Last week, President Donald Trump issued an executive order ending collective union bargaining rights for many federal agencies, including Veterans Affairs. On Friday and Saturday, veterans, federal workers and their supporters gathered in front of the VA Medical Center in Boise to protest.
Most cars driving past the protesters answered their call to honk.
“We want to be seen, we want to be heard, and we're here for the beeps!” said Chandler Bursey, the president of the local chapter American Federation of Governmental Employees, or AFGE 1273.
“We want to make sure that veterans get care here at the VA. We're the last roadblock to that administration to privatize care, and they have actively sought to make it as hard as possible to make sure that we can do the business,” he said, while enthusiastically cheering on vehicles in the intersection
“The United States government made a promise to veterans that we would care for them if they were hurt,” Bursey added, saying that won’t be possible if the Department of Governmental Efficiency, or DOGE, cuts upwards of 80,000 VA positions across the US.
In Idaho, that would mean losing around 300 VA workers, or a quarter of all Department employees in the state.
John Miles, a 20-year veteran, VA worker and union members joined the several dozen protesters in the crowd both days.
“It's a pretty sad feeling most days when you come in and you're just really anxious,” he said, describing his workplace since the Trump administration ordered mass firings in the federal government. “You have a sense of fear that's over you like a cloud every day, and your coworkers feel the same way, not knowing what's coming or when.”
Emily Thurlow, a recreational therapist at the VA Medical Center said the veterans she serves are already being impacted.
“They're already noticing slowness in services,” she said. “Things are pushed back for months, even just simple appointments.”
“We don't have enough people and they're still firing us, “ Thurlow added.
Thurlow moved to Boise a little less than a year prior and was fired as a probationary federal worker in the first round of lay-offs announced by the President.
“It really was a difficult time for me and very uncertain,” she said.
A week ago, she was rehired after a judge reversed the Trump’s administration’s order for some of the fired employees. She’s concerned she might lose her job again.
“Even people who are on the exemption list are terrified because we don't know what's to come,” she said.
The Trump administration says federal funding slashes are necessary to reign in spending and save taxpayers money.
About a quarter of VA employees are veterans themselves. The planned cuts outlined in a memo obtained by the Associated Press in March would affect 17% of the department’s roughly 480,000 employees.
