Embedded Files
NEXT MEETING: 07/13/26, 7 PM, OZARK-DALE LIBRARY
This is a subpage to highlight news regarding the Trump Administration's efforts to cut federal spending at the expense of dedicated federal workers that do important work for American citizens. It also highlights firings of key personnel that appear to be politically motivated or appear to be acts of retribution against those who may have investigated Trump in the past. Impacts of staff reductions to government agencies and offices that serve the public are discussed in many of these articles. Not all articles discussing firings and layoffs are found here. However, most are. If this sounds confusing, you try sorting all this news into defined categories.
Many articles focusing on legal efforts to fight these firings and layoffs are not listed here. Many of these efforts are discussed in articles found on the "Resistance to Trump Agenda" subpage.
5 NDAA proposals that could impact DoD employees - 6/12
https://federalnewsnetwork.com/congress/2026/06/5-ndaa-proposals-that-could-impact-dod-employees/
Comment: "These are a few of the provisions that could matter most to Defense Department employees if they become law under the House’s version of the fiscal 2027 defense policy bill. The full House now is considering the bill after the House Armed Services Committee passed the legislation on June 5."
Comment: "Workforce protections"
"Multiple amendments would block the Trump administration from laying off certain DoD employees, except in cases of poor performance or misconduct."
Comment: "Acquisition staff"
"The bill directs the defense secretary to appoint a chief acquisition talent officer as a key player in strengthening the military’s acquisition workforce."
Comment: "Prediction markets"
"Betting on certain national security events in newly popular prediction markets like Polymarket would become off-limits to troops and DoD civilians."
Comment: "Pilot programs"
"Defense policy bills are rife with pilot programs. This year’s House draft would create a three-year initiative to send push notifications via text to overseas troops and their adult dependents to keep them in the loop on issues from job opportunities for spouses to child care availability and TRICARE enrollment deadlines."
Comment: "Audit preparations"
"As the deadline for DoD to pass a clean financial audit looms at the end of 2028, House lawmakers slipped in a few provisions to shape the process."
Comment: Please read the linked article for details.
Trump strips job protections from 8,000 federal workers - 6/03
Comment: "President Trump has issued an executive order turning an estimated 8,000 federal workers into at-will employees, which means the government could fire them without providing any reason."
"The move culminates an effort Trump launched during his first term to strip vast numbers of federal employees of civil service protections designed to insulate their work from political interference."
"Nearly all of the 8,000 people affected are at the highest level of the civil service, known as GS-15. The Trump administration characterizes the roles as senior positions with significant influence over policy. They include leaders of policy offices and their chiefs of staff, heads of regional offices, program managers, senior public affairs officers and those overseeing spending and grants."
"The number of positions affected by Wednesday's executive order is smaller than many anticipated. Originally, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) estimated some 50,000 positions could be reclassified. The administration has not ruled out expanding the pool at a later time."
Trump formalizes move of career federal workers into ‘at will’ roles - 6/03
https://thehill.com/homenews/5908761-trump-federal-workers-schedule-pc/
Comment: "Federal worker unions called it a clear attack on employees and an attempt to intimidate federal workers who will now risk their jobs in reporting any malfeasance."
" 'This is a blatant attempt to corrupt the federal government by eliminating employees’ due process rights so they can be fired for political reasons. Thousands of employees who were hired under the nonpartisan, professional civil service will be converted to a new hiring schedule where they can be fired ‘at will’ by political appointees or other overseers with essentially no procedural or appeal safeguards that have long protected the integrity of government operations,' Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal worker union, said in a statement."
" 'The practical implications of this action are clear. Workers who once felt comfortable reporting waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement at their place of employment because they were protected from retaliation will now be afraid for their jobs if they speak out. That is a disservice to them and to the millions of Americans who rely on the federal government every day."
US consumer watchdog recalls all staff nationwide to Washington headquarters - 5/28
Comment: "The top U.S. government watchdog for consumer financial protection on Wednesday said it would reassign virtually all staff nationwide to its Washington headquarters later this year, the latest move likely to weaken an agency the Trump administration is seeking to minimize if not eliminate, according to an email obtained by Reuters."
