Fighting for Fair Pay at the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
For reasons beyond our comprehension, the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (BVA or Board) seems to be on a mission to pay its attorneys as little as possible and be ranked one of the worst places to work in the federal government. Following President Biden’s call for the federal government to be a model employer and attract and retain the best talent, the BVA had a rather unique response: they downgraded the attorney position from a career ladder GS-14 to GS-13. But why stop there? The Board then decided to ignore the parties’ agreement and began arbitrarily denying grade promotions. Local 17 took this case to arbitration and, surprise, surprise, we prevailed. Meanwhile, as they busied themselves with undermining attorneys, senior Board leaders were busy receiving large bonuses.
AFGE Local 17 is now collaborating with lawmakers to not only reverse the downgrade but also to create a non-supervisory GS-15 position. Congressman Morgan McGarvey is sponsoring the bill. On Wednesday, July 10th, Local 17 officer Nick Keogh testified before the House Committee on Veterans Affairs on the matter of fair pay at BVA. This is a must-see video! Below is a brief portion of Nick’s exchange with Congressman McGarvey:
Congressman Morgan McGarvey: “Out of the best places to work, with 1 being the best and 459 being the worst, BVA is currently 444, which is 15 spots from rock bottom. It’s also, and I think this is important to point out, 188 spots below the next VA office.”
Nicholas Keogh: “That’s correct.”
Congressman McGarvey: “And yet BVA management is opposed to this bill because, according to BVA management, their current recruitment and retention incentives have proven to be, quote, very effective. Mr. Keogh, do you think that’s accurate?”
Keogh: “I would be very skeptical of any assurances offered by a management team that’s managed to run an organization into the ground. When you’re at 444 out of 459, it doesn’t get much worse than that. This current team, you never know, they may be able to hit 459 next year. It’s hard to predict.”
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