The end of January was a huge shock for many working government employees, after getting an email offering a chance to resign from their position before mass layoffs. Employees were told if they choose to resign they would keep their current pay/ benefits through the end of September. Many people were skeptical whether or not the Trump administration would follow through with their terms of resignation. Employees mentioned how unprofessional the emails felt, and no one was really sure what the terms of resignation even were. Federal worker Carrie recently spoke about her dissatisfaction with the current administration. She has been working in the Housing and Urban Development Department for 15 years, since before Obama’s term and has never experienced chaos like this before. “In all those administrations, we did really good work. Different policies, different politics through all of them. But we really did move work forward, and the need is just even greater now,” Trump says his main motivator for these layoffs is to help shrink the ‘bloated” feel of the current federal government.
Many workers didn’t want to accept the resignation in hopes things would maybe pull together. The issue with that is if people wait too long, they will be officially laid off, and won’t get the same benefits as those who chose to resign. Carrie was given the opportunity to resign in January and decided to stick it out for as long as possible before taking the offer. Unfortunately, she waited too long and ended up being let go in another termination, requiring agencies to lay off any workers on probation. “Working with the federal government was one thing that was kind of on my career goals- like, go to the source of where policy is implemented and analyzed. That’s why I kind of felt more committed to try and stay,”
Mid February over ten thousand people were let go in a matter of days. Close to 75,000 people decided to take the original resignation offer, and so far have reported all their promised benefits have been fulfilled. A second round of resignations was offered to workers, this time by the agencies themselves. This helped people feel more comfortable taking the offer, since it wasn’t from a random email address this time. Americans fear a recession is on the horizon, making this choice even harder. People aren’t sure if they will be able to find another job if they resign, but also don’t want to be put in a situation where they are laid off and have nothing. Our current government administration has left almost all Americans uncertain for the future. Citizens across the country are fighting to stay afloat as the economy and social justice rights rapidly decline. The best thing we can do is stand together and not allow our voices to be silenced.