"The decision to relocate roughly 450 employees stationed near the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's former regional offices in San Francisco, Atlanta, Chicago and New York and end remote work arrangements was likely to accelerate the recent pace of resignations."
"President Donald Trump's administration has been battling in court for more than a year for authorization to proceed with plans to dismiss the vast majority of the agency's workforce but has so far been blocked."
Video: Trump administration proposes NDA rule for federal employees - May 28, 2026
https://youtu.be/ou_57Y5-vsg?si=rMt2OuQ9sgI4dROk
Comment: "The Trump administration is proposing a rule for federal employees to sign non-disclosure agreements, or NDAs. CBS News legal contributor Jessica Levinson breaks it down."
Department of Labor Tells Employees to Report Anyone Prioritizing DEI - 5/27
https://www.wired.com/story/department-of-labor-tells-employees-to-report-anyone-prioritizing-dei/
Comment: "An email reminds workers they can report behavior that predates Donald Trump’s second inauguration. One employee tells WIRED it felt like a 'reminder to narc on your coworkers'.”
Comment: "Late last week, employees at the Department of Labor received a long email strongly urging them to file whistleblower complaints and report instances of 'diversity, equity, and inclusion'-related discrimination or retaliation. In short, employees were told to alert the government of DEI compliance in any way."
They were told they’d move on. A year later, many fired federal employees say they haven’t been able to - 5/27
Trump administration pushes governmentwide NDA for federal employees - 5/26
Comment: "Violations of the NDA could result in disciplinary action, including terminations or civil and criminal penalties for federal employees, OPM said."
Comment: "The American Federation of Government Employees called OPM’s proposal an attempt to silence and purge nonpartisan civil servants who speak out about wrongdoing at their agencies."
"“OPM claims the form will be ‘optional’ for agencies to use and merely restates existing law. We know that will not be true,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said Tuesday. 'OPM will pressure agencies to make the NDA mandatory and then fire employees who refuse to sign it.' "
"A draft version of the NDA, published on Tuesday, outlines parameters of the legally binding agreement. It includes a provision stating that confidential information should only be used for 'performing official duties and responsibilities.' Employees who sign the NDA would also agree to 'promptly' notify their agency of any unauthorized disclosures they suspect or become aware of."
"The NDAs would remain in place even after federal employees change jobs or employers, unless given written permission from an authorized agency official for a disclosure — and even then, disclosures may still contain redacted information."
Comment: " 'Agencies already have extensive policies and procedures in place for preventing the unauthorized release of classified or privileged information,' Kelley said. 'his proposed rule sweeps in an extraordinarily broad category of information, extending restrictions to the very material the public relies on to learn when an administration is causing harm.' ”
"There may also be significant legal implications for federal employees who are required to sign NDAs. Before signing a non-disclosure agreement, employees should consider the scope of information covered in the NDA, the duration and the types of prohibited activities involved, attorneys have recommended."
"Michael Fallings, managing partner at Tully Rinckey, said the proposed governmentwide NDA is broader than typical federal employee agreements, which tend to more specifically state what type of information cannot be disclosed."
" 'If people are removed from their jobs for violating or allegedly violating this NDA, it will certainly lead to litigation,' Fallings said. 'Understand the rights you do have, including your First Amendment rights.' ”
OPM proposes requiring all feds to sign an NDA - 5/26
https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2026/05/opm-proposes-feds-sign-nda/413770/
Comment: "Experts warned the measure, when combined with the federal HR agency’s new power to target employees’ suitability for federal employment, creates a new pathway for Trump administration officials to purge those deemed insufficiently loyal to the president."
Federal appeals court keeps union contract for 300K VA employees in place amid lawsuit - 5/18
Trump administration expects to strip hundreds at US health agencies of job protections - 5/15
Comment: "U.S. President Donald Trump's administration expects hundreds of health department officials will lose civil service job protections, making them easier to fire, as it carries out a plan to revamp the federal workforce, according to an internal memo reviewed by Reuters."
"Supervisors at several agencies in the Department of Health and Human Services received the memo, which said positions on their teams may be reclassified in an initial wave and that additional waves would follow."
