Last year’s mass layoffs at Voice of America were voided Saturday when a federal judge sided with AFSCME and other organizations in a lawsuit against the Trump administration.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, of Washington, D.C., ruled that Kari Lake’s appointment as acting CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media was illegal, and that actions taken by Lake since March 2025 are canceled.
AFSCME was among the unions, press freedom organizations and employees that challenged Lake’s appointment in court.
“This ruling is a major victory for the federal workers who Kari Lake and this administration have been attempting to illegally fire for the last year,” said AFSCME President Lee Saunders. “Voice of America employees are dedicated public servants who provide hope for freedom to those living under oppressive governments around the world. Yet time and again, this administration has attempted to strip these proud AFSCME members of their collective bargaining freedoms and their jobs.”
In August, Lake conducted a reduction-in-force that eliminated hundreds of VOA jobs, but the layoffs were suspended while the court case continued. Saturday’s ruling reverses those layoffs.
The union plaintiffs representing U.S. Agency for Global Media employees are AFSCME, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA). The News Guild CWA is also a plaintiff, representing employees of a private grantee network funded by the U.S. Agency for Global Media.
The impacted VOA workers are members of AFSCME Local 1418 (District Council 20).
The administration and Lake also tried to cancel employees’ collective bargaining rights, but AFSCME and AFGE successfully challenged that action and restored their union rights and collective bargaining agreements.
“AFSCME members will continue to stand with the public service workers who defend democracy and ensure the voices of freedom are heard around the world,” Saunders said.