Department of Veterans Affairs building in Washington, D.C. (Stars and Stripes)

WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs axed another 1,400 workers Monday, just two weeks after firing 1,000 staff members who had worked for less than two years in their jobs.

Employees who lost their jobs in this second round of cuts were in “non-mission critical” positions that included roles promoting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, the VA said.

Targeted for dismissal Monday were union workers who the VA described as bargaining-unit employees. They were probationary workers who were in competitive service and excepted service appointments.

Competitive service is a merit-based hiring system similar to the private sector. Agencies using excepted service set their own hiring qualifications for jobs that often are highly specialized.

“All of the people I served with were overworked. The staff the VA had before the firings was not able to meet existing demands for services and care,” said Jonathan Kamens, who was fired Feb. 14 as an information security worker at VA.gov, the agency website. “The work still needs to get done and now there are fewer people to do it.”

Kamens served for less than two years in his job.

The layoffs will save the department more than $83 million per year, the agency said. VA Secretary Doug Collins promised to redirect the savings back into services and care for veterans, their dependents and survivors.

“These and other recent personnel decisions are extraordinarily difficult, but VA is focused on allocating its resources to help as many veterans, families, caregivers and survivors as possible,” Collins said in a prepared statement.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who is a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, condemned the agency cuts as exacerbating shortages of key VA personnel. The VA has a workforce of nearly 475,000 and provides benefits and services to more than 8 million veterans.

“These actions are destroying the trust veterans have in VA and will do long-term damage to VA’s ability to recruit and retain talented doctors, nurses and others wanting to pursue a career serving veterans. Not only does it destroy trust, but it disrespects the service of a number of veterans and military spouses who work at VA — unjustly upending their lives and their careers,” he said.

Blumenthal last week submitted a letter to Collins signed by 35 Democratic senators that called for the fired probationary workers to be reinstated. The senators wrote basic services at VA have been curtailed because of the firings.

The terminations at the VA — the second-largest federal agency after the Defense Department — are part of a larger effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to downsize the federal workforce, which numbers more than 2 million.

The Department of Government Efficiency, organized by Trump adviser Elon Musk, has led a massive workforce reduction that extends to multiple agencies, including the VA, Education Department, Energy Department, Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Agency for International Development and Department of Homeland Security.

The White House has yet to release an official figure on the number of firings.