“These mass firings are illegal and will have devastating effects on the services millions of Americans rely on every day,” warned one labor leader.
Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, speaks with reporters outside of the West Wing of the White House in Washington, DC on July 17, 2025.
(Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Jessica Corbett
Oct 10, 2025
COMMON DREAMS
Unions that are already suing President Donald Trump‘s administration to protect federal workers from mass firings during the government shutdown filed an emergency request for relief from a district court after a top official announced Friday morning that reductions in force were underway.
“The RIFs have begun,” Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought posted on the social media platform X.
Unions Sue to Protect Federal Workers From Mass Firings During Government Shutdown
‘Put Working People First,’ Says AFL-CIO Angered by Trump Agenda and Government Shutdown
According to the filing from the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), “This corroborates credible information plaintiffs began receiving earlier this morning from multiple sources that OMB has directed federal agencies government-wide to begin issuing RIF notices today.”
The unions are asking US District Judge Susan Illston, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, to issue an immediate temporary restraining order “halting OMB from ordering agencies to implement RIFs, and halting the issuance of any RIF notices by any defendant pending the court’s already-scheduled October 16, 2025 hearing.”
Unions that are already suing President Donald Trump‘s administration to protect federal workers from mass firings during the government shutdown filed an emergency request for relief from a district court after a top official announced Friday morning that reductions in force were underway.
“The RIFs have begun,” Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought posted on the social media platform X.
Unions Sue to Protect Federal Workers From Mass Firings During Government Shutdown
‘Put Working People First,’ Says AFL-CIO Angered by Trump Agenda and Government Shutdown
According to the filing from the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), “This corroborates credible information plaintiffs began receiving earlier this morning from multiple sources that OMB has directed federal agencies government-wide to begin issuing RIF notices today.”
The unions are asking US District Judge Susan Illston, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, to issue an immediate temporary restraining order “halting OMB from ordering agencies to implement RIFs, and halting the issuance of any RIF notices by any defendant pending the court’s already-scheduled October 16, 2025 hearing.”
The unions had sued OMB, Vought, the Office of Personnel Management, and OPM Director Scott Kupor late last month amid threats that the Trump administration would use the then-looming government shutdown to pursue mass layoffs.
Government Executive on Friday evening reported layoffs at the Environmental Protection Agency as well as the departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, and Treasury.
After Friday’s emergency filing, AFGE national president Everett Kelley said in a statement: “It is disgraceful that the Trump administration has used the government shutdown as an excuse to illegally fire thousands of workers who provide critical services to communities across the country. These workers show up every day to serve the American people, and for the past nine months have been met with nothing but cruelty and viciousness from President Trump. Every single American citizen should be outraged.”
“Federal workers are tired of being used as pawns for the political and personal gains of the elected and unelected leaders. It’s time for Congress to do their jobs and negotiate an end to this shutdown immediately,” he continued. “In AFGE’s 93 years of existence under several presidential administrations—including during Trump’s first term—no president has ever decided to fire thousands of furloughed workers during a government shutdown.”
“AFGE is currently challenging President Trump’s illegal, unprecedented, abuse of power, and we will not stop fighting until every reduction-in-force notice is rescinded,“ he pledged.
AFSCME president Lee Saunders was similarly determined, saying that ”these mass firings are illegal and will have devastating effects on the services millions of Americans rely on every day. Whether it’s food inspectors, public safety workers, or the countless other public service workers who keep America running, federal employees should not be bargaining chips in this administration’s political games.“
”By illegally firing these workers, the administration isn’t just targeting federal employees, it’s hurting their families and the communities they serve every day,“ he added. ”We will pursue every available legal avenue to stop this administration’s unlawful attacks on public service workers’ freedoms and jobs.“
Both AFSCME and AFGE are affiliates of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler has called out the White House over the shutdown—the result of congressional Republicans refusing to reverse their devastating cuts to healthcare—and continued to do so on Friday.
” Donald Trump shut down the government, choosing to lock workers out of their jobs instead of doing his,“ she said. ”As millions of workers miss paychecks and Americans open letters saying their healthcare costs are skyrocketing, the Trump administration is creating even more pain and chaos by moving to illegally fire thousands of federal workers today. We won’t stand for this administration using hardworking Americans as pawns in a political game.“
Congressional Democrats and other critics also fired back at Vought—including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who wrote on X that ”Republicans would rather see thousands of Americans lose their jobs than sit down and negotiate with Democrats to reopen the government.“
”Republicans own this shutdown—every job lost, every family hurt, every service gutted is because of their decisions,“ he added.
