How can servicemen and women, active duty and veterans, compete with government unions?

2016-01-25T13:07:34-05:00

Once again we are learning that there has been no improvement in care at VA facilities and little hope for any change. See http://www.nationalreview.com/article/430203/veterans-affairs-reform-needed

The problem appears to be that government employees are immune to scandal. I propose that the situation can never improve so long as they are protected by their unions. I have written on this subject in my own blog

http://jackdurish.com/jacks-blog/government-unions

Needed: Reform at Veterans Affairs

Congress must act to reform the Department of Veterans Affairs so that it gives our veterans the care they need.

Response by CH (COL) Geoff Bailey made Jan 25 at 2016 1:15 PM

2016-01-25T13:15:48-05:00

As you've suggested CPT Jack Durish it will take action by Congress to change the system. The way Veterans and Soldiers fight this, is by contacting their congressmen and enjoying the very freedom they've fought so hard to protect by requesting change through Congressional action.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 25 at 2016 2:07 PM

2016-01-25T14:07:11-05:00

Is it the union's fault or the management?
I think it is the management.
Accountability doesn't begin and end with firings. It is the day to day business practices that brings us to where we are.
Workers processing claims get a quota of how many files they process daily. According to my sources, six. If they do more, they are wrong. If they do less, they get an action plan. It doesn't matter if the file is opened, actioned, closed favorably, or rejected. Just that the action required at the time is completed. It may be as simple as "Called Veteran, left message". Item closed for the day. It could well be BS (as we found out) if the VA rep just feels like farting off that day.
Raises all around.
Everyone gets a bonus.

Response by CPT Jack Durish made Jan 25 at 2016 3:31 PM

2016-01-25T15:31:17-05:00

BTW, you'll love the email I received within the hour after making this posting on RP and on my blog. Ironic, isn't it?

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Jan 25 at 2016 7:22 PM

2016-01-25T19:22:03-05:00

Something is wrong if an organization is impervious to lying, cheating, killing, and stealing.

Response by Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS made Jan 26 at 2016 8:35 AM

2016-01-26T08:35:03-05:00

Excellent read.

I think the Union is a (compounding) symptom however, and the Bureaucracy is the underlying problem. I ABSOLUTELY agree that there "shouldn't" be a need for Government Employees to have to Unionize, however (elected) Government Officials have shown they cannot be trusted and created an environment in which requires a Union to ensure that the Civil Service survives Administration Swaps (elections). This in turn makes it impossible to "trim the fat" after our elected officials have expanded the size of their offices doing exactly what they did prior to these protections existing before hand (fire the old, replace with friends).

We have in essence replaced one bad system with another "slightly" better bad system. The problem is that neither system is good. When you add in the fact that the US Government is just not good at "Social Programs" or any Program that requires us to deal with "Individuals" (as opposed to classes or groups), we have this compounding problem. Bureaucracy which is designed to slow things down (inefficiency) combined with incompetency (inability to get rid of bad), combined with untrustworthiness creates the perfect #$%^storm.

If we were to get rid of one component of this, such as the Unions (which I agree is likely no longer necessary), this would SIGNIFICANTLY reduce the size of said storm. Less compounding issues, means a smaller stack of exponential #$%^. However, as 1SG Private RallyPoint Member said, I think quite a lot of this comes from Management (Elected/Appointed). They in turn have their hands tied by Law, which in turn have their hands tied by the People (Lobbying Power). Vicious Cycle. The question arises of how we break it.