Federal employees, labor unions, and two Democratic congresswomen rallied outside the John D. Dingell VA Medical Center in Detroit on Friday, demanding the Trump administration keep its hands off veteran services.
More than 100 people marched on a sidewalk outside the VA, holding signs that read, “Save the VA,” “Stop the war on America’s workforce,” and “Dump Trump.” They chanted, “This is what democracy looks like” and “Save civil service.”
The rally was in response to the Trump administration’s massive, indiscriminate cuts to federal government workers.
Among those in attendance were U.S. Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Debbie Dingell, whose late husband, John D. Dingell, is the VA’s namesake.
“When your husband’s name is on the side of a hospital, I have a moral obligation to make sure our veterans are being protected and getting the health care they need,” Dingell told reporters.
About 10 minutes later, Dingell told the fired-up crowd that the U.S. must uphold its pledge to care for veterans.
“We are here standing united and fighting for veterans and the dedicated government workers,” Dingell said. “We made a commitment to those who fought and served for this country. To protect that pledge that we all love, we won’t leave them behind, they will get the care they need, and those who are treating them deserve to be treated with respect.”
Hailey Kenward, a veteran who wanted to continue her civil service by working at the VA hospital, was fired from her job this week and told it was for poor performance, despite getting a glowing review by management in December.
“It is heartbreaking to me,” Kenward said. “We do not deserve to be treated this way and unjustly fired.”
She said the cuts will impact veteran services.
The man behind those cuts, billionaire Elon Musk, is driven by financial gain, ignoring the struggles of everyday people, said Jason Anderson, national vice president for the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) District 7.
“Elon and the billionaire class — we’re all just standing in the way of their bottom line,” Anderson told the protesters. “We’re here today because we may never have as much money as them, but there are more of us than there ever will be of them. Elon is a general with no Army.”
The crowd erupted.
Tlaib encouraged the protesters and federal workers to stay committed to the cause.
“Keep it up, keep marching, keep pushing back,” Tlaib said. “I promise you, it’s always the workers that rise up and save our country over and over again.”
AFGE National President Everett Kelley said Americans will feel the pain from cuts to the federal workforce.
“This is a thing I know about federal employees: Most of the time the work we do is invisible,” Kelley said. “And the reason it’s invisible is because we do it well. People really don’t notice us when their social security checks arrive on time. People don’t notice us when all of veterans’ claims are being processed, and they're processed correctly. People don’t notice us when the skies are safe for us to fly in.”
Speakers at the rally called for unity and strength among federal workers and their allies.
“When trouble knocks on your door, we will stand together,” Kelley said. “We’ll stand together as a family.”
