Philly’s federal workers face new shutdown worries as Trump threatens permanent layoffs
Federal employees, including those in Philadelphia, are used to furloughs during government shutdowns. But now they may also see reductions in force.
As federal workers across the country brace for a possible government shutdown and temporary furlough after Tuesday, they’re also now contending with the threat of losing their jobs altogether.
One Philadelphia-area federal worker, who asked not to be identified by name or their agency due to fear of retaliation, described what’s already been an on-again-off-again employment situation this year. He was told early in the year that he would be fired, then instead was placed on paid leave for months, and later was asked to return to work. Now, the shutdown and threat of more layoffs loom.
Going back to the job, “I feel like I’m stepping into a tornado,” he said, describing the potential mass firings as “pretty terrifying.”
He wondered: “Am I gonna get fired again, like, next week?”
Philadelphia-area union leaders told The Inquirer that the threat of layoffs during the shutdown, as outlined by a memo from the Office of Management and Budget, is yet another effort from the Trump administration to attack the federal workforce.
The administration also canceled many federal workers’ union contracts last month.
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump’s administration issued a memo from OMB directing agencies to make plans for a mass reduction in force if a shutdown comes to fruition. The memo said these layoffs would be separate from the furloughs that typically take place during a shutdown and should apply to programs that are “not consistent with the President’s priorities.”
The programs must also rely on discretionary funding that would lapse as of Wednesday without another available funding source, according to the memo.
Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, in a statement called the layoffs “illegal” and “DOGE-like” (a reference to Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency).
“Federal employees are not bargaining chips. They are veterans, caregivers, law enforcement officers, and neighbors who serve their country and fellow Americans every day,” Kelley said. “They deserve stability and respect, not pink slips and political games.”
Layoffs would add to the pandemonium of a shutdown, and both Republicans and Democrats need to come together to negotiate a deal in good faith, Kelley said,
Negotiations on a short-term measure to fund the government are at a standstill, with neither Republicans nor Democrats budging on their priorities, the Associated Press reported.
“This is a shakedown,” said Ed Welch, president of AFGE Local 2058, which represents National Park Service employees in Philadelphia.
But any reduction in force could not come at a worse moment for workers. Since the beginning of the second Trump administration, the federal workforce has been depleted through layoffs, a deferred-resignation program, a hiring freeze, and other attrition. As an additional layer of chaos, some laid-off workers have subsequently been asked to return to their jobs after court rulings, and some employees who took the deferred-resignation offer were reportedly called back to work at the IRS and the U.S. Department of Labor.
With already low staffing and the possibility of more reductions, “How low can we go?” Welch said.
At Philadelphia’s VA Medical Center, staffing has been an ongoing issue and more layoffs would make it “even more depleted,” said Karen Ford-Woods, president of AFGE Local 1793. The VA in July canceled a mass layoff that had been announced earlier in the year, stating that it had already seen enough people leave the agency in 2025.
The IRS is already understaffed for the coming filling season, said Alex Jay Berman, union leader at the National Treasurer Employees Union Chapter 71. The news of potential layoffs looming brings new “fear and uncertainty,” and they would come “at the exact wrong time for the agency, for the employees.”
Berman said some employees have expressed concerns that people could be targeted for layoffs because of social media posts that could be misinterpreted as criticism of the current administration.
“Many employees have come to me concerned that these [reductions in force] will be unlike any other,” Berman said.
They’re also looking ahead to the holidays in the next couple of months, he noted, wondering, “Am I going to have a job come Christmas?”
Philip Glover, AFGE national vice president for District 3, which includes Pennsylvania and Delaware, called the potential for mass firings “typical” of the Trump administration and added that Russell Vought, head of OMB, has “truly demonized federal employees for years.”
Vought, who also worked under Trump during his first term, has tried to make it easier to fire federal workers and has reportedly said that he wants to put civil service employees “in trauma.”
“The American public, Philadelphia in general, should understand that this is not normal. These are threats against a workforce that has done nothing to deserve it,” Glover said. “They take care of vets at the VA. They help Social Security recipients. They run our national parks. They don’t deserve this.”
As the Trump administration has taken aim at federal worker union contracts, the unions themselves have faced tough decisions about staffing and how to use their resources.
Union leader Brad Starnes emptied out his space at the Environmental Protection Agency’s Philadelphia office earlier this year. But he said AFGE is keeping a close eye on the potential layoffs.
“If anything is done out of sort, we will do what we can do to push back,” he said.