The nation's largest union of registered nurses provided this statement in response to the announcement to terminate collective bargaining agreements for many VA bargaining-unit employees, including some 16,000 nurses represented by National Nurses United at 23 facilities. 

President Trump continues waging class warfare against working people of America.

Today’s announcement to terminate our union contract, along with the contracts of our union siblings, including American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO (AFGE); National Association of Government Employees (NAGE); National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE); National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU); and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is an attack on those who dedicate their lives in the service of others.  

This is just the latest salvo in the battle to break the spirit of working people in this country. But we will not be broken. We will continue to fight for and assert our constitutionally guaranteed collective bargaining rights and to speak freely against policies that hurt veterans and the public. That is our duty as nurses, and we will continue to be fierce advocates for our patients. This is in spite of Trump’s administration unprecedented, outrageous, and irresponsible attacks.

NNU recognizes this effort to erase our collective bargaining agreements is a blatant attempt to bust our unions and to silence the nurses and workers who are standing on the frontlines to protect our country’s fundamental institutions. 

We know this administration is hellbent on silencing nurses and other VA workers to steamroll the destruction of the VA. This administration is marching toward the privatization of veteran care so they can move billions of taxpayer money out of the VA system, which is proven to provide excellent veteran-centric care, and into the coffers of private health care corporations run by billionaires.

This president has made it clear he has no respect for the Constitution, but we believe strongly that our right to join together to collectively bargain is constitutionally protected. It cannot be swept away through an overreach of an executive order based on spurious claims.

We will continue to pursue legal action with our fellow unions in the case filed on April 3 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, challenging President Trump’s March 27 executive order. His executive order removed collective bargaining rights of nearly a million federal workers. The unions argue the executive order was an unconstitutional retaliation against the unions for engaging in activity protected by the First Amendment.

Nurses never abandon our patients, and we will continue to fight for the funding and safe staffing levels that our patients deserve. As union nurses, we understand that collective bargaining rights are fundamental to carrying out our critical role as patient advocates. It is because of VA nurses' ability to speak up about patient safety through our union that our nation's veterans receive the highest level of care. 

Studies have shown unionized hospitals have better outcomes than non-unionized hospitals because nurses and other staff are able to speak up about their concerns and hold management accountable. Veterans deserve nurses who are free to advocate for their care without fear of retaliation, discipline, or losing their jobs.

National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States with more than 225,000 members nationwide. NNU affiliates include California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, DC Nurses Association, Michigan Nurses Association, Minnesota Nurses Association, and New York State Nurses Association.