(Iowa City, IA) -- Nearly 100 protesters rallied outside the Iowa City VA Medical Center on Wednesday to protest a federal hiring freeze.
According to organizers with American Federation of Government Employees, the nearly 10-month freeze is hurting patient care and is forcing mandatory overtime.
A-F-G-E also opposes a White House executive order affecting collective bargaining, which the union is challenging in federal court. The V-A responded that it has opened sixteen new clinics and reduced wait times since January and the agency disputes claims of a formal hiring freeze.
It also called the union changes a win for veterans saying nearly nineteen-hundred union representatives have returned to full-time V-A duties.
Photo: Photo: Iowa Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO Facebook -