For the largest group of federal government employees – nurses who are taking care of the veterans through the Veterans Affairs Department. Offer a delayed resignation And its last date of Thursday comes between the shortage of staff, which is considered to be more than half of all facilities.
Unions are discouraging nurses from accepting the offer, and leaders say an outbreak will directly and immediately affect the care of its 9.1 million registered veterans.
“We are already facing a staff crisis in our hospitals,” said Nurse Irma West Moreland, head of the Veterans Affairs Unit for national nurses. “We can’t afford to lose more staff.”
According to the Associated Press Analysis of personnel data, the federal government’s largest employer-to-Nurses for the VA includes the largest only group of federal workers, the number is more than 100,000 and all the full-time time 5 % of the permanent employees are calculated.
Union official Mary Jane Burke said she had called nurses and other VA workers from across the country. At first, he said, some people thought that the purchase plan looks attractive, but other ideas are established.
“In fact, I think people were like that, ‘I’m out of here’ since more information came from US Office of Personal ManagementHe started to raise his voice “A little bit of truth and people hesitated.”
AP analysis suggests that VA nurses are a little older than the rest of the workforce, of which 16.2 % of the nurses aged 55 and old PK analysis shows.
Burke said some workers who are eligible for retirement have been “fencing” about the offer, which promises to pay during September 30, though there are extensive concerns about the legal status of the program.
The nurses were confused first, and now they are angry, West Morrland said.
He said that government communication on this offer shows that the nurses are not fruitful, and that they have been talked about. Follow -up question and answer email from the Office of Personal Management encouraged federal employees to find jobs in the private sector.
“More and more American prosperity is encouraging people to move people from low productivity jobs to high productive jobs in the private sector,” said Email.
Burke has also asked workers about other executive orders.
“I can tell you here in Indiana and other places, people are really scared about chaos, chaos, the way they feel around them,” Burke said.
He said that the leadership of the department has also expressed concern over the potential impact on Nursing in the VA. More than 80 % of facilities are experiencing severe shortage of nursing, According to a report of 2024 From the Inspector General’s VA office.
“They are also scared,” he said. “They know that they have to follow the president’s orders, per second, but then you listen to this warning, like, ‘hey, if five nurses take time to shopping, we have no one else.’ This is in the dialogue of the conversation.
VA did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Burke said he was more worried than the federal manpower.
“I know it will look different,” he said. “Many people are pressured because they feel like their mission is a bit different.”
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Associated Press Data journalist Mary Catherine Wildem, Heartford, Connecticut, participated in the report. Johnson reported to Washington State. Whit reported from Maryland’s Annapolis.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department has the support of the Science and Educational Media Group of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is fully responsible for all content.
