ST. AUGUSTA, Minn – Tensions have become so high between management and workers at the St. Cloud Veterans Affairs Medical Center that two members of Congress on Friday proposed federal mediation to fix the problem.
The acrimony became apparent during a closed-door meeting with workers and management at the St. Cloud facility Friday afternoon with U.S. Reps. Tom Emmer and Tim Walz. Emmer represents the district in Congress and Walz is a member of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
The meeting was arranged after a federal investigative report revealed a corrosive work environment and fears of retribution for raising concerns. The report, from the VA Office of Inspector General, was itself controversial. It was never publicly revealed even though it is two years old.
The investigation validated complaints of a hostile work environment created by senior managers and problems with canceled appointments for patients because of insufficient staffing.
While Emmer and Walz were diplomatic in describing the meeting, one person who was inside characterized it as "explosive." Emmer admitted he was surprised by the level of animosity.
"There seems to be an inability to bridge the gap, to get together and resolve some challenges, and I am choosing my words carefully," he said before a veterans roundtable at a nearby American Legion. "It's reached the point that both sides acknowledge some additional help would be fruitful."
Walz and Emmer said they didn't come to the meeting to pick sides but to facilitate rebuilding a relationship that appears to have deteriorated over the past three years. Mistrust is so significant that Walz said some workers, fearful of retribution, handed staffers pieces of paper rather than speak. Many workers talked of being forced to work on their own time and the stress of increased caseloads, Emmer said.
"Either you are very, very happy or people were very frustrated," Walz said. "It was a pretty high level of emotion. It takes a lot of courage to stand up in front of your peers and your supervisors and name a claim about your workplace."