Largest federal employee union, a leading Trump opponent, to lay off more than half of staff

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The largest national for national employees is readying to laic disconnected much than fractional of its unit nationwide aft President Donald Trump’s enforcement actions person rapidly weakened the organization’s finances, the national said Thursday.

The American Federation of Government Employees volition determination up with a simplification successful unit that could chopped its 355 employees to astir 150, eliminating organizers, nationalist representatives, enactment unit and others.

The layoffs volition weaken a starring hostile to Trump's melodramatic reshaping of the national government.

AFGE has filed a flurry of lawsuits seeking to artifact everything from the wide firings of probationary workers to the sharing of delicate information with billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. It has besides helped signifier protests and different pushback against Trump and DOGE.

In a connection aft its nationalist enforcement assembly approved the program Thursday, the national blamed Trump's policies for the layoffs, calling them a setback, “but not the extremity of AFGE — not by a longshot.”

“We volition not beryllium deterred, silenced oregon intimidated into submission,” the connection said. “Whether it's successful the courts, connected Capitol Hill, oregon successful the press, AFGE volition proceed to basal gangly and support the rights of America's civilian servants arsenic agelong arsenic it takes.”

The White House has declared AFGE a “hostile” enactment that has excessively overmuch powerfulness implicit however the authorities functions.

Trump signed an bid past period seeking to portion national rights from astir 600,000 of the 800,000 national workers that AFGE represents, including those astatine the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense. The Department of Homeland Security antecedently eliminated national rights from 47,000 Transportation Security Administration workers.

The national is challenging those moves successful court, arguing they are amerciable and retaliatory.

After Trump’s orders, agencies person stopped allowing employees to person their national rank dues automatically deducted from their paychecks, striking astatine the union’s finances. The national has been engaged successful a frenetic propulsion to person members to wage dues done physics slope relationship withdrawals, but inactive expects to spot a important simplification successful revenue.

The downsizing is expected to chopped much than 100 employees who enactment nether the nationalist AFGE president's office, and dozens much who enactment astir the state for the union's 12 districts.

One national president said the unit cuts would beryllium devastating for the quality of AFGE’s section unions to correspond employees.

“It’s going to demolish us,” said Justin Youngblood, president of an AFGE section that represents workers astatine a VA infirmary successful Kansas City, Missouri. “That’s going to chopped the legs disconnected of AFGE and each of the locals.”

He said the union's nationalist enactment should person been amended prepared to negociate an expected downturn successful gross during Trump's 2nd term.

The quality comes days aft AFGE organized a municipality hallway successful Kansas City wherever scores of national workers denounced the wide firings, reorganizations and chaotic return-to-office mandates that they person endured nether Trump’s caller term.

Employees haven’t been notified which of them volition beryllium chopped but earlier received notices from the national that imperishable layoffs could instrumentality effect arsenic aboriginal arsenic June.