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Season 3, Episode 186

National VA Council petitioned to replace chief negotiator in talks

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Guest Name:


Bill Wetmore

Guest Website:


www.afge.org

Guest Social Media:


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Supportive Documents:


American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) National Veterans Affairs (VA) Council Third Executive Vice President Bill Wetmore joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and discussed the Council’s petition to replace VA Chief Negotiator Kurt Martin in the negotiations for its Master Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The AFGE National VA Council represents more than 283,000 employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

Wetmore called the petition to U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis R. McDonough

an unprecedented move, as the AFGE National VA Council expressly objects to Martin’s inclusion of Executive Orders by former President Donald Trump that eliminated collective bargaining rights in the contract. The Council also objects to Martin’s exclusion of certain Executive Orders signed by President Joe Biden to empower workers, expand collective bargaining rights and make the VA a “model employer,” he added. Wetmore described Martin’s efforts as “union busting.”

He then talked about the goals the Council seeks in the next contract, including better pay, an expansion of collective bargaining rights and improvements to the employees’ award system. 

He also discussed recently passed legislation by the U.S. House of Representatives that bars future presidents from unilaterally stripping federal workers of their Civil Service protections.

Listen to the entire episode to learn more about these topics.


America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.

America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, Alliance for American Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes-IBT, Boyd Watterson, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, Mechanical Insulators Labor Management Cooperative Trust, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, Melwood, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of North America, The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.

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