Workers reeling from chaos in federal agencies

With the start of the third week of Donald Trump’s presidency, workers are scrambled by federal agencies to find their foot between chaos.

From the American Agency for International Development and the Ministry of Agriculture, to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Ministry of Labor, Federal workers face an attack on the changes that threaten their work and regulations that keep the country at work. Comprehensive orders from the White House Threatened to freeze financing To get grants and basic programs, before the judge prohibited and followed by Trump. Using the component Meme agency, the other -elected billionaire ELON Musk is Attempt to acquire It reminds us of its reshaping on Twitter, now X, except this time it wanders in the United States government.

“Many of us are afraid and feel betrayal,” said the person who works for the US Agency for International Development freedom. “When (people) are appointed, they are right to protect the constitution.” And with the dismantling of musk actively Humanitarian AgencyThat is, Foreign Minister Marco Rubio said Monday He is now runningWorkers in other agencies wonder whether the same thing can happen to their workplaces. “I think everyone is really afraid about what happened at the United States Agency for International Development, because I do not think anyone thinks this is possible,” says one of the employees of the Ministry of Labor.

Through talks with half of the federal workers, all of whom were granted to hide identity except for one because they fear revenge on talking about the Trump administration’s actions, it is clear that the hostile seizure of federal agencies puts employees and contractors on the edge the next.

It was a long strategy in the Trump world.The area is immersed“With information, which makes it difficult for the media and the public to know the location of the view, or where their opposition is focused. This feeling of confusion is amplified for federal workers in the past two weeks, as they wander in the eye of the storm.” These executive orders fly quickly and angry. “I think this is intentionally,” says one of the federal workers. “They give the agencies very little of time to comply and even determine whether or not they want it because there is a lot.”

One example is how the agencies were forced to respond to Trump The executive thing about “defending women”, What imposed by official documents that do not include the term “sex” to refer to “sex -based differences”. But due to the speed that the agencies needed to comply, at least one chose to remove signals to many sexes completely because there was not enough time to change the formulation in each case.

Federal employees know that if they choose to comply or leave their jobs, another person will do so, and things may get worse. It seems that the managers are asking themselves, “Is this worth losing my job and putting my team in danger?” The federal worker notes. “Or if this does not completely contradict my principles, then should I accept it, and ask my team to accept it, and live to fight on another day?”

Instructions were directed to the Ministry of Labor employees who work to grant two hundred email, saying that their financing will be cut if it supports Dei initiatives. “No one wants to send it, but basically (I felt) if I did not send it, then my manager will send it,” one employee works to grant. The donors who received the message were “Yakhmif”, because many non -profit organizations that depend on such money could not bear the battle in a long battle. The employee said: “He made my heart hurt by sending it.”

A former email from the Personnel Management Office This encouraged federal employees to resign from their jobs received widespread anger Resistance from trade unionsAnd following emails that claim to answer the questions were cold comfort. Send another OPM e -mail this week – Along with the common online questions page He addresses questions from the workforce, but he did not put federal employees at rest.

“People are angry at accusing them of deceiving the government by working from home,” said one of the people who received the email. “We do not feel appreciated by the administration.”

Many federal employees try to know what drives them to the edge to leave. It is one thing to retract programs, especially when they may suspect that they will lose funding under the Trump administration anyway, but it may be another to install new policies that violate their morals. “These things are absorbed at the present time, they are very terrible, but we have not reached the real bad part yet as they start our weapon against the people we serve.”

“No one knows if they have a job tomorrow, especially if your agency is working on something that seems to be targeting the Trump administration,” says one of the federal workers. This may include anything from sex education to climate -related issues. But even if they are separated, some workers are wondering whether it is worth fighting for their jobs. “This is not the job that I loved and wanted,” says an employee DOL. “This is like some of the evil devil took it.”

