On Oct. 1, the first day of the government shutdown, the Trump administration notified the nation that it planned to cut up to 4,000 federal positions. Pay continues to be withheld from two million workers, and 750,000 workers could be furloughed due to the lapse of the federal budget.
On Oct. 15, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order during the government shutdown. Labor unions such as the American Federation of Government Employees and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees have also filed lawsuits, challenging that these mass firings are an unlawful misuse of power.
The shutdown has impacted an estimated 10,000 of Oregon’s 30,000 federal workers. Oregonians rely on federal workers for an array of services, such as the U.S. Postal Service, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Agriculture.
“Public service workers are the backbone of our communities,” Joe Baessler, executive director for Oregon AFSCME, said in a statement to The Emerald. “We ensure the roads are safe to drive on and our water is safe to drink.”
Public servants are caught in this unique dichotomy where they are recognized as essential workers but are also seen as wasteful or undeserving. Public servants have also been historically left out of major labor protections, such as the Fair Labor Standards Act, and did not qualify for Social Security protections until the 1960s.
President Trump took to Truth Social to discuss his plan to make cuts to “the many Democrat Agencies” during the shutdown, which he has deemed to be a “political scam” to justify cuts in agencies such as the Department of Education.
No federal agency has partisan ties, with all federal positions being bipartisan offices. Federal agencies and public servants are there to serve the entire nation, both blue and red states alike. These are invaluable services and deserve to be protected.
“They’re in their jobs as civilians, and the jobs themselves are apolitical – and this administration is politicizing those jobs and agencies and the people in those jobs,” Lane County Commissioner Laurie Trieger said.
Trieger touched on how the proposed budget would have severe impacts to important programs the country delivers, such as Women, Infants and Children, a nutrition supplement program for pregnant women, households with children under five or new parents who are breastfeeding.
Due to the lapse of funding, an estimated 750,000 Oregonians could be left without SNAP benefits in November, impacting many students who rely on food stamps.
“People in (public service) need their paychecks to pay their rent and their utilities and buy their kids a winter coat, and so when you lay people off from their jobs, that’s a problem,” Trieger said.“And this whole notion of waste, fraud and abuse is just terrible… it’s smearing an entire workforce of people who’ve just been showing up everyday to their work.”
Lane County and Oregon continue to face impacts from the government shutdown, both through the workforce and through proposed budget cuts.
One of the most visible impacts of federal workers is TSA and air traffic controllers. The Eugene municipal airport currently has TSA and ATC workers who are being asked to work through the shutdown without pay. They must continue showing up to work due to the sheer importance of their job, but these efforts are often unrecognized by the federal government.
As the shutdown persists, it’s crucial to remember the everyday workers who continue to show up and do their jobs. They are undervalued and usually go unnoticed, but they unequivocally keep the government running.
Oregon American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations President Graham Trainor, said, “Oregon Labor’s message to the administration is clear. Stop the Trump shutdown. Fund the government. Stop the illegal firings. Restore protections for health care, and prioritize working people instead of political games. Our families, our communities and our democracy depend on it.”
