The day after the union representing workers at the Department of Veterans Affairs St. Petersburg Regional Office used its website to announce plans for a protest against management, the VA’s internet system blocked access to the site.

Union officials wonder if they are being targeted and their efforts to organize hampered. But regional office officials say they have no control over website access and that the VA’s national internet system routinely scours websites looking for certain keywords that can place a website on a “non-trusted” status. National VA officials say they are aware of the problem and as of late Thursday afternoon appeared to have fixed it.

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Lawmakers from both parties addressing unionized federal employees at a conference Monday pledged more support and respect for the civil service, but the union itself promised to “whoop [the] ass” of Congress if it stood in the group’s way.

At its annual legislative gathering, the American Federation of Government Employees vowed to combat any congressional efforts to shrink the federal workforce, cut pay and benefits or weaken unions. While Congress has succeeded in slashing agency rolls and freezing pay, union leaders said, those actions have better positioned the union to prevent similar efforts in the future.

Every time the “fools” in Congress try to hurt the federal workforce, said AFGE National President J. David Cox in a passionate address to his members, “We get bigger. We get stronger and we fight harder.”

He added: “We are a force to be reckoned with and we are a force that will open up the biggest can of whoop ass on anyone” who votes against the union’s interests.

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