"The change means people in those roles could be fired at will. Current civil service protections guarantee employees can only be fired for cause and have appeal rights."
"The move is in line with an overhaul announced by the administration in February that gives the president more power to hire and fire up to 50,000 career federal employees, who would be reclassified to Schedule Policy/Career, formerly known as Schedule F during Trump's first term."
Forest Service Is Not Reorganizing, It Is ‘Dismantling,’ Says Union - 5/12
https://www.fedweek.com/fedweek/forest-service-is-not-reorganizing-it-is-dismantling-says-union/
Comment: "The NFFE union has called on Congress to block the administration’s recently announced reorganization of the U.S. Forest Service, saying that 'in reality this is not a reorganization; it is a dismantling of a 121-year-old institution that manages 193 million acres of public land, an area larger than the state of Texas.' ”
"The recently announced plan includes among other things eliminating regional offices, closing of research facilities, while ending certain ongoing research and relocating headquarters employees from Washington, D.C, mostly to Salt Lake City, Utah. It is part of a larger reorganization of the parent Agriculture Department whose other elements also are drawing opposition."
Comment: "The union said that based on past experience, many employees with critical skills and qualifications will resign or retire rather than relocate."
" 'The result will not be a streamlined system. Rather, it will be hollowed out and unable to respond when the American people need it most . . . This dismantling will increase wildfire costs, forcing agencies to rely on far more expensive contractors and overstretched cooperators.' it said."
State moves forward with foreign service officer layoffs in blow to civil service - 5/05
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5864900-foreign-service-officers-fight-layoffs/
Comment: "The State Department on Tuesday officially terminated the employment of approximately 200 foreign service members as part of a reduction in force (RIF), part of more than 1,300 layoffs at the agency over the past year."
Comment: No Problem. Professional diplomats will be replaced by Trump's real estate buddy and his son-in-law. [sarcasm added]
AFGE DoD Locals Mount Campaign to Counter Illegal Termination of Contracts - 5/04
Workers predict significant disruptions to food assistance programs as USDA announces more relocations - 5/01
Comment: "Programs like SNAP and WIC 'simply will not function' if employees exit en masse after declining mandatory relocations across the country, union says."
Comment: "The Food and Nutrition Service will relocate most of its staff to new hubs USDA has established around the country, including to Indiana, Texas, Missouri and North Carolina. The relocations are part of a larger reorganization of FNS, which will now go by the Food and Nutrition Administration, that a union representing the agency’s workforce said would lead to closures of regional offices in Boston, Chicago, Atlanta and San Francisco."
"The changes are part of USDA's reorganization that will see 2,600 employees shifted from the capital region into the new regional hubs."
"FNS oversees 16 nutrition programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Women, Infants and Children, that collectively serve one-in-four Americans annually. The reorganization and relocations will improve customer service and not result in any disruption to program execution, USDA said."
Comment: Despite what the USDA says, if many current employees decide not to move, one might suspect that there will "disruption to program execution."
Senators demand OPM withdraw plan to access feds’ medical records - 4/20
Comment: "More than a dozen Democratic lawmakers warned that a little-scrutinized proposal to collect claims-level data related to the Federal Employees Health Benefits and Postal Service Health Benefits programs could violate federal law and doctor-client confidentiality."
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Hegseth orders termination of union contracts - 4/16
https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2026/04/hegseth-orders-termination-union-contracts/412899/
Comment: "Though some unions within the Defense Department are protected from the action by federal court orders, the American Federation of Government Employees’ locals remain vulnerable."
DoD moves to end most collective bargaining agreements - 4/15
Comment: "Defense Department employees have become the latest to lose their protections provided under collective bargaining agreements, according to union officials and an internal DoD memo obtained by Federal News Network."
FEMA came up with a goal to cut half its staff without a plan to get there, records show - 4/13
Comment: "The government’s emergency response agency developed a topline figure to which it would slash its workforce before it developed an analysis of how to reach that total, according to new documents and testimony from a lawsuit challenging an initial round of cuts, leaving staff to then reverse engineer a pathway to implement the potential reductions."
