(From the Desk of NFFE National President Erwin)
Saturday, November 11th is Veterans Day, a day to honor military veterans and to acknowledge and show appreciation for the tremendous sacrifice that our cherished veterans have made in service to our country. This is an important time to take a moment to say ‘thank you’ to the veterans in our lives for protecting our freedoms and making the pursuit of our dreams a possibility. Our veterans have earned our appreciation and admiration, and it is important that we put that into our words and our actions on Veterans Day.
At NFFE, we are proud of our members that have served in uniform, and supporting them is a key part of our union’s mission. We have fought for, and will continue to fight for, veterans’ preference in hiring, and will continue to pursue other authorities that allow for important flexibilities to help veterans on the job. With veterans composing 31% of the federal workforce, and the federal government being the largest employer of veterans nation-wide, the well-being of veterans and federal employees are inextricably linked. At NFFE, we are proud of the important work we do to support veterans every day.
Veterans Day has special significance in NFFE because we have thousands of members in our union employed at the Department of Veterans Affairs whose profession is to care for veterans. When a young man or woman goes overseas to serve our country in uniform, we make a solemn promise to care for them when they return, and it is NFFE-IAM members that make good on that promise by providing the direct care that veterans need. Thank you to all the NFFE-IAM members who care for the American veteran every day.
Finally, I would like to say to each and every veteran reading these words, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE! I appreciate your sacrifice. Your union appreciates your sacrifice. And your country appreciates your sacrifice.
Randy Erwin
NFFE National President