EDITORIAL: VA shuts many qualified veterans out of good jobs

As we've documented time and time again, the level of dysfunction and malfeasance at the Department of Veterans Affairs has reached epic proportions. The agency has dragged its feet in processing veterans' routine disability and compensation claims, covered up excessive wait times that harmed countless veterans, gone way late and way over budget in building numerous new hospitals, and done a pathetic job of getting rid of problem employees.

As if all of that wasn't bad enough, the VA is now disrespecting our vets once again by shutting them out of thousands of jobs.

According to a report by the Daily Caller's Luke Rosiak, the VA's union contract says the agency must hire existing government employees — not veterans — for most jobs, despite federal law and rules that are supposed to give vets first dibs on civil service jobs.

So, which VA jobs are specifically reserved for veterans? Low-skill, and low-paying.

That's right: While the agency offers thousands of other jobs — including many that don't require any particularly unique skill set — only to current civil servants (read: current public-sector union members, with seniority, of course), the vast majority of jobs reserved specifically for vets are "housekeeping aide" positions. Other, similarly lower-skilled jobs such as vehicle operator, supply clerk and secretary are open only to union members, and often pay much better.

Yes, the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act technically allows vets to pursue highly desirable jobs that are typically only open to current government employees, but it's pretty much pointless for them to apply for those positions. As Mr. Rosiak noted in a separate report, due to the Master Agreement between the VA and the American Federation of Government Employees, the majority of open civil service positions can only go to vets if no qualified union members want them.

"Prior to considering candidates from outside the bargaining unit, the department agrees to first consider internal candidates for selection ... in all cases … first and full consideration shall be given to any best qualified candidates within the facility," the agreement states.

Letting those who defended our nation be janitors — gee, thanks — helps the VA meet its hiring goals while also defending its ludicrous and lucrative (for union members) agreement with the AFGE — an agreement that just further highlights the problem of public employee unions and the entrenched status and opportunities they confer on those employees.

The best solution for the VA is to tear down the entire agency and fully privatize it. Absent that, the agency needs to give veterans the treatment they rightly deserve — in the VA's hospitals and clinics, and with career opportunities.