Cars and trucks honked regularly in support as more than 150 members of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the National Nurses United (NNU) held signs outside the James. A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago protesting cuts to veteran’s care.
”Let there be cure, not cuts. Let there be cure, not cuts,” the men and women chanted in protesting the spending cuts aimed at the U.S. Veterans Administration by President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) as the vehicles drove by them.
“It feels great,” Matt Muchowski, AFGE’s legislative and political organizer, said of the motorists’ support. “It shows people believe our opposition to the cuts to veteran’s care by the Trump administration are good.”
Members of AFGE and NNU, along with veterans and government officials, rallied at the entrance to Naval Station Great Lakes outside the health care center Friday showing support to veterans and opposition to the DOGE cost-cutting and firings.
U.S. Brad Schneider, D-Highland Park, represents the Great Lakes community and is the father of a Navy veteran. He is a vocal opponent of the DOGE cuts, particularly those that impact military personnel and veterans.
Scheider criticized the “billionaires in Washington” who made decisions to terminate employees arbitrarily, without regard for work performance, and who are ignorant of the work done at the hospital for both veterans and active-duty military personnel.
“We are here because something deeply unjust has been happening,” he said. “Dedicated professionals — many of you veterans yourselves — have been ruthlessly fired. There is a betrayal of trust in a government that claims to prioritize veterans’ healthcare, but turns its back on the very people making that care possible. You are not forgotten. You are not alone.”
Schneider said it is important to show support for veterans and people who care for them. He said he is also working to do his part in Washington to help oppose the actions by DOGE that are hurting people in Lake County and around the district.
“I’m really angry,” he said after his speech. “I know there is inefficiency, but this is more than that. What they are doing to our veterans is simply wrong.”
Robert Hopkins, a union steward for AFGE, began his remarks at the rally with words from the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., saying a “true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige and even his life for the welfare of others.”
Hopkins said if the union members work together, they can overcome and undo the changes being imposed in Washington. If union members and their supporters work together, they will reverse the fear, he said.
“This is what they fear,” he said, referring to Trump and Elon Musk at DOGE. “They fear the moment they realize the union lives in unity. They fear the day we understand the strength of many. They fear our voices finding harmony in truth.”
People attend a rally and press conference hosted by the American Federation of Government Employees Local 2107, representing Department of Veterans Affairs employees, outside of Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center to protest attacks on the federal workforce on April 4, 2025, in North Chicago. (Audrey Richardson/Chicago Tribune)
Mary Ross Cunningham chants during an American Federation of Government Employees Local 2107 press conference and rally outside of Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center to protest attacks on the federal workforce on April 4, 2025, in North Chicago. “We’re under attack right now,” Cunningham said. “We already went through this years ago.” Cunningham said she went to Washington D.C. in 1966 to protest the same issues. (Audrey Richardson/Chicago Tribune)
Monica Coleman, a representative of NNU, said she is concerned not only about the workers at the hospital, but the veterans and active-duty personnel under their care. She said the 80,000 job cuts nationwide are “more than a statistic.”
“It is a devastating blow to the very foundation of patient care and the well-being of those who have sacrificed so much for our country,” Coleman said. “These cuts will inevitably lead to a significant reduction in the workforce that is essential to providing quality healthcare.
Lake County Board Vice-Chair Mary Ross Cunningham, D-Waukegan, said she worked at the one-time Great Lakes Hospital before the new facility was built and named for Lovell. She told the workers of the importance of their mission and got them chanting.
“Who’s got the power,” Cunningham said.
“Union power,” the crowd responded.
