March 31, 2026

Media contact: Dorie Turner Nolt, dorie.turner@gmail.com, 404-861-1127

Washington, D.C. — American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 252, which represents more than 2,000 current and former employees at the U.S. Department of Education, has filed a complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) about working conditions at the U.S. Department of Labor offices.

The OSHA complaint concerns about 60 Education Department employees from the career technical and postsecondary education offices that the Trump Administration has forced to move to the Labor Department building under unlawful and inefficient interagency agreements. At least another 130 workers from the Education Department’s elementary and secondary education office could move to the Labor Department in the coming months under another interagency agreement.

“The Labor Department offices are unsafe and in disrepair, with water leaking from ceilings, mold in kitchens, extreme temperatures from a failing HVAC system, insect traps filled with dead bugs and live insects in lactation rooms and work areas,” said AFGE Local 252 President Rachel Gittleman. “These interagency agreements have sown chaos for states and grantees, preventing Congressionally mandated funding from going out on time and hamstringing federal employees who are trying to do their jobs on behalf of the public. This isn’t efficiency — Education Secretary Linda McMahon is creating confusion, eroding public trust, and harming students and families.”

So far, the Education Department has purchased new printers and a refrigerator for the Department of Labor, a waste of taxpayer dollars when the Education Department offices have functioning equipment and facilities. Education staff at Labor also have inconsistent internet access and do not receive safety alerts, which led to staff not evacuating the Labor building in a timely manner when there was a suspicious package.

“We call on the Departments of Education and Labor to immediately address these hazardous conditions and ensure employees have a safe, healthy workplace. We also call on Secretary McMahon to end these unlawful interagency agreements and return Education Department employees to their agency instead of continuing to defy Congress and federal law,” Gittleman said.

View video and photos of building conditions at the Labor Department:

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The American Federation of Government Employees Local 252 is the labor union representing more than 2,000 dedicated public servants at the U.S. Department of Education employees—fired, retired, and still fighting. 

March 26, 2026

Media contact: Dorie Turner Nolt, dorie.turner@gmail.com, 404-861-1127

American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 252, which represents more than 2,000 current and former employees at the U.S. Department of Education, released the following statement from AFGE Local 252 President Rachel Gittleman:

“For more than a year, the Trump Administration has traumatized federal workers, eroded public trust, harmed students and families, and wasted tens of millions in taxpayer dollars by dismantling the U.S. Department of Education, despite explicit direction from Congress and multiple courts that Education Secretary Linda McMahon does not have the authority to do so. Now, the Secretary plans to move what’s left of the Education Department staff from its longtime and recently renovated headquarters in Washington, D.C., to a privately owned building that formerly housed USAID nearby, under the guise of saving money. The message the Secretary’s announcement sends to our staff and the American public is clear–education is next on the chopping block. But after more than a year of fighting back against this unlawful and unprecedented gutting of a Congressionally created agency, we know that the will of the people, congressional intent, and the law is on our side. If the Secretary was truly interested in guarding taxpayer dollars, she wouldn’t have wasted up to $38 million on paid administrative leave for Office for Civil Rights workers, who returned to their jobs after she unsuccessfully tried to fire them last year. AFGE Local 252 will continue fighting to hold this Administration accountable and to stand with the professionals who work every day to ensure every student is treated with dignity, fairness, and respect.”

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March 19, 2026

Media contact: Dorie Turner Nolt, dorie.turner@gmail.com, 404-861-1127

American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 252, which represents more than 2,000 current and former employees at the U.S. Department of Education, released the following statement from AFGE Local 252 President Rachel Gittleman:

“The Trump Administration continues to unlawfully dismantle the Education Department by moving programs and offices to other federal agencies despite clear warning from Congress that Education Secretary Linda McMahon lacks the authority to do so. Today’s announcement attempts to transfer the administration of the entire student loan system, including the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, to the U.S. Treasury Department. Since Secretary McMahon took over, the agency has fired or pushed out nearly half of Federal Student Aid’s workforce, leading to the Government Accountability Office warning that the majority of federal student loan servicers running the government’s $1.7 trillion student loan portfolio have been repeatedly breaking the law without staff oversight.

So far, the interagency agreements moving both career and technical programs and postsecondary education programs to the Department of Labor have sown chaos for states and grantees, preventing Congressionally mandated funding from going out on time and hamstringing federal employees who are trying to do their jobs on behalf of the public. This isn’t efficiency — Secretary McMahon is creating confusion, eroding public trust, and harming students and families. This is an insult to the nearly 43 million Americans with federal student loan debt and to the taxpayers who depend on federal oversight to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse.”

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March 12, 2026

Media contact: Dorie Turner Nolt, dorie.turner@gmail.com, 404-861-1127

American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 252, which represents 2,000 U.S. Department of Education current and former employees, released the following statement from AFGE Local 252 President Rachel Gittleman about proposed changes that further erode civil service and weaken protections for federal employees: 

“These proposals concentrate extraordinary power over federal employment decisions in a single agency, the Office of Personnel Management, and remove the external checks provided by independent bodies like the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board and the federal courts. The system is set up to prevent political influence over employment decisions for federal civil servants, but these proposals dangerously remove that wall. AFGE Local 252 strongly opposes these proposed rules.”

