Thank you, Chairman and distinguished Subcommittee members for the opportunity to submit the following testimony.

My name is Patricia LaSala. I serve as the First Vice President of the National Federation of Federal Employees, an affiliate of the IAMAW. I am also the president of NFFE Local 1, located at the San Francisco VA Medical Center. I am providing testimony on behalf of the 100,000 federal workers our union represents nationwide, including 5,000 Department of Veterans’ Affairs health care providers.

After almost 30 years of Federal Service during which Title 38 has driven how I am to exist within the Department of Veterans Affairs, I say with great certainty, change is long overdue for Section 7422. When Congress amended Title 38 in 1991 to allow professionals to have collective bargaining rights similar to our colleagues in the private sector, never did we expect to see it as prohibitive as it has been interpreted during the last administration. When you take away the right to collectively bargain over conduct, competence, peer review, and compensation, you make our use of the negotiated grievance procedure all but meaningless.

The professional Title 38 employee comes to federal service out of a deep sense of commitment to care for the wounded American veteran, as well as to keep other veterans well and treat those who become ill. We also treat those veterans whose conditions are exacerbated by war or their service experience. Most of us knew we would not be paid equal to our counterparts in the private sector. Compensation is not why we came to the VA or to other federal health agencies. Just speak to a VA nurse, doctor, dentist, physician’s assistant, podiatrist, or optometrist. They will tell you that to care for and give back to those who gave so much was a major motivator in seeking employment at the VA.

When you allow a person to stand up for themselves, seek justice, and ask for recognition for a job well done, you add a sense of pride to their personal persona and it plays itself out in their professional practice. When a professional is allowed to defend his or her conduct, explain the circumstances concerning a complaint, and seek and receive redress, we provide them with the basic rights that this country was built on. No more, no less. However, “7422” has become the Draconian battle cry for supervisors when they are asked to decide an issue relating to conduct, competence, peer review and compensation. Logic, fairness, respect, and simple kindness are tossed out in place of these oft-used numbers.

Often a simple discussion of circumstances that drove the outcome or issue never takes place. Instead a complaint goes unheard, and questions about a performance review are dismissed or claimed to be outside the purview of the bargaining agreement. Just imagine what that does to a professional, or for that matter anyone who has sincere questions or concerns about their treatment or their career.

Complicating this unfairness is the fact there are two Titles for professional employees in federal service: Title 38 professionals as identified, and Title 5 professionals. The latter are psychologists, social workers, pharmacists, dieticians, addiction therapists, and probably 15 to 20 more professional job titles. Unlike Title 38 professional employees, they can use the grievance process as well as other appeal avenues, such as the MSPB, when issues arise. They can appeal their classifications, unlawful terminations, and performance reviews that are incorrect or unfair. These professionals work side-by-side caring for the same veterans, yet they have different rights and privileges based on whether they are appointed by Title 38 or Title 5. I ask you if that makes any sense or whether it contributes to a cohesive health care team.

Our children are coming home from war. They expect and deserve competent health care professionals to be there for them. If you do not think that the lack of rights of nurses or doctors and all Title 38 professional affects recruitment or retention of employees, please think again. It absolutely does impact the ability of the agency to attract and keep qualified health care providers.

Hospitals, in my view, are like small towns. Hospital workers from one small town have friends and professional colleagues in another. While they share scientific news and research findings, pay parity, workers’ rights and working conditions are also spoken about. The absence of these basic worker rights can, and often does, dissuade potential applicants from a professional career in the federal service, namely the VA.

So I ask, the next time you are visiting a town that has a VA or if there is one in your hometown, walk in. If you can make an authorized visit during the night shift this is even better. Walk those halls and corridors and see that registered nurse comforting a distraught family of a critically ill veteran, a nurse tending a veteran in pain or one that is anxious or fearful. Watch those blessed hands changing a complicated dressing, or an IV, bathing or massaging a war torn body, and then tell us that nurse cannot question decisions that guide and govern her career. I doubt that will be your response.

Please support HR 4089. This is a critical piece of legislation that will bring a much-needed sense of fairness to the Title 38 workforce at the VA. I can assure you that this legislation will do so much to improve the morale of the workers caring day-in and day-out for the American veteran, and that will help us give American veterans the care they deserve.

God bless that American treasure called the American veteran and God bless those who chose to care for them. Once again, I thank the Subcommittee for their attention to this important matter and for the opportunity to give testimony.