The House on Thursday voted 219-201 to pass legislation that would expand the collective bargaining rights of medical professionals at the Veterans Affairs Department, allowing them to negotiate over issues related to patient care and clinical competencies.
Physicians, dentists, registered nurses and physician assistants at the VA are hired under Title 38 of the U.S. Code, which prohibits collective bargaining over care and competency issues, as determined by the department’s secretary. During the Trump administration, that exception to collective bargaining was vastly expanded—and labor leaders and Democrats say, exploited—to include issues such as shift scheduling. Then-VA Secretary Robert Wilkie used it to ban Title 38 union officials from accessing official time altogether.
Although the inauguration of President Biden portended a “reset” to labor relations across the federal government, union officials said in August that the VA’s chief negotiator continues to harbor a wide view of Title 38’s collective bargaining exceptions, claiming in negotiations with the American Federation of Government Employees issues like how monetary awards and retention incentives are awarded are nonnegotiable due to the provision.
The VA Employee Fairness Act (H.R. 1948), introduced by House Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Mark Takano, D-Calif., strips the department of its ban on negotiating over issues of patient care and competency for Title 38 employees, effectively giving them...
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