Federal Workers Warn of Broad Attack on Labor Rights 

Donald Trump’s attacks on the federal workforce not only devastated dedicated public servants but threaten essential services and represent the first salvo in a broader assault on labor rights, a panel of targeted federal workers warned convention delegates Wednesday.

“If it can happen to me, it can happen to you,” said Shernice Mundell, a health insurance specialist with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and a member of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE). 

Mundell, a single mom and military veteran, said she was given a termination notice and 30 minutes to pack up her belongings, only to be later rehired and put on administrative leave. Now, she fears she’ll be axed again. 

“Regardless of what your political views are, right is right and wrong is wrong,” she said. 

In all, following the direction of billionaire Elon Musk, the administration summarily cut tens of thousands of unionized federal workers in a “disorganized, illegal and cruel” process, recounted Lahoma “Sue” Parton, president of the Federation of Indian Service Employees, American Federation of Teachers, Local 4524. 

Among many other examples, instructors at tribal colleges received termination notices mid-semester, she said. Another panelist, Steven Gutierrez, a national business representative with the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE), said some wildland firefighters received termination emails while actually fighting fires. 

“People are going to die,” he said, warning that the jobs cuts come as the heart of the wildfire season approaches. “Communities are going to burn.” 

Trump followed up his decimation of the workforce by arbitrarily cutting collective bargaining rights for hundreds of thousands of other federal workers who remained at their posts.  

“It is not just the federal government,” cautioned Cameron Hilaker, an AFGE member who lost his job as a USAID emergency management specialist. “They will come for you next.” 

Added Gutierrez: “It’s going to trickle into the private sector. It’s a huge assault on the American worker across the board.” 

Workers outside the government already feel an impact. Trump and Musk took a chainsaw to government contracts, cutting vital biomedical research and other important initiatives simply because the projects contain references to certain words or phrases.

“When a lab closes, you can’t just snap your fingers and restart that work,” observed Tyler Bickford, an English professor at the University of Pittsburgh and unit president for USW Local 1088, noting a strong contract helps ensure his faculty colleagues retain a voice on the job in the wake of these changes.

Unions representing federal workers went to court in an effort to undo Trump’s cuts.  

Still, panelists called for union members across the country to band together, describing solidarity as the only sure way to beat back and derail Trump’s war on workers. 

Delegates seized the moment. 

American members took out their phones right on the convention floor and called their members of Congress to demand passage of the bipartisan Protect America’s Workforce Act. Canadian members took selfies while holding solidarity signs and posted the photos to social media.