IAM Local 1125 (District 725) member Bob Svenson recently received his long awaited notice that he has cleared the bar and is now a fully accredited Veterans Administration claims representative. He is now able to represent veterans seeking help with VA claims.
The status is hard to achieve because it allows these representatives to act much like an attorney, representing veterans in the claims process, and more.
“Many times the VA will come back and say your condition is not service connected and the veteran will just walk away,” said Svenson, a disabled U.S. Navy veteran. “Maybe one percent of those people will say, ‘Nope,’ and they’ll fight for it. I want to help everyone fight to get what they deserve.”
“Bob fought hard for this accreditation and the VA does not make it easy because it’s a very serious process when processing benefits from the VA,” said IAM Assistant Veterans Services Coordinator Bryan Stymacks. “He was banging on doors and making calls to people that could push the VA to act on his application. It takes three to five years sometimes to get through the process to be accredited.”
The IAM Union launched its Veterans Services Program in January 2021 with one accredited VA claims representative. So far, that representative, IAM Veterans Services Coordinator Rich Evans, has successfully gained more than $406,000 in monthly benefit increases, providing ongoing support to veterans and their 155 spouses and 259 children. The cumulative total of backpay recovered since the start of the program now stands at nearly $3.6 million.
“I sought accreditation on my own from the VA in 2016 and I know how hard it is to fight within the VA system”, said Evans. “So now there are two accredited claims representatives within the IAM Veterans Services Program, and we could probably use about 20.”
The IAM offers representation to IAM members and their families free of charge. Also the first labor organization to be recognized by the VA as a Veterans Service Organization (VSO), much like the DAV and American Legion. Accredited representatives can demand thousands of dollars to help with a claim, but the IAM views the representation as a guaranteed benefit of IAM membership.
The IAM Veterans Services Department continues to grow and and expand its services to military veteran members, many of whom do not realize that benefits like VA Healthcare can work as a supplement to other health insurance, reducing the out of pocket costs for healthcare for the veteran and enrolling the veteran in the proper programs as they become eligible for Medicare at retirement age. You can find out more here: IAM Veterans Services Intake Form
“I have three sets of families; my family that’s blood, my next family is my union family, and then it’s my military,” said Svenson. “I don’t care where on the spectrum they are, those are my families – you don’t mess with them.”
Svenson has been a member of the IAM Veterans Steering Committee since he attended the first veteran’s service training course at the Winpisinger Center in 2020. He is very active in the veterans councils in the western United States, and is based in San Diego with several roles at Local 1125.
The post IAM Veteran Services Department Congratulates Local 1125 Retiree on VA Accreditation appeared first on IAM Union.