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Dear AFGE Activist,

Our veterans, our nation's heroes, who work on the front lines of VA hospitals and nursing homes caring for other veterans, deserve job protection. Some lawmakers want to convert VA Nursing Assistants to Hybrid Title 38 employees. If these workers are converted, they will be denied the protections provided under the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act, and therefore have no right to appeal alleged violations of their veterans' preference rights.

Please contact your lawmakers today

As lawmakers deliberate this issue, we need you to contact them and ask them to oppose provisions in S. 252 and HR 919 that would automatically convert all VA nursing assistants to the Hybrid Title 38 personnel system  which would deprive them of the veterans' preference rights held by other veterans who work for the federal government.

Please contact your lawmakers today

Thank you for all that you do for working families.

In solidarity,

John Gage
National President
American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO

Subject: Veterans Who Care For Veterans Deserve Job Protection

Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],

I am writing to urge you to preserve veterans' preference protections of thousands of VA employees providing medical care to veterans.

As the Senate considers S. 252, the Veterans Health Care Authorization Act of 2009, and the House considers H.R. 919, I urge you support amendments to prevent the automatic conversion of over 12,000 VA Nursing Assistants from the Title 5 to the Hybrid Title 38 personnel system.

Under current law, Hybrid Title 38 employees and other VA employees appointed under Title 38 are not protected by the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act, and therefore, they have no right to appeal alleged violations of their veterans' preference rights to the US Department of Labor and the Merit Systems Protection Board. The VA Nursing Assistant position provides veterans who served as medics with an excellent opportunity to transition to the civilian workforce while caring for other veterans.

S. 252 has been approved by the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs; H.R. 919 is still under consideration by the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. I urge you to take action in support of veterans' rights before these bills come before House-Senate conferees. Please support an amendment to strike the automatic conversion language in Section 101(a)(2) of S. 252 and Section 2(a)(2) of H.R. 919. Thank you for considering this request and for all you do for veterans and the VA workforce.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]