Stop Musk’s Takeover: Thousands of Federal Workers Rally Against DOGE, Trump Govt After Mass Layoffs- wna24
People protest during a rally outside the Treasury Department in Washington | Image:
AP
Washington: Thousands of federal workers across the United States are agitating against Trump’s administration desperate and aggressive effort to reduce the size of the workforce after the government agencies sent out mass notices telling employees that there services were no longer needed.
There is anger, chaos and confusion among thousands of federal workforce who have upped the ante against the takeover of Trump’s administration alleging it has been taken over by Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla CEO, who is heading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The National Treasury Employees Union and a group of other unions filed a lawsuit challenging what they call unlawful terminations.
Since day one, Musk has been determined to cut unnecessary government jobs that are only adding burden on taxpayers money.
To make the process smoother, the Trump government offered a onetime settlement plan of deferred resignations under which the employees who would be laid off will receive salaries till September 30.
Not thoughtfully done, says a federal worker
Employees who have been at the receiving end of Trump’s administration attempt to restructure the federal workforce say that none of this has been done thoughtfully or carefully.
One Nicholas Detter, who woks in Kansas as a natural resource specialist said that this — laying off federal workers — has been a slash and burn. He’s one among many who received an email from the Office of Personal Management (OPM) informing him that his services were not longer required.
A majority of employees who have been fired by the OPM department were employed less than a year ago and were on probation. The OPM department has been given a deadline to send lay off notices to the federal employees by Tuesday 8 pm.
Andrew Lennox, a 10-year Marine veteran, was part of a new supervisor training program at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He said he received an email “out of the blue” Thursday evening informing him that he was being terminated.
“In order to help veterans, you just fired a veteran,” said Lennox, 35, a former USMC infantryman who was deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.
Lennox had been working as an administrative officer at the VA since mid-December and said he “would love nothing more” than to keep working.
“This is my family, and I would like to do this forever,” he said.
In a post on its website, the VA announced the dismissal of more than 1,000 employees, saying the personnel moves “will save the department more than $98 million per year” and be better equipped to help vets.
“I was like: ‘What about this one?’” Lennox said.