Scores rally in Iowa City to protest federal worker firings

IOWA CITY — A couple hundred people gathered Saturday on the downtown Pedestrian Mall to protest terminations of federal workers who serve Iowa veterans, seniors and farmers, and called on the district’s congresswoman, Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, to stand up for them.

Protesters held signs that read: “VA employees deserve dignity. fairness. respect,” “Public service is a badge of honor” and “Stop the war on America’s workforce.”

The rally was organized by the Iowa City Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, and the American Federation of Government Employees Local 2547, which represents approximately 2,000 employees at the Iowa City Veterans Affairs Health Care System.

Pat Kearns is president of the Local 2547 union and a registered nurse at the Iowa City VA Medical Center. Kearns said six probationary employees in the first two years of their jobs there who were terminated amid President Donald Trump's and billionaire Elon Musk’s efforts to slash the government workforce were recently reinstated, but still sidelined from their jobs.

A U.S. District Court judge in Northern California on March 13 ordered six federal agencies, including the VA, to immediately reinstate the employment of roughly 24,000 probationary employees who were terminated last month.

Numerous labor unions representing the federal workers filed lawsuits contesting the terminations.

U.S. District Court Judge William H. Alsup granted a preliminary Injunction broadening a temporary restraining order against the Office of Personnel Management, finding it lacked the legal authority to order the terminations.

About 200,000 probationary employees work in the federal government. Probationary employees are typically recent hires to the federal government who have served for fewer than one or two years, or who have recently been promoted to new positions. These workers typically do not yet have the same full protections from being fired without cause as tenured civil service employees.

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In his ruling, Alsup cited evidence that the office directed the mass firing using the same template to produce termination letters with poor performance as a reason, even though some employees had received glowing performance reviews.

The judge ordered the immediate reinstatement of terminated probationary employees of the VA, Agriculture, Interior, Energy, Defense and Treasury departments, and directed the departments to immediately cease the termination of probationary employees.

However, according to Kearns and a court filing by the labor unions and other advocates, nearly 16,000 employees in five federal agencies — including the Iowa City VA workers — have had their salaries and benefits restored but remain on administrative leave for an unspecified period of time. The terminations officially are being revoked and workers “are able to complete onboarding procedures” to reclaim their jobs, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

But the labor unions told the judge in a filing Thursday that the Trump administration was not complying with the court’s directives.

Alsup said the employees should be placed fully back in their roles and permitted to carry out their normal duties.

The roles of the terminated Iowa City employees included research, logistics and clerical positions Kearns said are critical to the VA's operations.

Two of the individuals deliver sterile supplies, monitor expiration dates and packaging issues, and bring the supplies to the departments that use them. It’s is a job “no other person in the organization has the time or really the knowledge base to do,” Kearns said.

Another is a clerk in primary care, who answer phone calls from veterans needing or rescheduling appointments and help scheduling follow-up visits to the clinic.

“But instead of bringing them back to their jobs and letting them do the jobs — which are all very necessary jobs, very vulnerable parts of the organization … they're paying them to stay at home,” Kearns told The Gazette. “They paid their back pay from when they fired them all the way up till now and then, they're paying them to sit in their homes rather than come back in and do work for veterans.”

Kearns said the move by the Trump administration “is the most telling thing that they've done so far that their intent is to make the system fail. Otherwise, why wouldn't you return these people?”

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Kearns said he's even more concerned about reports that the Department of Veterans Affairs is planning an “aggressive” reorganization that includes cutting 70,000 jobs from the agency that provides health care and other services for millions of veterans.

VA officials have said they plan to cut enough employees to return to 2019 staffing levels after the VA expanded during the Biden administration, as well as to cover veterans impacted by burn pits under the 2022 PACT Act, the Associated Press reported.

A VA memo calls for agency officials to work with the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency to “move out aggressively, while taking a pragmatic and disciplined approach” to the Trump administration’s goals, the AP reported.

VA Secretary Doug Collins has said “mission-critical” roles, including health care and benefits processing, would remain protected.

“This administration is finally going to give the veterans what they want,” Collins said in a video posted to social media. “President Trump has a mandate for generational change in Washington and that’s exactly what we’re going to deliver at the VA.”

Kearns said the VA has not communicated its plans with the union.

“It's supposed to be a clear, transparent, public operation that includes not only the unions — which is required by the law and the (union) contract — it's also required that veterans groups be brought in as stakeholders about how they want their care delivered,” he said. “We had this in 1997 they tried to close down the VA hospital here, and veterans in this community rose up and categorically said that they did not want that. They have not made any contact with the National Veterans Organization on any meaningful level, let alone the local level here.”

Louie DeGrazia, a Korean War veteran and member of Veterans for Peace, said cuts to the VA staff have stirred worries among veterans about they could mean for the resources, services, doctors, nurses and staff on which they rely.

“The VA is a lifesaver to me. I really wouldn't be able to live where I live or how I live without the VA,” DeGrazia said during the rally.

He said the VA provides him with a CPAP machine for his obstructive sleep apnea, a chair lift in his home, physical and occupational therapy and homemaker and home health aide services.

“The doctors and nurses are wonderful. I really can't believe my life without them, I really mean that,” he said. “Frankly, the best doctor I've ever had is at the VA. … I love to go to the hospital.”

Since Trump retook office, federal workers have been disrespected, demeaned and degraded by Musk and the Trump administration, Kearns and other speakers said Saturday.

“We are under attack almost every day,” Jennifer Gonzalez, a VA nurse in Iowa City, said during the rally.

The VA employees, along with U.S. postal workers, University of Iowa biomedical researchers and anti-hunger, affordable housing and immigrant rights activists whose services have been impacted by federal funding freezes, said they feel abandoned by Miller-Meeks and pushed her to take a stance on the mass firings.

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In a statement, Miller-Meeks spokesperson Anthony Cruz wrote: “Rep. Miller-Meeks is a 24-year Army veteran fighting for our veterans in Congress. She supports every Iowan’s right to free speech.”

Miller-Meeks is a member of the House DOGE Caucus, and said the results of the 2024 election show voters expect “sweeping common-sense reform, and the DOGE Caucus will pave the way for the House of Representatives to streamline government operations and to save taxpayer money,” according to a January news release.

“Everyday Iowans are living paycheck to paycheck and know the value of every dollar,” Miller-Meeks said of joining the House caucus. “Meanwhile, unelected bureaucrats in Washington are freely spending taxpayer money.”

She said Musk is a successful business owner “who will bring a fresh set of eyes to make government more efficient and effective,” and looked forward to “working with them and my House colleagues to advance President Trump’s agenda to rein in wasteful spending and protect taxpayer dollars.”

The congresswoman told The Quad-City Times earlier this month: “President Trump made it clear that Secretaries are responsible for workforce changes, and we will actively press them to ensure every decision is carefully reviewed before being finalized."

Comments: (319) 398-8499; tom.barton@thegazette.com