Unions heighten calls for a bigger federal pay boost next year - 4/13
Comment: "Unions are heightening their calls for a bigger federal pay boost next year. That’s after the White House omitted funding for a civilian pay raise from its 2027 budget proposal. It comes in contrast with the 7% salary increase that’s being requested for military members. Federal unions are advocating for pay raise parity between civilian and military members next year. They say not providing federal employees with a raise in 2027 would be 'disastrous'.”
AFGE Sounds the Alarm on OPM’s Plan to Collect Personal Identifiable Health Records of More Than 8 Million Federal Employees and Their Families - 4/13
Federal retirement backlog leaves thousands of postal workers without benefits - 4/12
‘Illegal’ forest service overhaul risks causing ‘chaos’ across US public lands, union claims
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/10/us-forest-service-restructure-union
Comment: "All regional offices of the US Forest Service, which manages 78m hectares (193m acres) of land – roughly the size of Texas – are set to close as part of an overhaul launched by the Trump administration. The service has already shed hundreds of staff members since Trump returned to power last year."
"The latest restructuring, announced on 30 March, includes a move to relocate the agency’s headquarters from Washington DC to Salt Lake City, Utah; the consolidation of 57 research facilities into a single site in Colorado; and the closure of regional offices across the country in favor of 15 politically appointed 'state directors'."
White House budget would cut thousands of TSA jobs: What to know - 4/08
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5820850-trump-budget-cuts-tsa/
Pay Raise for Federal Civilian Employees Omitted from Initial Budget Proposal - 4/07
Comment: "The initial fiscal year (FY) 2027 budget proposal from the Trump administration makes no mention of a pay raise for federal civilian employees."
"A spokesperson for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) confirmed that no civilian pay increase is included in the proposal."
Trump proposes to cut 9,400 TSA workers, $1.5 billion from budget - 4/06
White House budget proposal silent on civilian federal pay raise - 4/03
Comment: "The White House proposed up to a 7% pay raise for military members, but made no mention of a pay raise for civilian federal employees in 2027."
Blatant disrespect’: Judge contemplates contempt proceedings after VA re-terminated union contract - 3/27
VA re-terminates AFGE contract for 300K employees, despite court order to restore it - 3/27
Army gives some civilian employees days to accept reassignments, separations or face involuntary moves amid force-wide rebalancing effort
https://defensescoop.com/2026/03/26/army-rebalancing-civilian-workforce-reassignments-separations/
VA: Court order requires we reinstate union contract, not honor its terms - 3/25
Comment: "The Veterans Affairs Department told a federal judge Tuesday that while a court order earlier this month required the department to restore its union contract with the American Federation of Government Employees, the ruling does not require them to actually follow any of its terms."
AFGE president tells lawmakers ‘do not get on a plane’ for Easter recess without paying TSA - 3/24
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5798964-afge-president-slams-shutdown/
OPM Takeovers of RIF, Suitability Appeals Would Deprive Employees of Important Legal Rights, Unions Say - 3/19
Federal workforce unhappy, disengaged, new survey finds
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/19/federal-workforce-unhappy-disengaged-00836471
Comment: "Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought reportedly said in 2023 and 2024 he wants to put federal workers 'in trauma'.”
"He appears to have done it."
Judge orders VA to reinstate contract with employee union - 3/16
DoD launches review of legal offices. Experts warn it could thin ranks of experienced lawyers - 3/16
Comment: " 'The intent is to thin out the ranks considerably and get people to retire permanently and just disappear entirely,' Sean Timmons said."
Court Orders Restoration of AFGE Veterans Affairs Collective Bargaining Agreement - 3/13
VA ordered to restore AFGE contract under federal judge’s temporary order - 3/13
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Court Leaves Trump Orders against Unions in Place as Challenges Continue
Comment: "A coalition of unions has lost another round in federal court against Trump administration orders to end union representation rights for the majority of federal employees, although they did prevail on a procedural point that may prove important as the challenges progress."
"A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit federal court of appeals reaffirmed its earlier lifting of an injunction issued by the trial judge in the case, which involves most agencies affected by the pair of 2025 executive orders. The AFGE and other unions assert that the orders exceeded presidential authority to bar unions from agencies on national security and related grounds, and were reprisal for the union’s First Amendment rights."
