AFGE Local 252

AFGE Local 252: The Education Department is paying us millions not to work

From the Washington Post (by Sheria Smith and Brittany Coleman of AFGE Local 252)

Three months ago, on March 11, we were laid off from our positions as civil rights attorneys for the Education Department by the education secretary and U.S. DOGE Service. But it wasn’t just the two of us — roughly 1,400 of our colleagues working across the department were laid off as part of a nearly 50 percent reduction-in-force order from the Trump administration.

Starting June 9, we were supposed to be officially terminated from our roles as federal employees. But that isn’t happening. Instead, we’re caught in legal limbo, unable to do vital work while judges sort through the White House’s legally absurd attempt to shut down the department. It’s an outrageous waste of time and money while we wait for the courts to put an end to this destructive exercise.

Dallas Teachers Protest Impact of Federal Education Cuts, Vouchers

From Dallas Observer

More than 200 public educators, teachers’ union members and education professionals marched a quarter of a mile under the scorching Texas sun to Sen. Ted Cruz’s Dallas office on Friday to protest recent national and state actions that they say “dismantle” the education system at several levels.

The protest, organized by the Texas branch of the American Federation of Teachers (Texas AFT), was the first event on the jam-packed schedule for the 32nd Annual Texas AFT Convention held in Dallas for the first time in 15 years.

GOP senators push for higher education overhaul in Trump agenda bill

From WLUC Upper Michigan’s Source

Senate Republicans are calling for an overhaul of federal higher education programs in President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill” package.

“Our experiment in paying everything with a federal loan did not work out well. Lots of kids with debt, universities without accountability, and a big bill for the taxpayer. We’re trying to stop all that,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.

Cassidy unveiled the upper chamber’s education component of the bill back on June 10. He said the legislation aims to promote affordability, accountability and education access.

It calls for fewer student loan repayment options and new student loan limits.

Education Department pays over $7 million a month to employees forced to sit idle

From CNN

The US Department of Education is paying more than $7 million a month to employees it has forced to go on leave, according to analysis from the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252, the union that represents department employees.

The payments could continue for years amid a long court battle over cuts instituted by the Trump administration.

The department has already paid more than $21 million to idle employees over the last three months, AFGE has calculated, after they were terminated in March when the agency cut nearly half of its workforce. Roughly 1,300 people were laid off and hundreds more took voluntary “buyouts.”

Musk Exits DOGE Leaving Threadbare Agencies and Strained Workers

From Bloomberg

The full effects of a drastic cost-cutting campaign are coming into focus as its billionaire architect departs from the government.

Fired, Rehired, Fired Again. Massive Federal Cuts Leave Black Workers Reeling

From Capital B

“I feel helpless. I feel like so much is out of my control,” one former employee says as the Trump administration targets USAID, AmeriCorps, and beyond.

‘It’s just devastating’: Federal workers grapple with canceled health insurance, bungled benefits after Trump’s layoff chaos

From CNN

Current and former federal employees are struggling to get their workplace benefits, including health insurance and pension payments, amid President Donald Trump’s chaotic efforts to reduce the federal workforce.

Education Department Targets Pregnant, LGBTQ Staff Protections

From Bloomberg

The US Department of Education is pushing to strip workplace protections for pregnant or LGBTQ staff, telling its employee union the policies must be changed to conform to President Donald Trump’s executive orders.

The cost of being in Trump’s crosshairs: Public humiliation

From NBC News

It’s not only that the Trump administration is firing government employees en masse, or trying to swallow up neighboring Canada, or squeezing Ukraine, a democratic nation fighting off Russia’s invasion.

For those in the crosshairs, no small part of the ordeal is the public humiliation they’ve endured. The new administration has been rushing to execute its agenda and along the way has left a roadside trail of unsuspecting and, in some cases, helpless casualties.

Trump’s education cuts could lead to the problems he says he’s eliminating

From USAToday

In his first two months back at the White House, President Donald Trump has railed against rampant “waste, fraud and abuse” across the government.

That criticism, based in many cases on false and misleading claims about federal workers and programs, has fueled sweeping cuts. Another dramatic round of layoffs came last week when Trump staffers announced they’d slashed the workforce in half at the U.S. Department of Education.