Here are the two comments that AFGE Local 252 submitted to OPM about these proposals:

• The sustainability rule
• The reduction-in-force appeal rule

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March 11, 2026

Senator Hirono media contact: George Flynn, george_flynn@hirono.senate.gov, 202-834-4657

AFGE Media contact: Dorie Turner Nolt, dorie.turner@gmail.com, 404-861-1127

Download full press conference video | Download press conference photos

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) held a press conference to mark one year of Donald Trump’s all-out attack on the U.S. Department of Education (ED). Senator Hirono was joined by Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), education advocates, labor leaders, and other stakeholders—including former ED employees—to raise alarms about how the administration has shortchanged students, teachers, administrators, and federal workers.

“At every turn, President Trump and billionaire Secretary of Education Linda McMahon have created chaos and confusion—all at the expense of students. Trump is spending millions to undermine public education and prevent public servants from doing their jobs.” said Senator Hirono. “We know this regime will continue its attacks on the Department of Education, federal workers, public schools, and the more than 50 million children who attend them. That’s why it’s so important that we continue calling attention to these attacks and holding this regime accountable.”

On March 11, 2025, ED Secretary Linda McMahon fired 2,000 ED employees—nearly half the agency’s workforce. Since then, the Administration has proposed illegally moving nearly all federal K-12 programs and many higher education programs to other federal agencies that have limited capacity to run these programs and no experience dealing with them. This move would essentially fulfill Trump’s campaign promise to eliminate the Department altogether and remove the federal government’s role in helping to ensure that all students have access to a quality education.

“It has been one year since Donald Trump took a chainsaw to the Department of Education—moving swiftly to dismantle it and fulfill a campaign pledge ripped out of the Project 2025 handbook,” Senator Durbin said.  “Congress created the Department of Education to ensure that all students—regardless of income, race, sex, or ability level—have equal access to a quality education.  Instead of working to fulfil that mission, President Trump and Secretary McMahon are shuttering its doors.”

“Donald Trump and his cronies’ chainsaw approach to the Department of Education over the past year has not only decimated the Department’s workforce but also undermined key initiatives that students and families count on. At a time when we should be focused on investing in and improving students’ education, these harmful actions threaten our longstanding goal of ensuring that each new generation has greater opportunities than the last. I’ll keep fighting to undo the serious damage this Administration has done to public education in this country and to strengthen our public schools so they can meet their full promise – providing equal access to high-quality education for every student, no matter their zip code,” said Senator Van Hollen.

For the past year, Senator Hirono has been fighting back against the Trump Administration’s attacks on public education. Senator Hirono has hosted five spotlight forums, bringing together educators, students, administrators, advocates, and experts, to demonstrate the widespread consequences of ED rollbacks. Last month, she highlighted ED’s efforts to dismantle support for over 800 Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) that serve over five million students nationwide. In December, her forum covered the Trump Administration’s illegal attacks on federal programs.  In September, she highlighted the cuts to student loans. In July, her forum spotlighted federal funding being withheld from K-12 public education programs. In June, she raised alarms about widespread cuts public education would face from the Big Ugly Bill. In the meantime, she has also held stakeholder roundtables and pushed for legislation that would protect federal education programs, including during the consideration of the Big Ugly Bill.

“The U.S. Department of Education and its hardworking staff deliver vital resources and support to tens of millions of students and families across the country, from early learning through graduate programs. The Trump Administration has shown it will stop at nothing — even ignoring court orders and violating federal law — to dismantle the Department and sow chaos for states and communities,” said Rachel Gittleman, President of American Federation of Government Employees Local 252, which represents 2,000 current and former Education Department workers. “This is an insult to the students who rely on the Department to safeguard access to quality education and to the taxpayers who depend on federal oversight to prevent waste.”

“In multiple national polls conducted across the political spectrum, parents – Republicans, Democrats, and Independents alike – have been unambiguous: they want the Department of Education to continue to exist and to do its job,” said National Parents Union President Keri Rodrigues. “Parents didn’t sign up for chaos. We signed up for schools that work. We want the Department focused on what it was built to do –  making sure every child can read, that math achievement is real, that families have actual choices that work for them.” 

“There are many great public schools but inequities persist. Picture a student sitting in a classroom where the textbooks are outdated, the counselor is responsible for hundreds of students, and the support services they rely on are stretched thin. Now imagine that same student facing racial harassment at school or being denied the special education services they need, while their family files a civil rights complaint hoping someone in Washington will step in to protect them. For generations, the U.S. Department of Education has been that backstop. But thanks to mass firings, thousands of families are left waiting for answers while more than 25,000 complaints sit unresolved. At the same time, funding meant to support public schools is being threatened. These actions constitute the intentional slow erosion of the public system meant to guarantee every child a fair chance to learn. When we weaken the Department of Education, it is students in under-resourced communities, especially Black and Brown students and those from low-income families, who feel the consequences most deeply. Public education is a cornerstone of our democracy, and protecting it means protecting the students whose futures depend on it,” said Allison Socol EdTrust Vice President of P-12 Policy, Practice, and Research.

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