Unions Sue to Protect Federal Workers From Mass Firings During Government Shutdown
“If these mass firings take place, the people who keep our skies safe for travel, our food supply secure, and our communities protected will lose their jobs,” one labor leader warned.
Members of the American Federation of Government Employees protest against firings during a rally to defend federal workers in Washington, DC on February 11, 2025.
(Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images
Jessica Corbett
Sep 30, 2025
COMMON DREAMS
Just hours before an expected US government shutdown, two major unions for federal workers filed a lawsuit on Tuesday in hopes of protecting them from the Trump administration’s threat of mass firings.
“Announcing plans to fire potentially tens of thousands of federal employees simply because Congress and the administration are at odds on funding the government past the end of the fiscal year is not only illegal—it’s immoral and unconscionable,” American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) national president Everett Kelley said in a statement.
Federal Workers Union Denounces Trump’s Threat of ‘Illegal Mass Firings’ Amid Shutdown Fight
“Federal employees dedicate their careers to public service—more than a third are military veterans—and the contempt being shown them by this administration is appalling,” Kelley declared.
Filed by AFGE and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) in the Northern District of California, the new suit specifically takes aim at the Office of Management and Budget, OMB Director Russell Vought, the Office of Personnel Management, and OPM Director Scott Kupor.
“Federal workers do the work of the people, and playing games with their livelihoods is cruel and unlawful.”
The OMB last week “issued a memorandum threatening that if ‘congressional Democrats’ do not agree to the administration’s
demands, and the federal government shuts down, there will be mass firings of federal employees,” the complaint explains. The memo “takes the legally unsupportable position that a temporary interruption of appropriations eliminates the statutory requirement for all unfunded government programs and directs all federal agencies to ‘use this opportunity’ to consider reductions in force (RIFs) for any programs for which the funding has lapsed and that are not priorities of the president.”
“This past weekend, the Trump administration doubled down on its illegal activity,” the complaint notes, as OMB and OPM “told agencies that federal employees could work during the shutdown in order to effectuate these RIFs. But this directive is contrary to federal law, because carrying out RIFs is plainly not a permitted (or ‘excepted’) function that can lawfully continue during a shutdown.”
“The threat of massive layoffs was repeated and reinforced yesterday by the White House press secretary who, when asked whether there will be mass layoffs of federal employees, answered, ‘There will be if Democrats don’t keep the government open,‘” the filing continues. “These actions are contrary to law and arbitrary and capricious, and the cynical use of federal employees as a pawn in congressional deliberations should be declared unlawful and enjoined by this court.”
AFSCME president Lee Saunders highlighted how the firing threat connects to Project 2025, a policy agenda from a host of far-right figures, including Vought, published last year, in the lead-up to the November election.
“The Trump administration is once again breaking the law to push its extreme Project 2025 agenda, illegally targeting federal workers with threats of mass firings due to the federal government shutdown,” Saunders said. “If these mass firings take place, the people who keep our skies safe for travel, our food supply secure, and our communities protected will lose their jobs. We will do everything possible to defend these AFSCME members and their fellow workers from an administration hell-bent on stripping away their collective bargaining rights and jobs.”
AFSCME and AFGE are represented by Altshuler Berzon LLP, Democracy Defenders Fund, and Democracy Forward, whose president and CEO, Skye Perryman, accused President Donald Trump of “using the civil service as a bargaining chip as he marches the American people into a government shutdown.”
“Federal workers do the work of the people, and playing games with their livelihoods is cruel and unlawful. That is why we have sued today,” said Perryman, whose group has played a leading role in challenging the administration in court, as an increasingly authoritarian Trump and his Department of Government Efficiency have worked to gut the federal bureaucracy.
“Since inauguration, this administration has pursued a harmful Project 2025 agenda, attacking community programs and charities, lawyers, schools, private companies, law firms, judges, universities, public servants, and the programs, foundations, and civil servants working to deliver services to people and keep communities safe,” she noted. “No one’s lives have been made easier or better by these actions, and we will continue to meet these attacks in court. We are honored to again represent AFGE and AFSCME in protecting the American people from the Trump-Vance administration’s callous and unlawful agenda.”