Congressman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) pointed out that ”nearly 700,000 of our public servants are veterans. Donald Trump is threatening to fire them as punishment for doing their jobs because he failed to do his. Behind many of these veterans are families who depend on that paycheck, families who pay their taxes, serve their communities, and make this country work.“
”Trump and Vought should be ashamed of themselves,“ he asserted. ”They don’t have to do this, they want to do this.“
Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) agreed with that last point.
”Once again: If President Trump and Russ Vought decide to do more mass firings, they are CHOOSING to inflict more pain on people,“ she wrote. ”’Reductions in force’ are not a new power these bozos get in a shutdown. We can’t be intimidated by these crooks.“
Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) called Vought’s post ”your daily reminder that Donald Trump doesn’t give a shit about working people.“
Warren Gunnels—staff director for Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Ranking Member Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)—argued that ”the RIF that should be going out is for Russ Vought, President Trump’s authoritarian budget director, who has been illegally firing federal workers with impunity and denying funds that Congress appropriated and the president signed into law-in violation of the US Constitution.“
”Hey Russell: You want to fire someone? Fire yourself for breaking the law and violating the Constitution, not hardworking veterans and other public servants who put their lives on the line defending our country each and every day,“ Gunnels told the OMB director. ”They deserve our respect, not contempt.“
Trump admin reveals number of federal workers hit by Trump's new mass purge
Daniel Hampton
October 10, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump listens during an announcement about lowering U.S. drug prices, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 10, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura
Thousands of federal workers were hit by layoffs on Friday as the government shutdown entered its 10th day, according to newly released court filings.
More than 4,100 positions will be axed, the government told a court Friday night, according to The Washington Post. The number comes after White House budget director Russell Vought posted on X earlier in the day, “The RIFs have begun,” using an acronym for reductions in force.
The Trump administration told a federal judge in California that notices were sent in the Commerce, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Homeland Security and Treasury departments. Furthermore, government attorneys said the Environmental Protection Agency told up to 30 workers they too could be laid off in the future, the Post reported.
Other agencies are “actively considering whether to conduct additional RIFs related to the ongoing lapse in appropriations,” according to the court filing.
President Donald Trump on Friday said his team intentionally moved to oust "people that the Democrats want."
At least two Republican senators have already spoken out against the layoffs.
Daniel Hampton
October 10, 2025
RAW STORY
U.S. President Donald Trump listens during an announcement about lowering U.S. drug prices, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 10, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura
Thousands of federal workers were hit by layoffs on Friday as the government shutdown entered its 10th day, according to newly released court filings.
More than 4,100 positions will be axed, the government told a court Friday night, according to The Washington Post. The number comes after White House budget director Russell Vought posted on X earlier in the day, “The RIFs have begun,” using an acronym for reductions in force.
The Trump administration told a federal judge in California that notices were sent in the Commerce, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Homeland Security and Treasury departments. Furthermore, government attorneys said the Environmental Protection Agency told up to 30 workers they too could be laid off in the future, the Post reported.
Other agencies are “actively considering whether to conduct additional RIFs related to the ongoing lapse in appropriations,” according to the court filing.
President Donald Trump on Friday said his team intentionally moved to oust "people that the Democrats want."
At least two Republican senators have already spoken out against the layoffs.
Fed Governor Warns ‘Job Growth Has Probably Been Negative’ as US Labor Market Stalls
One market analyst said the US jobs market is going through “bed rot.”
As US President Trump announced massive tariffs on goods from the EU, Germany’s leading index, the DAX, plummeted.
(Photo by Boris Roessler/picture alliance via Getty Images)
Brad Reed
Oct 10, 2025
COMMON DREAMS
Christopher Waller, a Federal Reserve governor, warned on Friday that the US labor market at the moment is in poor shape and showing little sign of improvement.
In an interview on CNBC, Waller said that the data released by processing firm ADP earlier this month showing that the economy lost 32,000 jobs in September was “consistent with what we’re starting to see with [Bureau of Labor Statistics] data.”
