Federal workers are the heart of our government, ensuring that critical services like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the Department of Veterans Affairs, disaster relief and national defense run smoothly. They run our national parks, inspect our food and medicine, and keep us safe from crime, accidents and disasters.
Cuts to the federal workforce jeopardize these services, affecting millions of Americans who rely on the government to protect and secure their well-being.
- Undermining the rights of federal workers doesn’t just harm them—it harms their families and the communities we all live in. While many assume most federal workers are based in the Washington, D.C., area, the reality is 85% of federal employees live throughout the country. Federal workers are our family members, friends and neighbors, and active members of our communities. They are essential contributors to our local economies and keep our transportation systems running, make sure we have an educated and well-trained workforce, and keep our communities safe.
- The American people depend on government services, and those government services depend on dedicated, experienced, and skilled workers running them—not political lackeys. President Trump signed an executive order to reinstate Schedule F, a policy that allows his administration to fire tens or hundreds of thousands of government workers—skilled and experienced Americans across the country who make our government function—without due process and replace them with political loyalists. The federal government’s failure to function with a skeleton crew of political cronies would have wide-ranging, life-changing consequences for hardworking Americans. Without skilled and experienced federal workers, the basic, fundamental needs of America’s families would be at risk.
- The Trump administration’s decision to eliminate policies against discrimination and harassment hurts access to employment opportunities for people of color, women, LGBTQ+ people, veterans, older Americans, and people with disabilities. Americans should be able to go to work without fear of discrimination, harassment and intimidation in our workplace. Diversity, equity and inclusion policies create stronger work environments and safer conditions for all workers. The federal government already hires and promotes exclusively on the basis of merit. The results are clear: a diverse federal workforce that looks like the nation it serves, with the lowest gender and racial pay gaps in the country. We should all be proud of that.
- Disrupting federal workers and unions creates a less efficient, less effective government that costs us all in the long run. In critical areas like national security, public health and clean energy, we need their expertise to meet the moment. Past efforts to reduce the federal workforce through buyouts, such as in the 1990s, drained the federal government of institutional knowledge and key expertise, leading to backlogs, delays, and higher costs.
The labor movement is using every legal, legislative and organizing tool in our toolbox to protect America’s federal workers from the Trump–Musk administration’s anti-worker policies.
Where in the U.S. are government workers?
Where do government workers live? The answer may surprise you. While many assume most federal workers are based in the Washington, D.C., area, 85% of federal employees live throughout the country, with large concentrations in states like California, Texas, Florida and Georgia. Cuts would be felt nationwide, hurting local economies and services.
About one-third of federal workers are military veterans who continue to serve our country in these roles. Cuts to the federal workforce would immediately put thousands of veterans out of work.
In our own words
Click through the carousel to read the stories of ordinary workers who make our communities run, and see how they’re being affected by DOGE and the Trump administration’s executive orders.
We’re a military family and rely on workplace flexibility for me to keep my job. We are currently stationed in [redacted] and rely on two incomes to make ends meet.
They’re already affecting my work. We don’t have the resources to do what they want us to do and they demonize us every day.
As a federal employee, a hostile administration makes me fearful that my job could be terminated at the stroke of a pen. As the majority breadwinner, this would make us homeless in months.
As an Indigenous, disabled veteran, working with a hostile administration puts my work and my family’s life in jeopardy. I gave up my youth in service to this country, and to have that sacrifice dishonored by the people in D.C. is a punch in the gut.
