Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are doing this to get people to quit. That have explicitly stated that is the reason they are killing remote work.

You won’t be going into a local RO. You will be moving to the washington DC area or you will be fired for failing to show up to your official duty location.

Per their own statements to many media outlets, they hope you will just quit. This is not about the Board. It’s about firing federal employees generally to downsize, get rid of the democrats, and fill any necessary vacancies with loyalist republicans.

This ^. Read what they’re actually saying to the media. They’re explicitly saying they want to force people to quit. I think, obviously, you shouldn’t quit because you could be giving up your rights — severance, unemployment (who knows what the job market will look like with these clowns in charge), the union taking action on your behalf. It’ll be interesting to see how management responds. Given how they treated the union last time, I doubt they’ll be trying to protect Board employees but will be more interested in self preservation & looking loyal to their new boss. I look forward to what the union says at the upcoming meeting and hearing their action plan. As I see it, our telework agreements are contracts for which we relied on when we went remote in our locations. & these clowns have openly stated their reasons for this apparent upcoming EO, and it’s not a legitimate reason. It’s simply indefensible. But who knows what will happen. Things could change but from what I’m reading now, they want an executive order on day 1 to return to DC. Though, our new boss has also said he wants to move parts of the federal government out of DC, decentralize it. There’s a reason for this — make VA less blue. Also, the reason for crashing the economy — they make money when they do it. Stocks become cheap. They’re selling billions in stocks now. These oligarch billionaires are ready to become trillionaires. Also, they’re trying to break the government to destroy what they see as the deep state. They want to install their people. Even your job likely through a loyalty test and little to no POCs, lgbtq, etc. They have stated this. They don’t like the fact the government is multicultural, diverse. They went to destroy this. One thing I’d like to see our union do is educate the public about how important federal employees are to the lives of Americans and that we’re hardworking through reaching out to the media. They want us to be scared and they want us to quit. Let them fire you. This is a form of protest. Contact your local media and call your representatives. Have your friends and family do the same thing. Maybe we’ll dodge this bullet, but they seem hellbent on making it happen.

Okay, point taken. However, assuming half the people do agree to move to Washington to keep their job, VA will have to get more space to accommodate them. Several hundred Board employees are not going to fit in a few cubicles at 425 Eye Street.

I understand, and I should’ve been clear my point is for people, most likely all fully remote, who can’t come back to DC because they can’t afford to move to DC, have mortgages, need to be close to family or their community for whatever reasons, don’t want to move schools, etc., & relied on their employer’s promise they can do their job remotely.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are doing this to get people to quit. That have explicitly stated that is the reason they are killing remote work.

You won’t be going into a local RO. You will be moving to the washington DC area or you will be fired for failing to show up to your official duty location.

Per their own statements to many media outlets, they hope you will just quit. This is not about the Board. It’s about firing federal employees generally to downsize, get rid of the democrats, and fill any necessary vacancies with loyalist republicans.

This ^. Read what they’re actually saying to the media. They’re explicitly saying they want to force people to quit. I think, obviously, you shouldn’t quit because you could be giving up your rights — severance, unemployment (who knows what the job market will look like with these clowns in charge), the union taking action on your behalf. It’ll be interesting to see how management responds. Given how they treated the union last time, I doubt they’ll be trying to protect Board employees but will be more interested in self preservation & looking loyal to their new boss. I look forward to what the union says at the upcoming meeting and hearing their action plan. As I see it, our telework agreements are contracts for which we relied on when we went remote in our locations. & these clowns have openly stated their reasons for this apparent upcoming EO, and it’s not a legitimate reason. It’s simply indefensible. But who knows what will happen. Things could change but from what I’m reading now, they want an executive order on day 1 to return to DC. Though, our new boss has also said he wants to move parts of the federal government out of DC, decentralize it. There’s a reason for this — make VA less blue. Also, the reason for crashing the economy — they make money when they do it. Stocks become cheap. They’re selling billions in stocks now. These oligarch billionaires are ready to become trillionaires. Also, they’re trying to break the government to destroy what they see as the deep state. They want to install their people. Even your job likely through a loyalty test and little to no POCs, lgbtq, etc. They have stated this. They don’t like the fact the government is multicultural, diverse. They went to destroy this. One thing I’d like to see our union do is educate the public about how important federal employees are to the lives of Americans and that we’re hardworking through reaching out to the media. They want us to be scared and they want us to quit. Let them fire you. This is a form of protest. Contact your local media and call your representatives. Have your friends and family do the same thing. Maybe we’ll dodge this bullet, but they seem hellbent on making it happen.

