Des Moines nurses to rally for veteran safety at local VA

RNs and allies in Iowa to speak out against massive cuts and unprecedented attacks on federal employees protected union rights

Union nurses who work with veterans in the VA Central Iowa Health Care System will hold a rally on Saturday, March 21, in response to unprecedented attacks on federal workers and veterans' health care. At the rally, nurses-turned-whistleblowers will sound the alarm that staffing cuts are harming veteran patients. Nurses in the Central Iowa VA (CIVA) system are represented by National Nurses Organizing Committee/National Nurses United (NNOC/NNU).

CIVA, which includes the Des Moines VA Medical Center, is suffering from a loss of registered nurses and ancillary staff as the Trump administration continues to cut health care worker positions. Nurses will rally to protest the funding cuts and other policies prompting staff attrition and exodus, all of which ultimately threatens the high-quality, specialized care provided to veterans.

What: NNU RNs rally for veteran patient safety
When: March 21, 2026 at 6 p.m.
Where: Union Park, 725 Thompson Ave., Des Moines, Iowa

Nurses say the situation in Central Iowa is reflective of national issues. A recent New York Timesinvestigation found that, nationally, the VA eliminated 4,900 nurse positions that were left vacant after a wave of resignations and retirements. This exodus was precipitated by the Trump administration's deferred resignation program, the increasingly hostile work environment, and the VA's announcement in July 2025 that it intended to cut 30,000 workers.

The VA is already facing a serious staffing crisis. According to an August 2025 report, 79 percent of VA facilities already have severe shortages in nursing staff. This staffing crisis persists as the number of veterans seeking care at the VA continues to grow.

VA staffing reductions are happening amidst the presidential administration's unprecedented attack on federal employees' protected union rights. NNU, along with labor unions representing federal government workers across the country, sued the Trump administration over the president's attempt to override federal collective bargaining rights through executive order and strip more than one million federal government employees of their union rights.

Union nurses at VA facilities are concerned that staffing cuts and attacks on their labor rights are part of a larger push to dismantle the entire VA system or potentially attempt to privatize it. Staffing cuts, reduced labor rights for health care workers, and privatization all present existential threats to health care veterans receive through the VA.

The VA's own "Red Team" Executive Roundtable analysis, which reported $30 billion of VA spending on private-sector care in 2023, noted that privatization "threaten[s] to materially erode the VA's direct-care system and create a potential unintended consequence of eliminating choice for the millions of Veterans who prefer to use the VHA direct care system for all or part of their medical care needs."

NNOC/NNU represents more than 450 registered nurses working in the VA Central Iowa Health Care System and more than 16,000 registered nurses at 23 Veterans Health Administration (VHA) facilities across the country, including many nurses who are veterans themselves.

National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the United States with more than 225,000 members nationwide. NNU affiliates include California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, DC Nurses Association, Michigan Nurses Association, Minnesota Nurses Association, and New York State Nurses Association.