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VA Patients, Workers Demand Rehire Tim Wells

By VVAW

At the Allen Park VA Hospital in Detroit, workers and patients have been fighting back in different ways against the rotten medical care and working conditions, and building their unity against the administration. Tim Wells, a nursing assistant at the hospital has been a part of this struggle and as a result he has been fired. Because he's a fighter, the VA big shots are out to get him, but VVAW and his fellow workers say, "Hell no! Tim Wells has got to stay on his job!"

To show how the VA works, they gave Tim his first warning in the form of counseling only five days after he witnessed a nurse hit a patient. When the patient protested and asked Tim to be a witness, he agreed. The nursing supervisor found this out, called Wells into the office and strongly suggested that he not be a witness. But this bogus attempt to get Wells to back off didn't work, and in the end it was the administration which had to back off and transfer the nurse off the ward.

The letter of termination came shortly after Wells and other workers protested the way administrators promoted workers. Despite the "proper procedures," promotions often go to those with "connections," and Wells and other workers were saying that they wouldn't be treated like a bunch of fools.

The VA claimed that Wells was fired because of absenteeism and lateness (3 latenesses in one year!), but the real reason is that the VA big shots are definitely scared of workers and patients organizing and fighting for what they need. This firing is just one more incident to arouse their anger. We're all tired of their harassment and intimidation, calling vets "junkies" or "drunks" or sending patients to the psycho ward when they dare to protest their treatment. We're all tired of worsening health care and working conditions, of minimizing costs and cutting staffs. There are no profits in sick veterans. The only thing the VA big shots care about is how small a budget they can sow their bosses in Washington. So we have to fight for everything we get from them.

VVAW in Detroit has been uniting with hospital workers, patients and other vets to fight for decent medial care. The VA's attempts at stopping this fight by firing people like Tim Wells will only backfire on them, because we see that an attack on him is an attack on all of us. Veterans and hospital workers are stepping up the struggle for decent medical care and decent working conditions. As part of that fight, we demand that Tim Wells stay on his job.