“Job growth has probably been negative the last few months,” he explained. “It doesn’t look like it’s doing much better. Anecdotally... I don’t hear anybody with big hiring plans. All I ever hear is, ‘We’re not backfilling, we’re not firing, we’re holding off any job things.’ That’s the anecdotal evidence.”Waller’s analysis was shared by Ed Al-Hussainy, rates strategist with Columbia Threadneedle investments, who told Axios on Friday that the job market was “bed rotting,” with employers reluctant to make any major hiring commitments in the face of economic uncertainty.
Al-Hussainy also warned that the current problems with the job market could “continue to get worse, until they reach a tipping point where consumption starts to degrade, and then you have another recession scare.”
Earlier in the week, Fortune reported that Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, estimated that there was “essentially no job growth” in the last month, while pointing to the Conference Board’s recent report showing that US consumers haven’t been this pessimistic about the labor market since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“There’s no better predictor of changes in unemployment, which thus likely rose again in September,” he added.
Abby McCloskey, a columnist at Bloomberg and a former economist at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, argued in a Friday column that the US economy had now slowed down so much that even supporters of President Donald Trump were rating it unfavorably.
“Only 44% of Republicans think the economy is excellent or good, according to new data from the Pew Research Center,” McCloskey explained. “Compare this to the soaring approval of GOP voters in Trump’s first term before Covid hit—when 81% thought the economy was good.”
She then noted that, despite a record-breaking stock market and stabilized inflation, voters’ concerns about the economy appeared to be justified.
“Despite enormous tax cuts in this summer’s reconciliation bill and sweeping reductions to the federal workforce—things Republicans would typically cheer—tariffs and political uncertainty are taking a toll,” she argued. “When a voter balances the tax cuts from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act against tariffs raising prices on everything from groceries to clothes, it feels like running just to stay in place.”
One market analyst said the US jobs market is going through “bed rot.”
As US President Trump announced massive tariffs on goods from the EU, Germany’s leading index, the DAX, plummeted.
(Photo by Boris Roessler/picture alliance via Getty Images)
Brad Reed
Oct 10, 2025
COMMON DREAMS
Christopher Waller, a Federal Reserve governor, warned on Friday that the US labor market at the moment is in poor shape and showing little sign of improvement.
In an interview on CNBC, Waller said that the data released by processing firm ADP earlier this month showing that the economy lost 32,000 jobs in September was “consistent with what we’re starting to see with [Bureau of Labor Statistics] data.”
“Job growth has probably been negative the last few months,” he explained. “It doesn’t look like it’s doing much better. Anecdotally... I don’t hear anybody with big hiring plans. All I ever hear is, ‘We’re not backfilling, we’re not firing, we’re holding off any job things.’ That’s the anecdotal evidence.”Waller’s analysis was shared by Ed Al-Hussainy, rates strategist with Columbia Threadneedle investments, who told Axios on Friday that the job market was “bed rotting,” with employers reluctant to make any major hiring commitments in the face of economic uncertainty.
Al-Hussainy also warned that the current problems with the job market could “continue to get worse, until they reach a tipping point where consumption starts to degrade, and then you have another recession scare.”
Earlier in the week, Fortune reported that Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, estimated that there was “essentially no job growth” in the last month, while pointing to the Conference Board’s recent report showing that US consumers haven’t been this pessimistic about the labor market since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“There’s no better predictor of changes in unemployment, which thus likely rose again in September,” he added.
Abby McCloskey, a columnist at Bloomberg and a former economist at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, argued in a Friday column that the US economy had now slowed down so much that even supporters of President Donald Trump were rating it unfavorably.
“Only 44% of Republicans think the economy is excellent or good, according to new data from the Pew Research Center,” McCloskey explained. “Compare this to the soaring approval of GOP voters in Trump’s first term before Covid hit—when 81% thought the economy was good.”
She then noted that, despite a record-breaking stock market and stabilized inflation, voters’ concerns about the economy appeared to be justified.
“Despite enormous tax cuts in this summer’s reconciliation bill and sweeping reductions to the federal workforce—things Republicans would typically cheer—tariffs and political uncertainty are taking a toll,” she argued. “When a voter balances the tax cuts from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act against tariffs raising prices on everything from groceries to clothes, it feels like running just to stay in place.”
