Ranking Member Takano Reintroduces Bill to Provide Full Collective Bargaining Rights to VA Healthcare Employees

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Ranking Member Mark Takano (CA-39) reintroduced the VA Employees Fairness Act with 74 original co-sponsors. This bill brings parity to the federal workforce by ensuring full collective bargaining rights for Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Title 38 healthcare professionals, including registered nurses, physicians, dentists, optometrists, chiropractors, and physician assistants. 

"VA healthcare employees work tirelessly to provide high-quality care to our nation's veterans and their families. The VA Employee Fairness Act would grant these indispensable workers the collective bargaining rights they deserve and have been fighting for, while improving VA employee retention. Passing this bill is the right thing to do. This legislation is more critical than ever, given the Administration's efforts to fire VA employees and make cuts that continue to diminish VA employee morale," said Ranking Member Takano.

With very limited collective bargaining rights, Title 38 healthcare clinicians work side by side with psychologists, pharmacists, and other clinicians with full bargaining rights under Title 5. This bill will allow Title 38 healthcare professionals to have the same rights, not more, to negotiate over routine workplace issues such as scheduling and errors in pay that are exercised every day by other VA clinicians and federal employees everywhere. Guaranteeing VA healthcare providers the same bargaining rights as other providers will help improve workplace conditions, promote employee retention, and ultimately benefit our nation’s veterans.

The VA Employee Fairness Act is co-led by combat veteranand U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL).

“Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s indiscriminate mass layoffs and funding cuts have hollowed out our VA workforce—needlessly hurting nurses, physicians and Veterans Crisis Line workers without thinking twice about the harmful impact on our Veterans,” said Senator Duckworth. “Whether VA Secretary Collins continues to weaken the Veterans Crisis Line program—or follows through on his promise to fix his mistake of firing of Veterans Crisis Line staff—the bottom line is this: Secretary Collins should transparently report VCL personnel and performance data to Congress. The American people deserve to judge for themselves whether Secretary Collins is actually fulfilling his claims to restore VCL resources—and Congress must be able to hold the Trump Administration accountable if it fails to do so. This Administration cannot continue to slash and burn the VA in the dark. As DOGE cuts continue, it’s as urgent as ever that Congress empowers VA health care professionals with the same bargaining rights and protections as other federal employees so they can speak out freely against any problems or challenges they’re enduring at this critical time for the VA.”

This bill is endorsed by National Nurses United (NNU), the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), National Association of Government Employees (NAGE), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), VoteVets, and Union Veterans Council of AFL-CIO.

“When VA health care professionals have a voice on the job, they use it to advocate for veterans,” said AFSCME President Lee Saunders. “But today, anti-union billionaires in the administration want to silence VA workers and revoke their freedom to collectively bargain. That means taking away their ability to negotiate for improvements to patient care; it means silencing many veterans’ strongest advocates. Veterans need VA workers, and VA workers need the VA Employee Fairness Act to strengthen their freedom to negotiate and protect their patients. We urge Congress to pass this critical legislation from Rep. Takano.”

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