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WASHINGTON, Feb. 19, 2026 — The IAM Union (International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers) strongly opposes a new Department of Veterans Affairs rule that changes how Veterans’ disabilities are evaluated when medication is involved.
The interim rule rates disabilities based solely on how Veterans function while symptoms are masked by medication. This approach would ignore flare-ups, worsening conditions, and the real-world limitations Veterans face on the job and in daily life. In effect, this tells Veterans that if medication helps you get through the day, your disability doesn’t count as much.
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Our Union represents hundreds of thousands of workers in aerospace, defense, shipbuilding, rail, and federal service, many of whom are military Veterans working physically demanding, safety-critical jobs. Veterans often rely on medication to stay employed. That does not mean their service-connected disabilities have disappeared.
The interim rule also effectively undermines Ingram v. Collins (2025), a federal court decision reaffirming that the VA cannot rely on medication-suppressed symptoms when rating disabilities. Rather than following that ruling, the VA issued a regulation designed to render it meaningless.
Veterans should not lose hard-won legal protections because an agency finds them inconvenient. Disability compensation exists to reflect lost earning capacity and functional impairment, not how well medication masks pain during a brief exam.
Through the IAM Veterans Services Program, the IAM became the first and only labor union officially recognized by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) as a national Veterans Service Organization (VSO). This historic designation highlights our union’s long-standing commitment to supporting those who have served in the military. It ensures that IAM military Veterans and their families now have direct access to essential benefits, trusted representation, and a strong advocate to help them navigate the system they have honorably earned.
Veterans earned these benefits through service and sacrifice. They deserve better.
We are calling on the VA to withdraw or substantially revise this rule.
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The IAM Union (International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers) is one of North America’s largest and most diverse industrial trade unions, representing approximately 600,000 active and retired members in the aerospace, defense, airlines, shipbuilding, railroad, transit, healthcare, automotive, and other industries across the United States and Canada.