President Trump begins mass layoffs of federal workers amid government shutdown
Joey Garrison, USA TODAY
Fri, October 10, 2025 at 11:18 AM MDT
WASHINGTON ‒ President Donald Trump on Friday followed through on his long-standing threat to fire federal workers during the government shutdown, taking aggressive action to downsize the government in a dramatic break from past shutdowns.
“The RIFs have begun,” Russell Vought, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget said in a post on X, referring to “reductions in force," or RIFs, of federal departments and agencies.
An OMB spokeswoman would not say how many federal workers are affected, or which agencies were targeted, but described the layoffs as "substantial."
The Trump administration later said about 4,000 federal workers had so far received RIF notices. The figure was detailed in a court document the Justice Department submitted in response to a lawsuit from unions representing government workers. But additional layoffs are coming, a senior administration official told USA TODAY.
The initial wave of layoffs spanned seven federal departments: 315 workers in the Commerce Department; 466 in the Education Department; 187 in the Energy Department; between 1,100 and 1,200 in the Department of Health and Human Services; 442 in the Department of Housing and Urban Development; 176 in the Department Homeland Security; and 1,446 in the Treasury Department.
People wait in line to enter the Federal Building in Los Angeles, California on October 1, 2025, where services are experiencing significant disruptions due to the federal government shutdown, as essential workers continue working without pay and non-essential federal workers are furloughed.
The United States Park Service place a notice on the visitors entry door notifying of the closing of the Washington Monument to visitors on the first day of the federal government shutdown on October 1, 2025 after President Donald Trump and congressional leaders failed to reach a funding compromise.
People look up at the Washington Monument ticket office window with a notice of closure following the United States Park Service placing a note on the ticket office window notifying of the closing of the Washington Monument to visitors on the first day of the federal government shutdown on October 1, 2025.
With the government out of money after President Donald Trump and lawmakers failed to agree on a deal to keep the lights on, many federal departments and agencies have been closed since midnight. See what remains open and what has closed.More
White House officials have argued the layoffs are needed to ensure essential government services have funding. But many legal experts and unions have raised legal objections, accusing Trump of using the shutdown to advance his political agenda and to punish Democrats.
Two unions, the American Federation of Government Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, preemptively sued the Trump administration on Sept. 30 over the president's repeated threats of layoffs. The suit argues firing workers during the shutdown is an abuse of power that strips federal employees of back-pay rights and violate agencies’ statutory duties
Shortly after Vought's announcement, attorneys representing the unions filed a motion in federal court seeking a temporary restraining order to immediately halt the layoffs.
“It is disgraceful that the Trump administration has used the government shutdown as an excuse to illegally fire thousands of workers who provide critical services to communities across the country," AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in a statement.
More: President Trump says some furloughed federal workers ‘don’t deserve’ back pay
President Donald Trump gestures as he walks to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, on October 10, 2025, on his way to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to receive a medical checkup.More
Layoffs not carried out in past shutdowns
Historically, nonessential federal workers are placed on furloughs that pause their pay during government shutdowns, but they are not part of widespread federal workforce layoffs. About 750,000 federal workers have been furloughed during the shutdown.
The Trump administration this year has already fired tens of thousands of federal workers as part of Trump's Department of Government Efficiency's efforts to drastically cut the size of the federal government.
For days, Trump warned Democrats he may pursue mass layoffs of workers and shutter government programs if the shutdown, which began on Oct. 1, drags on. The White House held off on reductions for more than a week after initially saying layoffs were "imminent" and coming in "a day or two."
Democrats in Congress have demanded that reversing recent Medicaid cuts and extending expiring Affordable Health Care Act subsidies be included in any funding bill to reopen the government. But Republicans say they won't entertain any changes to health care policy until the shutdown is over.
More: White House says mass layoffs of federal workers have begun. Shutdown live updates.
Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Russell Vought speaks to reporters outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 17, 2025.
The standoff has resulted in the Senate voting eight times to defeat dueling bills to reopen the government.
In addition to mass firings of federal workers, Trump has also threatened to block back pay of federal workers and to cut "Democrat programs" from the government if Democrats don't join Republicans to end the shutdown.
“We're going to be cutting some very popular Democrat programs that aren't popular with Republicans, frankly, because that's the way this works," Trump said on Oct. 9. "They wanted to do this, so we'll give them a little taste of their own medicine."
