Salem Veterans Affairs employees rallied for better staffing at medical center

SALEM, Va. – Salem VA employees held a rally in front of the medical center Saturday. 

Employees of the American Federation of Government Employees union wants the Department of Veteran's Affairs to immediately fill 49,000 vacancies nationwide.
     
They say the purpose of tSaturday's rally was to give information to the public, veterans, and others employees about the vacancies shortages at the facility in Salem and how it's creating risks to patient safety and a hazardous work environment. 

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"We don't have enough staff, bottom line. We have a great facility and great employees but you only have X amount of employees that can only take care of an X amount of entrants," Brad Looney said. 

"I want to talk about the Veterans Choice they have is a joke. They need to put our care into the VA instead of Veterans Choice, said Elwood Deisher, Navy veteran. 

The AFGE is the largest federal employee union.Â