The government will shut down at midnight unless Congress takes action. Although the GOP controls both chambers and the White House, they lack the numbers to advance most legislation in the Senate without Democratic support. The Senate voted Tuesday evening on Democrats’ and Republicans’ competing resolutions, neither of which passed.
Democrats have fought to expand Affordable Care Act subsidies and reverse cuts to Medicaid in the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act that congressional Republicans passed and Trump signed this summer. GOP leaders have refused to consider walking back their assault on the healthcare of millions of Americans.
In the event of a shutdown, “non-expected” employees are furloughed while “excepted” employees continue working, but no one gets paid until the shutdown ends.
“If these mass firings take place, the people who keep our skies safe for travel, our food supply secure, and our communities protected will lose their jobs,” one labor leader warned.
Members of the American Federation of Government Employees protest against firings during a rally to defend federal workers in Washington, DC on February 11, 2025.
(Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images
Jessica Corbett
Sep 30, 2025
COMMON DREAMS
Just hours before an expected US government shutdown, two major unions for federal workers filed a lawsuit on Tuesday in hopes of protecting them from the Trump administration’s threat of mass firings.
“Announcing plans to fire potentially tens of thousands of federal employees simply because Congress and the administration are at odds on funding the government past the end of the fiscal year is not only illegal—it’s immoral and unconscionable,” American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) national president Everett Kelley said in a statement.
Federal Workers Union Denounces Trump’s Threat of ‘Illegal Mass Firings’ Amid Shutdown Fight
“Federal employees dedicate their careers to public service—more than a third are military veterans—and the contempt being shown them by this administration is appalling,” Kelley declared.
Filed by AFGE and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) in the Northern District of California, the new suit specifically takes aim at the Office of Management and Budget, OMB Director Russell Vought, the Office of Personnel Management, and OPM Director Scott Kupor.
“Federal workers do the work of the people, and playing games with their livelihoods is cruel and unlawful.”
The OMB last week “issued a memorandum threatening that if ‘congressional Democrats’ do not agree to the administration’s
demands, and the federal government shuts down, there will be mass firings of federal employees,” the complaint explains. The memo “takes the legally unsupportable position that a temporary interruption of appropriations eliminates the statutory requirement for all unfunded government programs and directs all federal agencies to ‘use this opportunity’ to consider reductions in force (RIFs) for any programs for which the funding has lapsed and that are not priorities of the president.”
“This past weekend, the Trump administration doubled down on its illegal activity,” the complaint notes, as OMB and OPM “told agencies that federal employees could work during the shutdown in order to effectuate these RIFs. But this directive is contrary to federal law, because carrying out RIFs is plainly not a permitted (or ‘excepted’) function that can lawfully continue during a shutdown.”
“The threat of massive layoffs was repeated and reinforced yesterday by the White House press secretary who, when asked whether there will be mass layoffs of federal employees, answered, ‘There will be if Democrats don’t keep the government open,‘” the filing continues. “These actions are contrary to law and arbitrary and capricious, and the cynical use of federal employees as a pawn in congressional deliberations should be declared unlawful and enjoined by this court.”
AFSCME president Lee Saunders highlighted how the firing threat connects to Project 2025, a policy agenda from a host of far-right figures, including Vought, published last year, in the lead-up to the November election.
“The Trump administration is once again breaking the law to push its extreme Project 2025 agenda, illegally targeting federal workers with threats of mass firings due to the federal government shutdown,” Saunders said. “If these mass firings take place, the people who keep our skies safe for travel, our food supply secure, and our communities protected will lose their jobs. We will do everything possible to defend these AFSCME members and their fellow workers from an administration hell-bent on stripping away their collective bargaining rights and jobs.”
AFSCME and AFGE are represented by Altshuler Berzon LLP, Democracy Defenders Fund, and Democracy Forward, whose president and CEO, Skye Perryman, accused President Donald Trump of “using the civil service as a bargaining chip as he marches the American people into a government shutdown.”
“Federal workers do the work of the people, and playing games with their livelihoods is cruel and unlawful. That is why we have sued today,” said Perryman, whose group has played a leading role in challenging the administration in court, as an increasingly authoritarian Trump and his Department of Government Efficiency have worked to gut the federal bureaucracy.
