Thousands of government workers purged as White House continues its attack on civil servants

The Trump administration has fired several thousand more workers in its quest to gut government agencies. On his first day in office, the president reinstated Schedule F, which would allow for the reclassification of tens of thousands of federal workers, allowing them to be fired without civil service protection and reclassifying their jobs as political appointments.  

In the past two days, termination emails have been sent to recently hired workers still on probation at agencies including the Department of Education, Veterans Affairs, U.S. Forest Service, Small Business Administration, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the General Services Administration.  

About 280,000 government workers were hired less than two years ago.  

“Every federal employee still in their probationary period was fired because they had no workplace protections. If the White House had its way, that would have been every federal worker. The only thing stopping them is collective bargaining agreements. Without union contracts, thousands more would already be gone,” MAPE President Megan Dayton said. “If anyone thinks these attacks will stop at the federal level, they are mistaken. State employees could be next.” 

MAPE’s bargaining unit has grown to be the largest union in state government. “We need every worker at the table. Higher membership means greater bargaining power to protect jobs, wages, and benefits. We can’t afford to let this administration set the precedent for government purges,” Dayton added.