Trump’s agenda has leaked even the most harmful places such as email signatures. Tell many people working in the federal government freedom Instructions were directed to employees to remove pronouns from e -mail signatures, citing the executive order of Trump’s anti -transit, “Defending women from the extremism of the gender ideology and restoring the biological truth of the federal government.” After receiving a deadline from the end of Monday, he told a person working for the US Department of Agriculture freedom All employees’ signatures have been eliminated regardless of whether they have listed pronouns.

By changing a lot of limits, there may be what is required of pronouns from signatures to be exhausted for some federal employees-but it was also another rule that is cut. “I literally thought of myself, is this the line that I die?” DOL employee says.

The campaign on things like working from home or sexual recognition has created an atmosphere of greatness and excessive vigilance. Several federal employees have transferred working talks to the encrypted messaging application signal. A federal contractor says that embracing the technology industry of the right -wing policy and politicians has created a feeling of lack of confidence, as people fear that communication on other platforms can be leaked by companies supporting the experience.

Paying the lack of clarity internally into alternative channels for federal workers to share information with each other. Subredit R/FedNews has become a major place for federal workers to participate in their agencies, compare notes with each other, and increase morale. Other popular accounts such as Alt National Parks Service account It serves as feeding updates for federal employees and concerns for public members.

The general response was also spread by Democratic lawmakers, with some in the party attributed to The lack of a coherent message.

“Personally, I feel disgusting that there is no fire in their stomachs,” I told a person working with the Coast Guard freedom. Another federal worker says that many lawmakers “absolutely fail to meet this moment,” and they ask why Democrats did not do more to throw sand in the gears, such as refusing to confirm Trump candidates or speak stronger phrases against the demolition of government agencies and rules. “If not now, when?”

The pressure from the elected officials increased on Monday, when a group of Democratic lawmakers held a press conference outside the headquarters of the United States Agency for International Development, describing Trump’s attempts to close the US International Development Agency illegal.

“We do not have a fourth branch of the government called Elus Musk,” said MP Jimmy Raskin (D-MD). Then the group tried To enter the building But it was banned from law enforcement.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) suffers from “E -Email” employees last week to inform them that the agency “has the right to end you immediately.” Email, a copy was obtained by freedomIt was sent to the employees in a test/experimental period appointed during the past year. The warning was sent to 1,100 people at the agency, according to Nicole Cantilo, the Legislative and Political Coordinator of the 238th Council of the US Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the Federal Employees Union represents the Employees of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Cantilo says the new appointments that are still in the test period have less protection than other employees. “That is why I think the Trump administration is abandoning it because they know it is easier to get rid of it.”

The email says: “The test removal is that you are receiving a finish notice, and that your job has ended immediately,” but you don’t say when this process will start.

“Everything that is waiting for pins and needles destroys the morale,” says Cantilo. “My test staff is only destroyed.”

The Agency is at risk of losing 10 percent of its operating power when taking into account the test staff and those who choose to take a postponed resignation, according to Cantilo.

“The loss of this amount of employees will really harm the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to protect human health and the environment,” Cantilo says, including the following recovery efforts. Destroyed forest fires About Los Angeles this month. The agency employs about 15,000 people and spent the past four years It tries to build its ranks after The exit of scholars From federal agencies during the first Trump administration.

The Entertainment service at the Environmental Protection Agency also fell to most of the working day on Monday, preventing employees from reaching their employee records. These types of documents are important for workers to keep them if you choose legal action against the agency in the future if they believe that they have been illegally expelled. Intranet is vital to enforce the agency for environmental regulation. Where employees record complaints, for example. The Environmental Protection Agency did not immediately respond to a request to comment from freedom.

Since non -party employees are accustomed to the whims of changing departments, federal civilian employees are often not perfect activists. But every morning this week at 7:30 am, Solidarity demonstrations With the planning of federal workers in front of the employee management office in a peaceful protest offer. Another rally was planned in front of the Treasury on Tuesday afternoon, and the third near the Senate on Wednesday.

Many workers still feel anxious that it is outside the government, people do not realize how enemy that situation is – or how much it is at stake. While many try to stick to as long as possible, they are not sure of the amount they will be able to take. “There is a climate of fear, but also from solidarity or flexibility,” says one of the federal workers.