"Like the earlier action on an emergency appeal by the government, the latest decision did not resolve those issues but rather focused on the standards for courts to bar actions while they consider the merits of a complaint. It said that after further briefing, it still believes that the unions have not met those legal tests."
Comment: Is one correct in reading this to mean that the court's decision only affects the unions' request for an injunction, but does not indicate how they'll rule on the merits of the case?
IRS rescinds collective bargaining agreement with its largest union
Comment: "The IRS is rescinding its collective bargaining agreement with its largest union, as part of the Trump administration’s wider rollback of union representation across the federal workforce."
"The agency said in a statement Friday that it 'has now terminated its collective bargaining agreement' with the National Treasury Employees Union, in line with a March 2025 executive order that eliminated collective bargaining rights at more than 20 agencies and subsequent guidance from the Office of Personnel Management."
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It's about to get easier for Trump to fire federal workers
https://www.npr.org/2026/02/06/nx-s1-5704171/trump-fire-federal-employees-schedule-f
Trump administration issues rule that makes it easier to fire federal workers
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/05/trump-administration-federal-workers
Comment: "New rule would strip job safeguards for 50,000 federal employees and change how whistleblowers are protected"
Trump admin moves to finalize return of Schedule F
https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2026/02/trump-admin-moves-finalize-return-schedule-f/411239/
Comment: "Officials estimate that around 50,000 federal workers will be stripped of their civil service protections beginning in around a month, as unions, employee associations and good government groups decry their positions’ politicization."
Comment: "The Office of Personnel Management is set to finalize regulations implementing President Trump’s plan to strip tens of thousands of federal employees of their civil service protections."
"First developed during Trump’s first term and revived last year, Schedule F—now renamed Schedule Policy/Career—is a new job classification within the government’s excepted service for 'policy-related' positions. Employees in positions targeted for conversion would become effectively at-will employees."
"A final rule formally implementing the policy is set for publication in the Federal Register Friday. Its provisions, first reported by Government Executive last November, include stripping Schedule Policy/Career employees of the removal protections in Title 5 of the U.S. Code and of their right to appeal adverse personnel actions. Whistleblower complaints from converted employees would no longer go to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, instead being referred internally to the employing agency’s general counsel for review."
"Administration officials estimated that as many as 50,000 federal employees could be targeted by the new policy after it takes effect March 8. Agencies have filed initial submissions of what jobs should be converted to Schedule Policy/Career, which will culminate in Trump’s issuance of a new executive order facilitating those conversions."
Comment: "Backlash to Schedule Policy/Career among groups that represent federal workers or advocate for better government performance was swift. Fully 94% of the more than 40,000 comments submitted on the proposed rule were opposed to the policy."
"The Partnership for Public Service, which last week released a new report concluding that at-will employment in state governments by and large did not improve performance but did correspond with greater instances personnel decisions driven by politics and other improper motives, blasted the measure as a step back toward the political spoils system of the 19th century."
" 'No matter what the administration says, today’s action has nothing to do with restoring merit in federal employment' said President and CEO Max Stier. 'This new designation can be used to remove expert career federal employees who place the law and service to the public ahead of blind loyalty and replace them with political supporters who will unquestioningly do the president’s bidding. ' "
"And Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, promised an 'imminent' court challenge to the rule, in coordination with other employee groups."
FEMA halts terminations of disaster workers as agency prepares for massive winter storm | CNN Politics
https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/23/politics/fema-halts-terminations-winter-storm
Comment: Trump administration having second thoughts?
Trump lauds ‘tremendous’ federal workforce cuts. Good government group calls them ‘disturbing.’
Judge: TSA ‘plainly’ violated court order with renewed union busting push
Comment: "The Homeland Security Department’s planned ouster of the American Federation of Government Employees from the Transportation Security Administration, scheduled to take effect Sunday, must now be halted."
Major Union Victory–NIOSH Employees Win Full Reinstatement After Nine-Month Fight
Comment: "After nine months of sustained organizing and collective action, all employees at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) who received layoff notices have been fully reinstated, the union representing NIOSH workers announced today."
