Unions Sound Alarm that Trump’s Deferred Resignation Jeopardizes VA Hospitals

National Nurses United (NNU) and AFGE are warning that the Trump administration’s deferred resignation offer threatens to make short staffing at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)-run hospitals even worse. As the AP reports, unions are discouraging nurses from accepting the offer because an exodus would have a profound impact on the 9.1 million people who receive care through the VA.

“We’re already facing a staffing crisis in our hospitals,” said Irma Westmoreland, a registered nurse who heads the Veterans Affairs unit for National Nurses United told the AP. “We cannot afford to lose any more staff.”

Nurses caring for returning service members at VA medical centers and facilities are the largest group of federal government employees. A 2024 report from the VA Office of Inspector General found that more than 80% of facilities are already experiencing a severe nursing shortage.

“I can tell you here in Indiana and other places, people are really frightened about the chaos, the chaos they kind of feel around them,” said AFGE National VA Council First Executive Vice President Mary Jean Burke. “A lot of people are stressed out because they kind of feel like the predictability of their mission is a little bit different.”

Mary-Jean Burke, a physical therapist and American Federation of Government Employees leader, told the AP that that nurses felt insulted by the Trump administration’s official communication on the offer implied the nurses are “not productive” and should go find another job in the private sector.