AFL-CIO Blasts Supreme Court Ruling Allowing Administration to Move Forward with Firing Thousands of Federal Workers

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler issued the following statement in response to a Supreme Court order allowing the Trump administration to move forward with Reduction in Force (RIF) plans to fire hundreds of thousands of federal workers while litigation continues:

The Trump administration and its unaccountable DOGE have created chaos in hundreds of thousands of federal workers’ lives, and the Supreme Court just heaped on more pain. These are the workers who care for our veterans, make sure our food is safe to eat, protect our health and safety on the job and deliver the essential services we all rely on daily. They track and respond to natural disasters, support our public school educators and ensure our water is clean. Now, the Supreme Court has given the Trump-appointed authors of Project 2025 permission to throw these workers out of their jobs and cleared the way for even more mass firings while litigation proceeds.

The American people do not support this. By a 2-1 margin, people oppose the reckless firing of federal workers. And when 85% of federal workers live outside of D.C and 30% of federal workers are veterans, it’s working families across the country who will be harmed by allowing these firings to move forward—in ways we can’t even know yet. 

This decision is a blow, but the litigation in this case—and the fight for federal workers and the essential services they provide—is far from over. We will continue to work with unions and allies to ensure all federal workers know how to exercise their rights. And we will continue to organize and support federal worker unions in their vital work, because it’s clear that a union contract is more important now than ever. 

Contact: Mia Jacobs, 202-637-5018