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VA Celebrates Workforce, Unions and Veterans
WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) workforce of more than 300,000 – including more than 90,000 who are Veterans – knows one of its objectives as it observes Labor Day is to help young Veterans find jobs.
“This Labor Day, we are not only celebrating the dedicated, talented VA employees working to deliver benefits and care to the Nation’s heroes,” says Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “We also are focusing our efforts in encouraging employers to consider Veterans when they need workers with a strong work ethic, leadership and a drive for success.”
Shinseki says VA partners with the Department of Labor and the Office of Personnel Management in helping implement the President’s Federal Veterans Hiring Initiative. VA’s own national program aims at bringing even more Veterans into its workforce and is a model and source of information for other federal agencies. VA has the largest percentage of Veteran employees among civilian agencies — approximately 30 percent — and is increasing its number of regional employment coordinators to give Veterans more access to VA jobs.
Union members are about two-thirds of VA’s workforce and Shinseki praises five national unions and their leadership for ongoing support of Veterans and VA’s Veteran employees. VA is one of very few federal agencies to have maintained a National Partnership Council (NPC) with its unions since 1994. NPC representatives from management and the unions openly discuss new policies and programs and promote critical labor-management relations training. NPC members participate in many VA task forces created to execute new business practices. Furthermore, NPC this year is helping to develop the new labor-management forums mandated by a presidential executive order signed last December. VA has also decided to create forums at the local and intermediate levels, in addition to its national organization.
Shinseki points out that Veterans and union members are among the Americans who are benefiting, even in the short term, from the department’s commitment of $1.8 billion in Recovery Act funds to improvements at 1,200 VA facility locations across the country.
Private-sector employers located near military installations have opportunities to hire service members directly after their military service. They can post vacancies at transition assistance centers or talk to service members at transition briefings. Private employers can also reach Veterans seeking jobs through state employment offices throughout the country, where there are local Veteran employment representatives and disabled Veterans outreach coordinators.
“Working Americans will help our Nation’s economic recovery, and Veterans are especially prepared to participate in that challenge,” says Shinseki. “Veterans have the discipline, work ethic and technical skills in areas such as acquisition, information technology, communications, security, information gathering and medical technology.”
Useful employment information for Veterans seeking jobs and employers looking to hire Veterans can be found at http://www.fedshirevets.gov/.
Short URL: http://www.veteranstoday.com/?p=47889
Posted by Veterans Today on Sep 5 2010, With 0 Reads, Filed under Benefits, Regional, Top 10, Vet News, Veteran Service Organizations, Veterans Affairs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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So 90,000 out of 300,000 are veterans That is a real shame. With so many veterans out of work that is not a count. When I was at a meeting with a VAMC dir and a few other staff member and was told that particular VA hospital had 29% veterans I told them if I scored 29% on a test while working on my masters I would have positively failed. They spoke that in their opinion that was pretty good. Did you ever notice a VAMC director surrounds him/her self with none veterns in admin positions and throws in one veterans to what he/she thinks will make people happy.
This is not the case where there are not good people in the trenches but again, with so many veterans looking for work and QUALIFIED, 29% is not showing what the VA should be doing with hiring policies.
I also found out that if two people were equally qualified for a particular position, particularly a admin position and one was a veteran,…VISN or the VAMC with pick the non veteran.
Wow! 90,000 out of 300,00,…thats 30%,….the VA should be ashamed of itself. I also have heard the unions are useless in protecting workers also.
Schud – I’m a Vet working at the VA. While you are making interesting observations, I find none of them true at my VA. Our Director has great Veterans working directly for him, and my experience is that Veterans are almost always hired if they make the certification list (meaning they are qualified for the position). To not hire the Veteran requires a complicated “passover request” which is onerous. We need more Veterans applying for our positions and the VA is consistently reaching out to Veterans to do so. Our Director always reaches out to our Veteran employees and embraces their continued service to America.
I can name the directors and name the two VAMCs I am referring to and if you inquire at any number of VAMCs around the nation, you will find similar. Can you name one VAMC that say has more than 35% veterans? If you have more veterans at your ref to a VAMC I take my hat off to you but that is not the norm. I have known personally at least 14 directors or acting directors over a 20 year period and found none of them had many veterans surrounding them. In fact, not the last director of the local VAMC was removed of problems she created one being she had zero policy of no open door policy with employees or veterans who had issues and caused skilled nurses and staff to retire early. I could go on with other problems that I had first hand knowledge of but again, take my hat off if your VAMC is more open to veteran.
Been my experience that “they will hire whoever they want” (quote from the Veterans rep in Waco, Tx.). Overall with the % of veterans in the overall population that is good, but shouldn’t Veterans handle Veterans problems since they have the same problems something like plumbers helping plumbers etc? Number should be higher but like the first sentence…Oh well.
That is exactly the point! More veterans should be hired because in many situations they can relate more easily to veterans situations, health conditions or questions in general. The VA DOES NOT WANT more veterans because, as the expression goes, with side too often with the veterans instead of the VA which many of you know runs the VA like a business instead of a service to veterans.
[...] VA Encouraging Hiring Of Veterans. Veterans Today Network (9/5, Allen) reported, “The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) workforce of more than [...]
Yea, it should be 300,000 veteran workers. I for one have been unemployed since my discharge in 2008. Basically had to go back to school to learn a new trade, and low and behold no one is hiring entry level. Applying for most VA jobs is a waste of time. The stupid survey they make you go through doesn’t even allow you to show all of your skills properly. My father is also a vet and has applied for numerous maintenance jobs at the local VA, he had been doing industrial maintenance for 30+ years until the EPA shut his plant down, now he does small engine repair for john deere for crap pay. Every time he has applied at the VA he is always told he doesn’t meet the qualifications. One job was for a bowling alley maintenance position and a laundry room maintenance position. I highly doubt someone who has worked on much more sophisticated equipment will have a hard time figuring out how to repair that stuff. I would also like to thank the VA for generously reducing my advancement debt from $3000 to $2469. If they would have paid me my education benefits on time, I would never had to take that advancement. Then they paid me what they owed me the very next day. I spent hours/days/months trying to get a hold of someone to take the advancement back, but someone it is my fault they didn’t take it out of future benefits. I guess in my appeal when I explained I have no sourcof income and have been unemployed since 2008, that means somehow I can pay back $2469. Why they couldn’t have waived the whole $3000 and reduced my total gi bill is beyond me. I bet if they had some veterans on that debt appeal board they would have waived me. Oh and they had some Indian guy call me when I took the advancement reading from a script and yelling, ” DO YOU UNDASTAND!!??” every 10 secs. Um no I don’t understand give me and American please.
But what the whitecollar suit in upper managment fails to tell you is that over 75% of those 90000 veterans working within the VA medical system are mopping floors and scrubbing pots and pans in the kitchen. Don’t p#;s in my ear and tell me it’s raining.