To help pay for massive tax cuts for billionaires, the new administration is illegally firing thousands of federal workers.
These indiscriminate firings are already taking a toll on state and local public services. That’s because state and local workers, including AFSCME members, collaborate with or rely on the federal workforce to provide public services in their states and communities.
Here are some examples:
- AFSCME members at local and state public health departments work with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to fight diseases and protect our health. At least 750 CDC workers have been fired and more could be on the way. That’s a loss of valuable expertise at a time bird flu is on the rise.
- Workers everywhere benefit from the expertise of U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) workers. They make sure wage and child labor laws are enforced and protect workers from getting injured at work. For instance, DOL recovered nearly $23 million for AFSCME Maryland Council 3’s corrections members last year after discovering that the state, under former Gov. Larry Hogan, had engaged in wage theft. Recent firings at the DOL will reduce the agency’s ability to do such incredibly important work.
- AFSCME members who work for local housing authorities rely on the staff of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to manage public housing and to provide most of the funding that pays for day-to-day operations. The new administration wants to fire half of workers at HUD. This will have disastrous consequences for communities nationwide.
- State emergency management agencies rely on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) staff for a range of assistance. Infrastructure improvement, flood mitigation, loans, technical assistance and more. The new administration has already fired probationary employees at FEMA. It looks like many more will be fired soon.
- State and local environmental agencies rely on the personnel and funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to keep the skies, waters and earth clean. The new administration is planning massive personnel cuts at EPA that will hurt state and local environmental protection.
These are but a few examples, and they are just the beginning of the devastation to public services under this administration.
Government agencies have been ordered to produce a plan for worker layoffs by March 13 with no reasoning given as to why layoffs are being deemed necessary.
These firings are also inspiring some anti-union extremists at the state level — Florida for one — to begin their own Elon Musk-style taskforces to gut public service cuts.
Public service workers have had to do more with less for decades. We know better than anyone how to make government more efficient.
For years, we’ve faced short-staffing and underfunding in states, cities and towns. Further cuts will make our work even harder, especially in corrections, hospitals, nursing homes and schools.
Indiscriminate firings and budget reductions — including cuts to Medicaid that anti-union extremists in Congress are demanding — will have disastrous consequences for states, cities, communities and schools.
This is why AFSCME members are fighting back through our union’s Get Organized campaign. We will defend the public services we provide and our communities need and deserve.