"In April 2025, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) initiated a Reduction in Force that targeted more than 90% of the NIOSH workforce—approximately 1,000 employees including scientists, engineers, and technical experts critical to the nation's workplace safety and public health infrastructure. On January 13, 2026, HHS reversed course completely, revoking all layoff notices."
" 'This moment belongs to every single person who refused to stay silent,' said Dr. Micah Niemeier-Walsh, PhD, Vice President of American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 3840 and industrial hygienist at NIOSH. 'Every rally, every media interview, every petition signature, every act of solidarity by NIOSH employees and our partners in the labor movement led to this victory of saving NIOSH.' "
"The victory came after sustained pressure from unions, labor advocates, and public health experts. HHS had initially reinstated only 328 NIOSH employees in May 2025, just a small fraction of the agency, and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had proposed a budget that would eliminate around 80% of NIOSH's funding."
"The reinstatement of all NIOSH staff ensures the continuation of critical programs that protect all working people, including mine safety research, chemical hazard assessment, and research on emerging occupational risks."
" 'The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is a small but vital federal agency that helps prevent employee injuries, illnesses, and deaths at workplaces nationwide,' said AFGE National President Everett Kelley. 'The administration’s attempt to lay off nearly every NIOSH worker was shameful and illegal, considering that much of NIOSH’s work is required by law. As the union representing these dedicated public servants, we are grateful that their jobs have been restored and we will continue fighting to ensure NIOSH has the resources and support it needs to serve the American public.' "
AFGE urges appellate judges to uphold injunction against Trump’s anti-union EOs
Comment: "The nation’s largest federal employee union on Monday urged a panel of federal appeals judges to affirm a lower court ruling that found that President Trump’s executive orders purporting to strip two-thirds of the federal workforce of their collective bargaining rights amounted to retaliation for protected speech under the First Amendment."
"Trump’s edicts, signed in March and August, cited a seldom-used provision of the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act to exclude most federal agencies from federal sector labor law under the auspices of national security. A federal judge in California in June issued a preliminary injunction blocking the orders’ implementation, but a three-judge panel on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals stayed that decision last summer, finding that the lower court did not adequately consider whether the president would have taken the same action against labor organizations absent their various legal challenges against the president’s personnel policies."
Comment: The legal battle continues, with the AFGE arguing that the original California ruling blocking Trump's executive orders were correct, and that the stay of the injunction should be removed, thereby reinstating the injunction against Trump's order.
Trump finalizes 1% pay raise for most feds
https://www.govexec.com/pay-benefits/2025/12/trump-finalizes-1-pay-raise-most-feds/410276/
Comment: "The president also tasked OPM Director Scott Kupor with analyzing whether to provide federal law enforcement officers with a 3.8% pay increase, in line with what military service members are set to receive next month."
Comment: Since inflation is significantly higher than 1%, the purchasing power of federal worker pay, except as noted above, will be reduced.
‘In the dark:’ Retiring federal employees face major delays
AFGE Plans Legal Challenge After DHS Revokes TSA Collective Bargaining Agreement
House Republicans throw federal labor unions a lifeline in a rare rebuke of Trump | CNN Business
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/12/business/unions-labor-trump-republicans
Comment: Just 20 Republicans and the entire Democratic Caucus
House passes bill to restore collective bargaining for federal employees
Comment: "A bill to restore collective bargaining rights for a majority of federal employees cleared the House in a floor vote Thursday afternoon."
"House lawmakers voted 231-195 to pass the Protect America’s Workforce Act. The entire Democratic Caucus, along with 20 Republicans, voted in favor of the legislation."
"The bill’s passage this week came after a discharge petition on the legislation reached the required 218-signature threshold in November, forcing the House to hold a floor vote on the bill. On Wednesday, the legislation cleared an initial voting hurdle, teeing it up for its final passage Thursday afternoon."
"The Protect America's Workforce Act, led by Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Jared Golden (D-Maine), aims to nullify two of President Donald Trump’s executive orders this year that called for most agencies to end their union contracts. The legislation, if enacted, would restore collective bargaining for tens of thousands of federal employees."
