Canandaigua AFGE 3306

HOUSE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE PUTS HALT TO PRIVATIZATION AT MILITARY
HOSPITALS

(Washington)-- The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the
largest federal employee union, today lauded the House Armed Services
Committee for including a provision in the Wounded Warrior Assistance Act
(H.R. 1538) that would impose a moratorium on new privatization reviews in
Department of Defense (DoD) military hospitals.

AFGE saluted the bipartisan leadership of House Armed Services Committee
Chair Ike Skelton, Ranking Member Duncan Hunter, Readiness Subcommittee
Chair Solomon Ortiz, Ranking Member Jo Ann Davis, Military Personnel
Subcommittee Chair Vic Snyder, and Ranking Member John McHugh for their work
on the legislation, which was marked up yesterday.

"The Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) obsession with privatizing
federal employees cannot be allowed to undermine the health of military
personnel," said John Gage, national president of AFGE, which represents
workers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. "The Walter Reed privatization
fiasco could have been prevented."

According to AFGE, OMB failed to enforce its deadline on the Army to finish
or abandon the interminable privatization study by September 30, 2004.
However, it was OMB's numerical privatization quotas that made the Walter
Reed privatization fiasco inevitable-forcing agencies to review for
privatization certain numbers of employees every fiscal year-or else risk
not getting sufficient funding in next year's budget. Indeed, Army officials
have been told that their service is red (i.e., the lowest possible grade)
on the President's Management Agenda and that they must review more than
45,000 jobs for privatization by the end of FY09.

"Installations that want to delay or cancel an OMB Circular A-76
privatization review must provide comparable numbers of jobs to review for
privatization instead," added Gage. "Rather than lose credit for reviewing
the 300 jobs at Walter Reed for privatization, the Army felt compelled to
finish the privatization review, even if it was illegal, wasteful, biased,
and botched.

"The moratorium on new privatization reviews in DoD military hospitals is a
sincere, bipartisan effort to address some of the problems caused by OMB's
now infamous 'competitive sourcing' policy. In the months ahead, the
Congress will undoubtedly take other opportunities to make additional,
much-needed reforms," said Gage.

Today the Canandaigua VA went forward with its plans to close the Acute Psychiatry Unit that was first approved by the Secretary Antony Principe in 2002. This closure will affect all veterans in Western New York for decades to come. With its closure veterans who have come to depend on the unit for their inpatient care will now be ferried to Buffalo or to Syracuse for their stabilization and therapy. That is when either VA has the space to share.
Since the closure those veterans have learned that when there is no room at the inn they will have to depend on Clifton Springs Hospital for their care until VA space can be found. They have also found out that if Clifton Springs Hospital is full they will be farmed out to any other hospital that has psychiatric services and has vacancies that can accommodate them.
This process can take time, tracking down beds arranging transportation and then the delay of transport time, often the delay can take all day.
Recently the Canandaigua AFGE Local 3306 joined with the Fort Drum Chapter of AFGE Local 400 and called our Washington Representatives to join forces and demand that Secretary Nicholson reverse the VA's decision to close the unit. This action was done in anticipation of Fort Drum receiving 3500 active duty soldiers that are expected to return form Iraq next month.
Many heroes answered the call but thus far their requests have seemed to fall on deaf ears, aside from rumors the unit remains closed, the employees spread across the facility and the veterans left in the lurch.

Their is one ray of hope the unit which was to move to the Acute Psychiatry's location has been told the move in on hold for now. Maybe the turmoil that has resulted from the closure and the outcries of foul by all it supporters has encouraged the VA to revisit it's decision.

Want to revisit the closure and the stories that lead to it's ill fate? Just Click Here