kearns of AFGE Local 2547

#ChicagoIL #IL #Labor #FederalWorkers #AFGE #Trump #Layoffs #Veterans #VA

Grand Rapids, MI – Giving new meaning to ‘soldiers of solidarity,’ U.S. veterans joined fired health care workers to rally in front of the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans on the afternoon of July 1. The action, involving nearly 100 people, exposed Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s privatization schemes, in this case leading to neglect and abuse of veterans. Longtime resident care aides employed by the state of Michigan were fired, and their jobs privatized by the non-union J2S Group, a for-profit company that refuses to speak on the matter.

AFSCME Local 261 President Mark Williams called for the protest saying, “Experienced aides were tossed aside on a flimsy cost saving argument. Veterans deserve proper care!”

Ed Helwig is a retired Army veteran E8, and member of both the Disabled Army Veterans and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Helwig was out protesting in full Vietnam era uniform, including a radio pack. He said, “I am concerned about the abuse and neglect of veterans inside the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans, including 50 women vets from the Vietnam era. There are also Korea and World War II veterans.”

Helwig continued, “Veterans testified at the Michigan State Civil Service Commission a few months ago and told shocking stories. Apparently a trainee from the private company was going to physically lift a vet from a wheel chair to a bed without a Hoyer lift, so the trainer took him out of the room to get the lift and when they came back, the veteran had fallen out of the wheelchair and was lying on the floor with a broken nose and back pains.”

Veterans and fired union workers say military patients are endangered by low staffing levels and poor training that leads to substandard care under the J2S Group. The privatized workers are paid $10 an hour – less than half the pay and benefits the unionized health care workers had. J2S is struggling to fill full-time positions and retain employees.

Megan Terry and Gail Klukos are resident care aides who worked at the Grand Rapids Home for more than nine and ten years respectively. They were fired on March 12, when the private contract workers they were told were “filling in” for vacations and sick days during the past year replaced the 172 union workers. The women said, “Two years ago they stopped admitting to our 750-patient facility and there are 450 veterans now. It is unbelievable, but the entire top floor is empty. Even still, there are still not enough workers to cover weekend shifts and some workers are being forced to take three shifts in a row. That is a violation.”

Terry explained, “As state employees our training involved two weeks of classroom and two weeks of shadowing experienced resident care aides. The privates get eight hours and are sent on their way not knowing what they are doing.”

Asked, “What do you do now?” Terry replied she has a new job in Kalamazoo and Klukos says she is still looking. Klukos said, “I would love to come back and work here again. We still come to visit our patients. We love these guys. Both of us come once a week.”

Fired Veterans Home health care worker and AFSCME union member Michael Booker explained, “The veterans we care for are not just ‘patients’ but also fathers, brothers, sisters, friends and family. My own father spent the last two years of his life here before he died. I saw and cared for my Dad every day. I was lucky not to be drafted to go to Vietnam and I did not want to go, but coming from a military family I felt it was important to take care of those veterans who were forced to go.”

Local African American leader and Vietnam era veteran Paul Mayhue pointed out, “Governor Snyder can fix this terrible situation with an executive order and make it right. All we need is the word from the Nerd! Things are heading in the wrong direction.”

#GrandRapidsMI #Healthcare #AFSCME #veterans #GovernorRickSnyder #workersRights #tradeUnion

St. Paul, MN – On September 1, the opening day of the Republican National Convention, 30,000 people rallied at the Minnesota State Capitol and marched against the war. It was the largest anti-war march in the U.S. this year.

The four main themes of the march were U.S. out of Iraq now; money for human needs, not for war; say no to the Republican agenda; and demand peace, justice and equality.

The march was led off by large contingents of veterans, immigrants, labor, poor people, Somalis, Palestinians, and students.

#StPaulMN #AntiwarMovement #StudentMovement #Labor #Iraq #RepublicanNationalConvention2008 #ChicanoLatino #moneyForHumanNeedsNotForWar #USOutOfIraqNow #veterans #Palestinians