WASHINGTON, D.C. (National Journal) — President Trump’s unprecedented flurry of executive orders targeting the federal bureaucracy has roiled the livelihoods of millions of workers, prompting advocates and labor unions to ratchet up legal actions.
“Every day, there’s a new story being pushed from this administration that causes anxiety and concern for my membership on just how they’re going to function. How are they going to live?” said American Federation of Government Employees National Secretary-Treasurer Eric Bunn.
AFGE, which represents 800,000 members in the federal government and in the D.C. government, has already filed lawsuits against the Trump administration over the Department of Government Efficiency’s access to data at the Treasury Department, DOGE’s compliance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, and Trump’s reclassifying of federal employees as at-will employees, endangering their federal protections.
In less than a month, the new administration has curtailed DEI teams, made millions of federal workers return to office, offered federal buyouts in an attempt to shrink the workforce, and threatened to shutter agencies like the United States Agency for International Development and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The Office of Personnel Management’s freeze of federal funds spurred fears of a constitutional showdown between federal judges and the executive branch. Those who work in public service also expressed concern about the politicization of the civil service and about privatizing the government.
Excluding Postal Service workers and active-duty military personnel, 2.4 million people make up the federal workforce, according to the Pew Research Center. Federal employees outnumber the workforce of some of the country’s largest companies: Walmart, McDonald’s, and Amazon. The Veterans Affairs Department employs over 480,000 workers, and the Homeland Security, Army, and Navy departments each keep roughly 220,000 employees on payroll.
Administration transitions are part of the job for federal workers, but with online misinformation emanating from Trump and Elon Musk about government waste and federal workers, federal unions and career staff have had to put themselves on the defensive to the rest of the country.
“We are not partisan. We realize that we’re there to carry out the foreign policy and issues of the president,” American Foreign Service Association President Tom Yazdgerdi told National Journal.
AFSA, a professional association and labor union for six foreign service agencies, is now suing the Trump administration for dismantling USAID.
“We know that some things will change, and that’s to be expected. I just think the flurry of executive orders, really, at this pace is a bit unprecedented,” Yazdgerdi said.
A federal judge lifted a pause on the block of the federal buyout plan due to lack of standing, and soon after, the Trump administration closed the application form for the buyout. AFGE said the decision did not address the underlying illegality of the program, and its teams are evaluating next steps.
“We continue to maintain that it is illegal to force American citizens who have dedicated their careers to public service to make a decision, in a few short days, without adequate information, about whether to uproot their families and leave their careers for what amounts to an unfunded IOU from Elon Musk,” AFGE President Everett Kelley said in a statement.
Federal-employment attorney Michael Fallings pointed out that if the offers are challenged in court or if there isn’t enough funding for federal workers by the end of September, there could be an impact on those who chose to resign. Fallings also warns of productivity issues impacting the federal government.
With layoff decisions and choices to enact a reduction in force, employers typically have to figure out which positions can be cut and which can remain. With Trump’s buyout option, random resignations will slow down the government’s ability to act. Some 75,000 workers accepted the buyout before it closed, making up 3 percent of the workforce—below Trump’s goal of 5-10 percent. In comparison, the federal attrition rate in fiscal 2023 was 5.9 percent, with 14.7 percent of those workers being over age 60. Last week, OPM directed agency officials to start accelerating the firing of probationary employees, which could threaten another 200,000 workers.
