5 min read
This time during last year’s Public Service Recognition Week, many local union leaders were in crisis mode, scrambling to secure personal protective equipment for their coworkers, raise safety concerns with agency management and navigate the still early days of a global pandemic.
Some of those concerns have subsided somewhat today, and local leaders at the American Federation of Government Employees said they see a noticeable difference in the tone from the top.
When National President Everett Kelley speaks with agency leaders now, many mention they have marching orders from the White House to comply with executive orders from the administration and establish better working relationships with federal employee unions, AFGE told reporters Monday.
VA COVID-19 Deaths Top 6,000 as Active Cases Decline Across Department
Two women wearing scrubs and masks exit the Pittsburgh VA Medical Center on Monday, April 27, 2020, during the coronavirus outbreak. (Steve Mellon/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP)
22 Dec 2020
More than 6,100 Department of Veterans Affairs patients have died of COVID-19 since the beginning of the outbreak, up 650 or 10% of all deaths in the past 10 days alone, according to data released Tuesday by the department.
The rising death toll means the VA will see its deadliest month for coronavirus cases to date in December. The department has recorded 1,170 deaths from COVID-19 since Dec. 1, exceeding the record of more than 1,000 last month, with more than a week to go until the end of the year.
By Natalie Alms
The lack of national direction from the Department of Veterans Affairs on issuance of pandemic premium pay has left regional VA networks and local facilities to decide which employees get additional pay for working on the front lines of the pandemic and how much.
Premium pay is an umbrella term for additions to base pay, said Thomas Dargon, staff council at the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents 260,000 VA employees. There isn t a national VA policy guiding its distribution during COVID-19, he said.
At the St. Albans Community Living Center in Queens, N.Y., premium pay hasn t necessarily been given to all employees on the front lines working with COVID-19 patients, said Geddes Scott, the president of AFGE local 1988 in Queens, N.Y., in a press call hosted by AFGE.
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VA workers feel ‘shut out’ of COVID planning December 16, 2020 American Federation of Government Employees officials said that Veterans Affairs facilities have kept them out of the decision making process to address COVID-19. (John Minchillo/AP) Employees across various Department of Veterans Affairs facilities are being kept out of the loop as their leaders make plans to address COVID-19 needs and staffing challenges, American Federation of Government Employees officials said on a Dec. 16 press call. “The leadership keeps the union out of all decisions, no pre-decisional [consultation] at all. We don’t know how many masks we have; we do not know the amount of COVID [positive] employees running around,” said Regina Smith, president of AFGE Local 424 at the Baltimore VAMC.