“Since inauguration, this administration has pursued a harmful Project 2025 agenda, attacking community programs and charities, lawyers, schools, private companies, law firms, judges, universities, public servants, and the programs, foundations, and civil servants working to deliver services to people and keep communities safe,” she noted. “No one’s lives have been made easier or better by these actions, and we will continue to meet these attacks in court. We are honored to again represent AFGE and AFSCME in protecting the American people from the Trump-Vance administration’s callous and unlawful agenda.”
The government will shut down at midnight unless Congress takes action. Although the GOP controls both chambers and the White House, they lack the numbers to advance most legislation in the Senate without Democratic support. The Senate voted Tuesday evening on Democrats’ and Republicans’ competing resolutions, neither of which passed.
Democrats have fought to expand Affordable Care Act subsidies and reverse cuts to Medicaid in the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act that congressional Republicans passed and Trump signed this summer. GOP leaders have refused to consider walking back their assault on the healthcare of millions of Americans.
In the event of a shutdown, “non-expected” employees are furloughed while “excepted” employees continue working, but no one gets paid until the shutdown ends.
David Badash,
The New Civil Rights Movement
September 30, 2025
U.S. Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) arrives for a Senate vote, hours before a partial government shutdown is set to take effect on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 30, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Political scientist Larry Sabato is warning that President Donald Trump and the Republican Party may exploit the likely federal government shutdown, saying that the GOP, as the “anti-government party,” is “perfectly happy” when the government shuts down and “perfectly happy to eliminate quite a number of domestic policy programs.”
Republicans will “go after anything that Democrats normally favor, and they’ll probably try to do it in a way that will not be repairable once this shutdown ends,” warned Professor Sabato, founder and director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. He noted that the Trump administration’s goals include shrinking or eliminating large parts of the federal government.
Calling it “a very real threat,” Sabato told CNN that the White House has already warned that a shutdown could provide “a pretext for laying off many more federal workers.”
“They’re going to use this as best they can. Never let a crisis go to waste — that’s their theory.”
Sabato said it “would take a pocket full of miracles to stop what’s likely to happen at midnight,” and warned that “Trump is not bluffing.”
“The reason the implications are serious is because so much of what the U.S. government does grinds to a halt,” Sabato also said.
“Probably the most serious part of it is that the troops and the TSA officers and lots of other people, including air traffic controllers, while they have to show up, are not paid. So if this goes on for 35 days, there are a lot of families who are without food.”
“But, look,” he added, “the only thing that could break this and keep it relatively short is if you had mass protests from, say, the TSA workers and the air traffic controllers.”
“Oh, and by the way, the military — none of them are paid during a government shutdown, yet they are mandated to attend work.”
“Well, you know, that tends to wear on people, especially if they can’t pay their weekly or monthly bills.”
America, Sabato said, is “headed for another disaster and another advertisement to the world that the American system no longer works.”
September 30, 2025
U.S. Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) arrives for a Senate vote, hours before a partial government shutdown is set to take effect on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 30, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Political scientist Larry Sabato is warning that President Donald Trump and the Republican Party may exploit the likely federal government shutdown, saying that the GOP, as the “anti-government party,” is “perfectly happy” when the government shuts down and “perfectly happy to eliminate quite a number of domestic policy programs.”
Republicans will “go after anything that Democrats normally favor, and they’ll probably try to do it in a way that will not be repairable once this shutdown ends,” warned Professor Sabato, founder and director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. He noted that the Trump administration’s goals include shrinking or eliminating large parts of the federal government.
Calling it “a very real threat,” Sabato told CNN that the White House has already warned that a shutdown could provide “a pretext for laying off many more federal workers.”
“They’re going to use this as best they can. Never let a crisis go to waste — that’s their theory.”
Sabato said it “would take a pocket full of miracles to stop what’s likely to happen at midnight,” and warned that “Trump is not bluffing.”
“The reason the implications are serious is because so much of what the U.S. government does grinds to a halt,” Sabato also said.
