'We're actually bleeding nurses': Augusta VA nurses say work conditions unsustainable

This story has been updated with comments from the Veterans Administration.

Members of the National Nurses United at the Charlie Norwood Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Augusta gathered on Thursday to protest conditions they say make it hard to keep nurses or care for veterans.

"Nurses are sick of being abused," they chanted. "We're fighting back so the vets don't lose!"

The Augusta protest was joined by other protests Thursday at facilities in Atlanta and Tuscaloosa, Alabama, all of which are under the regional VA Southeast Network. A key demand from nurses is to allow for scheduling flexibility within the region, which they see as part of the solution to understaffing.

"We've lost over 100 nurses from Oct. 1 to June 30, and we've only brought in... in that time 54," said Irma Westmoreland, a registered nurse and vice president of NNU.

Westmoreland said the facility currently has about 600 staff nurses, although the facility has had as many as 700. She also said it takes about 110 days to onboard a new nurse.

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The lack of staff has resulted in mandatory overtime – forcing nurses to work longer than their scheduled shifts to fill gap. Westmoreland said the high patient-to-nurse ratios burned out some nurses and called the situation unsafe for veterans seeking care.

Jackie Williamson, another protestor, said she worked a 16-hour shift earlier in the week.

"I actually worked mandatory overtime last night and I'm out here this morning," she said. Williamson is a union steward and has worked at the VA for 11 years.

Williamson sees burnout among her colleagues and hopes that better staffing and other changes – such as working 72 hours in a two-week period but getting paid for 80 hours – will help with retention. The union is also looking for alternative schedules, such as working four 10-hour shifts in a week to allow for better work-life balance.

In a statement emailed Thursday, VA Augusta Healthcare System public affairs chief Will Martin called recruiting and retaining nurses a top priority.

"To do that, VA has advocated strongly for the PACT Act and RAISE Act — both of which have given us increased authority to raise pay caps for VA nurses across the country," he noted.

Martin shared a list of actions the VA in Augusta has taken to increase staffing – bonuses, salary increases, job fairs and time off packages. He wrote that nursing turnover at the VA is comparable to other local health care systems, which are also experiencing shortages.

"We don’t see evidence, however, that it’s negatively impacting patient care, and we ensure that all nursing professionals are fully trained for the positions to which they are assigned," he noted.

VA nurses seeking other solutions

VA nurses are also pushing for what they see as larger solutions to their difficulties.

At the heart of the issue, according to Westmoreland, are two union contract issues that impact the 12,000 NNU members at 23 VA facilities throughout the country.

The first is a national master contract for all the units represented by NNU. VA Secretary Denis McDonough has not yet signed the contract, something the union has been waiting on since 2018. In that time, the number of sticking points has gone from 370 to just two, according to Westmoreland.

One of the remaining issues in the master contract is the ability to negotiate local contracts, which cover issues like holidays, compensatory time, parking and education. That local contract has been in place in Augusta since 2010.

For union members, some issues regarding their employment are not subject to bargaining by law, including pay and workplace reviews, as well as staffing shortages. Last year, Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Rep. Mark Takano of California introduced the VA Employee Fairness Act of 2021, which would allow VA health care providers in unions to negotiate these things as well as maximum patient-to-nurse ratios.

Westmoreland hopes that the Veterans Administration will sign the master contract, but also that the VA Employee Fairness Act will pass and allow the union to negotiate a new master contract on all aspects of employment. She also hopes the secretary of the Veterans Administration will come out in support of the law.

"If the Secretary would get behind it, the people would get behind it, too," Westmoreland said.

'We need to feel appreciated'

Suzette Cortes worked for the VA for about six years. She now works for a virtual clinic for the VA and serves as an NNU union steward. She came out to the protest with her son in a stroller, leading the other nurses in chants.

"They've decided that they actually prefer to lose nurses. We're actually bleeding nurses at this point still, instead of conceding to anything remotely proposed by nurses," Cortes said. "I hope that they open their eyes and they see that what we're requesting is not insane."

She has a list of things she hopes the VA will implement.

"We need alternative work schedules," she said. "... We need communication. And we need retention. We need hiring. We need to feel appreciated, because we work really, really hard for our veterans."

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Veterans Administration nurse's union protest for staffing in Augusta