Target: Vince Micone, Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor
Goal: Stop unlawful and reckless mass firings of federal workers.
The new St. Valentine’s Day Massacre unfolded when an abundance of federal employees received sudden notice of their terminations. The firings spanned the workforce, ranging from cancer researchers to aviation engineers and technicians. Guardians of the nuclear arsenal were also abruptly let go, until the administration was made aware of the integral role of these workers and reversed course. The mass layoffs are a result of directives from the Trump administration and the Department of Government Efficiency. The exact numbers of firings have not been reported, but considering many of the cuts came for new or transferring probationary hires (numbering nearly a quarter of a million), hundreds of thousands of workers (some with decades of service) are likely now without a job or an income source.
Unions representing these workers have vowed legal action because they claim the terminations were illegal. Many of the hastily written notifications cited workers’ alleged poor job performances, yet a sizeable percentage of these employees had either recently received superb performance reviews or had not been employed long enough to even receive reviews. Many of the firings also targeted military veterans and people with disabilities: two classes of workers who fall under an expedited probationary work status.
Sign the petition below to demand this administration answer for its rushed, careless, and potentially illegal treatment of its own workforce.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Secretary Micone,
Veterans with two decades of military service, disabled workers who are supposed to have protected status, “mission-critical” workers in America’s vital agencies, and employees with “above fully successful” performance evaluations: these are just some of the Americans this administration has deemed “wasteful” to its operations. The fact that preservers of the nation’s nuclear arsenal were also just a few short days ago identified as “bloat” should give this entire process pause. And the suspect, error-ridden, and accusatory nature of many of the termination notifications (some issued without prior notice to supervisors) are a class-action lawsuit that can – and likely will – happen.
You represent America’s laborers. Act like it and stop the hijacking of your job by unelected billionaires. Do everything in your power to end the massacre of the U.S. federal workforce and to enhance protections for probationary workers.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Nicole Barts