Comment: A bipartisan effort in Congress is attempting to overturn Trump's efforts to strip federal workers of their union contracts. It took a discharge position to bypass House Republican leadership's attempt to stop a floor vote on this bill. Discharge petitions are becoming more frequent (and necessary) to allow House members to better represent their constituents, rather than Trump and the radical Republican leadership and their supporters.
Education Dept. asks hundreds of fired employees to temporarily return
Comment: "A Dec. 5 email obtained by USA TODAY shows the agency ordered a significant portion of staffers in the Office for Civil Rights to come back later this month. In the 'return to duty' directive, officials acknowledged they're facing a sizable caseload of civil rights complaints, and they underscored a need to utilize every resource at the government’s disposal to work through them."
"The agency said the request applies to roughly 250 workers who've been on administrative leave for months amid legal challenges to their March firings. Julie Hartman, the Education Department's press secretary for legal affairs, stressed there still aren't any plans to fully rehire those workers permanently."
Comment: "Students, parents and educators across the country have long relied on the agency's Office for Civil Rights, also known as OCR, to enforce antidiscrimination laws, especially for students with disabilities. In particular, OCR has helped provide equal access to educational opportunities to families who don't have the financial means to bring costly lawsuits against their school districts or universities."
"Yet as the Trump administration has proceeded to dismantle the Education Department – despite lacking the necessary congressional support to do so – the agency's civil rights office has been reduced to a fraction of what it once was. Hundreds of staffers have been laid off. Its key regional divisions in places like Philadelphia and Boston have been largely shuttered."
"Of the roughly 450 people OCR still lists as employees, only about 60 haven't received layoff notices in the past year, according to court documents. Nearly 250 were originally terminated in March, and another 137 were fired in October during the government shutdown (their firings were later reversed as part of a deal to end the funding crisis)."
"Education Secretary Linda McMahon's decision to tap into her own laid-off workforce provides further evidence her agency is struggling more than she has publicly indicated to meet its legally mandated responsibilities."
Comment: How's this for an indication of the chaos and confusion in the Trump administration? Please remember that Linda McMahon's prior experience includes her role as head of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF).
Suspended FEMA workers who criticized Trump administration got their jobs back — until DHS leaders found out | CNN Politics
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/01/politics/fema-trump-suspension-investigation-letter
Comment: More chaos, confusion, and retribution, courtesy of the Trump administration.
Fired worker sues government in a case that could upend civil rights laws
https://www.npr.org/2025/12/01/g-s1-99279/fired-worker-sues-government
Comment: "Tania Nemer is one of dozens of immigration judges fired by the Trump administration this year."
"But a new lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C., suggests what happened to Nemer — and why — has the potential to scramble the federal workforce and upend foundational civil rights laws."
"Nemer alleges that despite top performance reviews, she was dismissed from her job because of her gender, her status as a dual citizen of Lebanon and the fact that she once ran for municipal office in Ohio as a Democrat. Those reasons, she says, are all in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the First Amendment."
"The government has responded by arguing that the president's power to oversee the executive branch under Article II of the U.S. Constitution essentially overrides that core civil rights law, Nemer's attorney said."
" 'This is a case in which the President of the United States has asserted a constitutional right to discriminate against federal employees," wrote her lawyer, Nathaniel Zelinsky, of the Washington Litigation Group. 'If the government prevails in transforming the law, it will eviscerate the professional, non-partisan civil service as we know it.' "
"The administration abruptly fired Nemer in early February, summoning her from the bench and escorting her out of a federal building in Cleveland. Both her supervisor and the chief immigration judge there told her they didn't know why she was being dismissed in the middle of her probationary period, the lawsuit said."
More than 3,600 feds get notice their shutdown RIFs are rescinded
Comment: "That action came as a result of several provisions in the continuing resolution Congress passed last week to reopen the government. The legislation provided that not only any RIF notice an agency issued on Oct. 1 or later 'shall have no force or effect,' but it also barred federal agencies from using any funding to conduct any further RIFs for as long as the current CR is in effect."