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump begins mass layoffs of federal workers amid government shutdown
Joey Garrison, USA TODAY
Fri, October 10, 2025 at 11:18 AM MDT
WASHINGTON ‒ President Donald Trump on Friday followed through on his long-standing threat to fire federal workers during the government shutdown, taking aggressive action to downsize the government in a dramatic break from past shutdowns.
“The RIFs have begun,” Russell Vought, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget said in a post on X, referring to “reductions in force," or RIFs, of federal departments and agencies.
An OMB spokeswoman would not say how many federal workers are affected, or which agencies were targeted, but described the layoffs as "substantial."
The Trump administration later said about 4,000 federal workers had so far received RIF notices. The figure was detailed in a court document the Justice Department submitted in response to a lawsuit from unions representing government workers. But additional layoffs are coming, a senior administration official told USA TODAY.
The initial wave of layoffs spanned seven federal departments: 315 workers in the Commerce Department; 466 in the Education Department; 187 in the Energy Department; between 1,100 and 1,200 in the Department of Health and Human Services; 442 in the Department of Housing and Urban Development; 176 in the Department Homeland Security; and 1,446 in the Treasury Department.
People wait in line to enter the Federal Building in Los Angeles, California on October 1, 2025, where services are experiencing significant disruptions due to the federal government shutdown, as essential workers continue working without pay and non-essential federal workers are furloughed.
The United States Park Service place a notice on the visitors entry door notifying of the closing of the Washington Monument to visitors on the first day of the federal government shutdown on October 1, 2025 after President Donald Trump and congressional leaders failed to reach a funding compromise.
People look up at the Washington Monument ticket office window with a notice of closure following the United States Park Service placing a note on the ticket office window notifying of the closing of the Washington Monument to visitors on the first day of the federal government shutdown on October 1, 2025.
With the government out of money after President Donald Trump and lawmakers failed to agree on a deal to keep the lights on, many federal departments and agencies have been closed since midnight. See what remains open and what has closed.More
White House officials have argued the layoffs are needed to ensure essential government services have funding. But many legal experts and unions have raised legal objections, accusing Trump of using the shutdown to advance his political agenda and to punish Democrats.
Two unions, the American Federation of Government Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, preemptively sued the Trump administration on Sept. 30 over the president's repeated threats of layoffs. The suit argues firing workers during the shutdown is an abuse of power that strips federal employees of back-pay rights and violate agencies’ statutory duties
Shortly after Vought's announcement, attorneys representing the unions filed a motion in federal court seeking a temporary restraining order to immediately halt the layoffs.
“It is disgraceful that the Trump administration has used the government shutdown as an excuse to illegally fire thousands of workers who provide critical services to communities across the country," AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in a statement.
More: President Trump says some furloughed federal workers ‘don’t deserve’ back pay
President Donald Trump gestures as he walks to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, on October 10, 2025, on his way to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to receive a medical checkup.More
Layoffs not carried out in past shutdowns
Historically, nonessential federal workers are placed on furloughs that pause their pay during government shutdowns, but they are not part of widespread federal workforce layoffs. About 750,000 federal workers have been furloughed during the shutdown.
The Trump administration this year has already fired tens of thousands of federal workers as part of Trump's Department of Government Efficiency's efforts to drastically cut the size of the federal government.
For days, Trump warned Democrats he may pursue mass layoffs of workers and shutter government programs if the shutdown, which began on Oct. 1, drags on. The White House held off on reductions for more than a week after initially saying layoffs were "imminent" and coming in "a day or two."
Democrats in Congress have demanded that reversing recent Medicaid cuts and extending expiring Affordable Health Care Act subsidies be included in any funding bill to reopen the government. But Republicans say they won't entertain any changes to health care policy until the shutdown is over.
More: White House says mass layoffs of federal workers have begun. Shutdown live updates.
Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Russell Vought speaks to reporters outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 17, 2025.
The standoff has resulted in the Senate voting eight times to defeat dueling bills to reopen the government.
In addition to mass firings of federal workers, Trump has also threatened to block back pay of federal workers and to cut "Democrat programs" from the government if Democrats don't join Republicans to end the shutdown.
“We're going to be cutting some very popular Democrat programs that aren't popular with Republicans, frankly, because that's the way this works," Trump said on Oct. 9. "They wanted to do this, so we'll give them a little taste of their own medicine."
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump begins mass layoffs of federal workers amid government shutdown
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