Response to Trump Administration investigating VA employees mourning Alex Pretti

Minnesota AFL-CIO President Bernie Burnham made the following statement in response to a CNN report showing the Department of Veterans Affairs investigated VA employees who attended vigils and memorials for fellow VA worker and American Federation of Government Employees (AGFE) member Alex Pretti, who federal agents shot and killed this past January in Minneapolis:

“Our nation’s federal workers don’t surrender their humanity or their constitutional rights when they are hired. 

“The people who make our government function and deliver vital services every day are human beings who have every right to grieve their co-worker and fellow union member who was taken from them in a cruel act of state violence.

“Witch hunts like this are part of a deeply troubling pattern of management intimidating workers and creating a culture of fear at the VA ever since President Trump ripped up their collective bargaining agreement last year.

“If even grief must be approved by management, what’s to stop the Trump administration from silencing VA workers who speak up for the veterans they proudly serve every single day?

“This news, combined with countless reports of management intimidating employees across the federal workforce over the last year shows exactly why workers need their collective bargaining agreements reinstated to protect our professional federal civil service from partisan interference and authoritarian intimidation.

“The Trump administration’s blatant weaponization of the Federal Government, from these investigations into VA Workers to the justice department’s investigation into victims’ family members like Becca Good, needs to end. 

“The Minnesota AFL-CIO renews our call for justice for those harmed during ‘Operation Metro Surge’ and independent investigations into the murders of Renée Good and Alex Pretti, and the reinstatement of the federal workforce’s collective bargaining agreements.”