WASHINGTON — On Monday, groups of federal employees across the nation rallied against layoffs from President Donald Trump’s administration.
The president has signed a flurry of executive orders during his two months in office — from hiring freezes to ordering remote workers back to the office, to dismantling wide-ranging DEI programs.
In Seattle, hundreds of workers gathered at the Henry Jackson Federal Building to share their distaste, including employees from the Environmental Protection Agency, Veterans Administration, Army Corps of Engineers employees, National Labor Relations Board, Forest Service, Department of Labor, and Federal Aviation Administration. A large gathering also took place at the state capitol in Olympia.
Last week, the Trump administration intensified its sweeping efforts to shrink the size of the federal workforce by ordering agencies to lay off nearly all probationary employees who had not yet gained civil service protection.
The Department of Veterans Affairs announced the dismissal of more than 1,000 employees who had served for less than two years. According to Sen. Patty Murray, the layoffs included researchers working on cancer treatment, opioid addiction, prosthetics, and burn pit exposure. Sen. Murray says she wants a budget hearing with Elon Musk, who oversees the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), regarding the cuts and agency closures. Murray says that Musk’s leadership is destroying entire federal agencies and slashing essential programs.
According to the Associated Press, some of those impacted had already signed buyout agreements offered by the administration that were supposed to protect them from dismissal.