The National Representative for the American Federation of Government Employees National VA Council, Colin Barrett, appeared on the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and discussed the union’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement with the VA and the six-year journey to earn the contract.
Barrett has spent 14 years in the VA, all as a member of the AFGE. He joined the VA after college and worked his way up to the National VA Council as a National Representative. The job market was not ideal when Barrett came out of college, so he sought the security of a federal job. While the job is not easy, he said the mission of the VA makes the harder days worth the struggle.
In 2017, the master contract for the National VA Council was opened by the Trump administration. They wanted to negotiate the entirety of the 300-plus page contract. After negotiating for 66 percent of the next year, they had yet to make it halfway through the contract, said Anderson It was at this point in 2019 that the employer asked to stop negotiations and have the Federal Services Impasses Panel (FSIP) step in, which resulted in a 2020 decision to impose the VA’s anti-worker proposal.
The AFGE refused to ratify the FSIP contract and entered into federal mediation until President Biden was elected. In 2021, Anderson explained a global settlement reset the previous negotiations, and both parties returned to the negotiating table in March 2022. As the talks took place, the AFGE was twice forced to file NLRB charges for bad-faith negotiations, which Barrett outlines more in the interview. Finally, in recent weeks, the two sides agreed to a new CBA, and AFGE members have since ratified the new contract.
To learn more about the new contract for AFGE VA workers, press play.