House majority forces vote on bill to restore collective bargaining for most federal employees
Bipartisan House Coalition Hits 218 Signatures to Force Vote Protecting Federal Workers’ Union Rights
Trump slams air traffic controllers who called out during the government shutdown
https://www.npr.org/2025/11/10/nx-s1-5604664/trump-air-traffic-controllers-forced-time-off-bonus
Comment: "President Trump is slamming U.S. air traffic controllers who called out of work during the government shutdown, during which they were forced to stay on the job without pay."
"Trump said in a post on Truth Social Monday morning that he was 'NOT HAPPY' with controllers who took time off. 'All Air Traffic Controllers must get back to work, NOW!!! Anyone who doesn't will be substantially 'docked,' ' he wrote."
"The Federal Aviation Administration had been contending with a shortage of air traffic controllers since well before the shutdown began, but the crisis deepened when the government closed and controllers received a partial paycheck and then no pay at all.. Some have taken on second jobs, while others have called in sick. Controllers are set to miss their second full paycheck this week."
"In a statement to NPR, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association said, 'This nation's air traffic controllers have been working without pay for over 40 days. The vast majority of these highly trained and skilled professionals continue to perform one of the most stressful and demanding jobs in the world, despite not being compensated. Many are working six-day weeks and ten-hour days without any pay.' "
Comment: "Others offered sharp criticism of Trump's comments. 'The President wouldn't last five minutes as an air traffic controller,' former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a post on X, "and after everything they've been through - and the way this administration has treated them from Day One - he has no business s****ing on them now.' "
Editing federal employees’ emails to blame Democrats for shutdown violated their First Amendment rights, judge says | CNN Politics
https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/07/politics/emails-blaming-democrats-shutdown-violate-first-amendment
White House sued over its "loyalist" hiring policy
https://www.axios.com/2025/11/06/trump-white-house-loyalist-hiring-policy-lawsuit
Comment: "A coalition of unions representing federal workers filed a lawsuit against the White House Thursday over the inclusion of what they say is a partisan loyalty question included in the Trump administration's 'merit-based' hiring plan.
"The hiring plan is one piece of the White House's massive overhaul of the civil service — and plaintiffs say it amounts to a partisan loyalty tests that is unlawful and violates the principles of a nonpartisan civil service."
Comment: "The Trump administration included four open-ended essay questions that could be used to evaluate candidates. Some relate to job performance like work ethic or efficiency."
Comment: "One question was widely criticized: 'How would you help advance the President's Executive Orders and policy priorities in this role?' The question asked candidates to identify 'Executive Orders or policy initiatives that are significant to you, and explain how you would help implement them if hired.' "
How long will OPM keep paying for feds’ health insurance during the shutdown, a senator asks
Comment: "With the current government shutdown on the precipice of becoming the longest budget stalemate in history, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., wants to know how the Office of Personnel Management plans on continuing to pay for federal employees’ health insurance."
"In an Oct. 30 letter to OPM Director Scott Kupor, Lankford inquired about the current status of the agency’s health insurance trust funds and what plans are in place to continue insurance coverage once their coffers run dry."
"OPM manages multiple trust funds that finance several federal employee health and retirement benefits programs — including the largest employer-sponsored group health insurance program in existence, the Federal Employees Health Benefits program — covering 8.1 million employees, retirees and their eligible family members."
"The FEHB Trust Fund pays health insurance premiums to private providers with financing made up from agency contributions for active employees, an annual appropriation for annuitants and survivors and premium contributions from the employees themselves."
"But as the current shutdown has now stretched for more than 35 days, federal employees have not been getting paid to contribute to those premiums, and Lankford said he was concerned that the deadlock will soon mean that the workforce could lose its health insurance as well."
For News Articles links from before November 1st, 2025, please go to one of the following, depending on the article date:
https://sites.google.com/view/dem3oldnews/home/old3-war-on-the-federal-workforce
OR
https://sites.google.com/view/dem2oldnews/home/old2-war-on-the-federal-workforce
There you will find a continuation of the news links & comments from the period prior to November 1, 2025. The article history can be viewed as follows:
www.dalecodemocrats.com (latest)
sites.google.com/view/dem3oldnews/home/ (May 1, 2025 - October 31, 2025)
sites.google.com/view/dem2oldnews/home/ (Topic Initialization - April 30, 2025)
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