Okay, point taken. However, assuming half the people do agree to move to Washington to keep their job, VA will have to get more space to accommodate them. Several hundred Board employees are not going to fit in a few cubicles at 425 Eye Street.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are doing this to get people to quit. That have explicitly stated that is the reason they are killing remote work.

You won’t be going into a local RO. You will be moving to the washington DC area or you will be fired for failing to show up to your official duty location.

Per their own statements to many media outlets, they hope you will just quit. This is not about the Board. It’s about firing federal employees generally to downsize, get rid of the democrats, and fill any necessary vacancies with loyalist republicans.

This ^. Read what they’re actually saying to the media. They’re explicitly saying they want to force people to quit. I think, obviously, you shouldn’t quit because you could be giving up your rights — severance, unemployment (who knows what the job market will look like with these clowns in charge), the union taking action on your behalf. It’ll be interesting to see how management responds. Given how they treated the union last time, I doubt they’ll be trying to protect Board employees but will be more interested in self preservation & looking loyal to their new boss. I look forward to what the union says at the upcoming meeting and hearing their action plan. As I see it, our telework agreements are contracts for which we relied on when we went remote in our locations. & these clowns have openly stated their reasons for this apparent upcoming EO, and it’s not a legitimate reason. It’s simply indefensible. But who knows what will happen. Things could change but from what I’m reading now, they want an executive order on day 1 to return to DC. Though, our new boss has also said he wants to move parts of the federal government out of DC, decentralize it. There’s a reason for this — make VA less blue. Also, the reason for crashing the economy — they make money when they do it. Stocks become cheap. They’re selling billions in stocks now. These oligarch billionaires are ready to become trillionaires. Also, they’re trying to break the government to destroy what they see as the deep state. They want to install their people. Even your job likely through a loyalty test and little to no POCs, lgbtq, etc. They have stated this. They don’t like the fact the government is multicultural, diverse. They went to destroy this. One thing I’d like to see our union do is educate the public about how important federal employees are to the lives of Americans and that we’re hardworking through reaching out to the media. They want us to be scared and they want us to quit. Let them fire you. This is a form of protest. Contact your local media and call your representatives. Have your friends and family do the same thing. Maybe we’ll dodge this bullet, but they seem hellbent on making it happen.

Anonymous wrote:They are doing this to get people to quit. That have explicitly stated that is the reason they are killing remote work.

You won’t be going into a local RO. You will be moving to the washington DC area or you will be fired for failing to show up to your official duty location.

Per their own statements to many media outlets, they hope you will just quit. This is not about the Board. It’s about firing federal employees generally to downsize, get rid of the democrats, and fill any necessary vacancies with loyalist republicans.

Anonymous wrote:They are doing this to get people to quit. That have explicitly stated that is the reason they are killing remote work.

You won’t be going into a local RO. You will be moving to the washington DC area or you will be fired for failing to show up to your official duty location.

Per their own statements to many media outlets, they hope you will just quit. This is not about the Board. It’s about firing federal employees generally to downsize, get rid of the democrats, and fill any necessary vacancies with loyalist republicans.

Anonymous wrote:Notice that they refer to "Covid era" policies. The Board's work structure preceded Covid by many years.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

And is it very possible that in 2 years, the House flips. And who knows what is going to happen in the interim. People get distracted, things happen, moods change, focuses shift, etc. Taking a scalpel and not an axe to government spending is necessary. But you can believe that when people hear Vets are going to bear the brunt of something, that will not please the executive branch who depends on their votes, unlike other gov agencies perhaps. And if something does happen, I do not see how it could happen in an instant given all circumstances. 1000 attorneys and judges coming into one building of 2 floors (soon to be down to 1) every day of the week will accomplish nothing, cause mass chaos, and we will all be prorating our time due to "administrative" issues out of our control. I cannot issue decisions without a computer, proper staff, and proper space to do it in. So, when our numbers decrease from 110,000 appeals to 50,000 appeals (if that), the Chairman (whoever it may be) can easily point to Congress as the cause and the person who initiated the return-to-office policy.

Thank you for that post. I don't know about the bolded, though. Veterans are actually a small voting block, and have been degraded enough by the R base that it seems like they are no longer a constituency that the new administration really wants to appease.