“Probably the most serious part of it is that the troops and the TSA officers and lots of other people, including air traffic controllers, while they have to show up, are not paid. So if this goes on for 35 days, there are a lot of families who are without food.”
“But, look,” he added, “the only thing that could break this and keep it relatively short is if you had mass protests from, say, the TSA workers and the air traffic controllers.”
“Oh, and by the way, the military — none of them are paid during a government shutdown, yet they are mandated to attend work.”
“Well, you know, that tends to wear on people, especially if they can’t pay their weekly or monthly bills.”
America, Sabato said, is “headed for another disaster and another advertisement to the world that the American system no longer works.”
Border Patrol union warns of 'life and death' consequences due to shutdown
Nicole Charky-Chami
September 30, 2025
Nicole Charky-Chami
September 30, 2025
RAW STORY
U.S. Border Patrol officer stands guard as protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) draw hundreds to the ICE headquarters in south Portland, Oregon on Sept. 28, 2025. REUTERS/John Rudoff
The union representing the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol complained Tuesday that it could lose funding amid a looming government shutdown.
"On behalf of the men and women patrolling and securing our borders, we strongly support the bipartisan House-passed Continuing Resolution (CR) and urge the Senate to immediately pass and send it to President Trump for his signature," National Border Patrol Council President Paul Perez told Fox News. The union represents about 18,000 agents.
"A government shutdown means we go without mission-critical funding for patrol vehicles, roads, radios, infrastructure and agent pay," Perez said.
"What our agents do every day — ensure the safety of the American people and the sovereignty of our great country — is not a game, it’s life and death. We hope our Democrat-elected leaders in Congress will stop playing political games and fund our government."
Republicans have the majority, including the Senate, House of Representatives and the executive office. Some are on vacation with the shutdown just hours away.
Democrats have argued that Republicans are lying to Americans by claiming that Democrats are the ones delaying the push to avert a government shutdown, using the talking point that Democrats want to fund health care for undocumented immigrants.
Democratic leaders have argued that they want to address the Affordable Care Act before time runs out and healthcare premiums rise.
The shutdown — expected to happen at midnight Tuesday — could pause key government services and furlough thousands of government workers.
This move could also be an opportunity for Trump to finish the work that DOGE started.
And in a memo from the White House, the Trump administration this week outlined reduction-in-force plans in the event of a government shutdown, plans that signal mass firings could come. It's unclear who might be lose their jobs; however, multiple White House aids report that positions that do not align with Trump's agenda would likely be targeted.
U.S. Border Patrol officer stands guard as protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) draw hundreds to the ICE headquarters in south Portland, Oregon on Sept. 28, 2025. REUTERS/John Rudoff
The union representing the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol complained Tuesday that it could lose funding amid a looming government shutdown.
"On behalf of the men and women patrolling and securing our borders, we strongly support the bipartisan House-passed Continuing Resolution (CR) and urge the Senate to immediately pass and send it to President Trump for his signature," National Border Patrol Council President Paul Perez told Fox News. The union represents about 18,000 agents.
"A government shutdown means we go without mission-critical funding for patrol vehicles, roads, radios, infrastructure and agent pay," Perez said.
"What our agents do every day — ensure the safety of the American people and the sovereignty of our great country — is not a game, it’s life and death. We hope our Democrat-elected leaders in Congress will stop playing political games and fund our government."
Republicans have the majority, including the Senate, House of Representatives and the executive office. Some are on vacation with the shutdown just hours away.
Democrats have argued that Republicans are lying to Americans by claiming that Democrats are the ones delaying the push to avert a government shutdown, using the talking point that Democrats want to fund health care for undocumented immigrants.
Democratic leaders have argued that they want to address the Affordable Care Act before time runs out and healthcare premiums rise.
The shutdown — expected to happen at midnight Tuesday — could pause key government services and furlough thousands of government workers.
This move could also be an opportunity for Trump to finish the work that DOGE started.
And in a memo from the White House, the Trump administration this week outlined reduction-in-force plans in the event of a government shutdown, plans that signal mass firings could come. It's unclear who might be lose their jobs; however, multiple White House aids report that positions that do not align with Trump's agenda would likely be targeted.
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