After coming home from the Army, Union Veteran Council Executive Director Will Attig struggled to find his place. “I came home without a job, a degree or a future,” Attig said. That changed when he found a Registered Apprenticeship Program with the North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) and became a journeyman pipe fitter with the …
On June 23, 2017, the President signed into law Pub.L. 115-41. The new statute reduces civil service protections for employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA). Pub.L. 115-41 renews the push to cut back VA civil service protections, after the prior attempt under the last Administration saw adverse actions reversed at the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and portions of the statute struck down as …
News from Congress: VA Employees’ Civil Service Protections Slashed Read More »
Last weekend, Washington, D.C.-area construction unions worked with the Wounded Warrior Project torenovate the Virginia home of a veteran wounded while serving in the Iraq War. Marine Cpl. Brandon Burns was wounded by sniper fire in Al Falluja, Iraq, in 2004, and the left side of his body has been paralyzed since. Now the man who …
Construction Unions Help Wounded Veteran Renovate Virginia Home Read More »
This Veterans Day we’d like to take a moment to thank all veterans for their service and sacrifice for our country. In turn, we’d like to make sure that veterans are aware of their rights in the civilian workplace. At the federal level, the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) is …
You survive two combat tours and you come home and find a job as a mechanic, refurbishing the Stryker combat vehicles that protected you while you were in a hostile land, with a government contractor that pays a decent wage. The workforce is about 50 percent veteran and 50 percent civilian. Your work place is …
Support The Troops. Support The Troops. Support The Troops. This is the newest “wallpaper” in the United States. You see it on bumper stickers, in commercials and hear it in conversations. Based on the number of times you see or hear the phrase, it’s hard to imagine that we could do anything more to show …
While we take the time this Veterans Day to honor the courage and sacrifice shown by our veterans, we should also rededicate ourselves to making sure vets have a secure and stable life after they finish their service. The U.S. Labor Department reports the unemployment rate among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans is 11.3 percent, significantly …
Madeline Messa is a 3L at Syracuse University College of Law. She graduated from Penn State with a degree in journalism. With her legal research and writing for Workplace Fairness, she strives to equip people with the information they need to be their own best advocate.
