Target: Charles Ezell, Acting Director of U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Goal: Work for end to federal worker hiring freeze and paused operations that put American lives and livelihoods in danger.
A presidential-ordered federal hiring freeze and work stoppage could be adversely impacting some of the nation’s most crucial jobs, despite assertions to the contrary. In January, President Donald Trump ordered a freeze on hiring federal workers. Although positions related to public safety were supposed to be exempt, key positions related to aviation safety and firefighting may have been affected.
Recent high-profile events have brought attention to the essential nature of these jobs. The nation already faces an urgent shortage of air traffic controllers. Although the administration claimed that these positions would not be affected by the hiring freeze order, neither politicians nor heads of agencies related to aviation and air traffic control could confirm if a pause on hiring had ever been implemented.
The negative effects were clearer with federal seasonal firefighters who are hired by departments like the U.S. Forest Service to combat wildfires. A memo circulating within the Department of the Interior instructed managers to “hold all offers related to fire positions.” Due to rigorous training processes and a lengthy vetting process, it can take up to two years for a federal firefighter to assume work duties. The same time requirements also affect air traffic controllers. Any pause in the process will further widen the shortages in these fields and ultimately put Americans’ lives at risk.
The administration has also taken direct aim at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which was developed to shield consumers from risks like privacy violations, hidden fees, and predatory practices. To date, the agency has returned billions of dollars to American consumers. Now its important work has been halted, with eventual plans to gut the bureau altogether.
Sign the petition below to demand this administration lift its stranglehold on essential American jobs.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Acting Director Ezell,
Recent attention-grabbing tragedies related to aviation and wildfires have shone a harsh spotlight on staffing and resource shortages in both fields. The recent freezing of federal workforce hires will do nothing but compound these dangerous deficiencies. Federal employees like air traffic controllers and forest firefighters save lives every day, but they must face rigorous training and vetting before they are entrusted with their crucial work.
Any delay in this process will endanger American lives when the next tragedy strikes. And Americans’ pocketbooks will suffer if they lose vital protections afforded to consumers by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Please work to save this agency, its workers, and its mission.
And do everything in your power to end a worker freeze that is freezing out the American people.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Petar Marjanovic
1 Signature