Some Michigan federal workers fired as part of the push by President Donald Trump’s administration to overhaul the federal bureaucracy grew emotional as they described how their terminations threaten the health and safety of the U.S. during a rally outside of the John D. Dingell Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Detroit on Friday.
Some cars driving by honked in support as demonstrators loudly chanted their calls to “save the civil service.”
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) organized the rally in Michigan, where the federal government employed just under 30,000 as of March 2024, according to the Congressional Research Service. Union leaders couldn’t say with certainty how many of those workers have lost their jobs in Trump ally Elon Musk’s quest to reshape the federal government through his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
A White House fact sheet laying out Trump’s strategy for reshaping the federal workforce says there are too many federal employees. “The federal workforce contributes significantly to federal spending and debt,” it reads.
“No one elected Musk, right?” AFGE National President Everett Kelley told the crowd outside the veterans hospital. “We need to tell Elon Musk it’s time for him to go.”
AFGE secured a recent legal victory in its lawsuit against the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) alleging the firings of probationary federal employees broke the law. On Thursday, a federal judge ruled that OPM overstepped its authority by telling other Trump administration agencies to fire probationary workers. But it’s not clear what will happen to the federal workers who already lost their jobs.
“We don’t know. We’re like in a twilight zone right now,” said Benjamin Mahan, president of AFGE Local 933, which represents federal workers at the veterans hospital in Detroit. Kelley, meanwhile, said the ruling means workers should be reinstated. The legal fight remains ongoing.
Katy Frank, 30, of Ann Arbor, said she was fired via email Thursday from her job as a computer scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. There, she said she was part of a team that managed information collected from buoys and stations across the Great Lakes that feeds into weather forecast models used by commercial shippers navigating the waters. She said she also monitored algal blooms on the lakes that could be toxic and more. Frank said she began her job in August.
“It would be great if we could be reinstated. I know there’s a couple other pathways to keep working and serving the Great Lakes community so I hope to keep doing that in some capacity. It’s really important to me,” Frank said.
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Hailey Kenward shared her story through a megaphone during the rally, telling protesters that she worked on the public affairs team at the Detroit veterans hospital until she said she was fired Monday. “I was given an outstanding performance review in December, and it’s unfair that me and my fellow veterans and my fellow civil servants are being terminated wrongfully,” she said. She described the firings as heart-wrenching and harmful for veterans. The Detroit veterans hospital where Kenward worked provides a range of health services from primary care to private counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder, according to its website.
U.S. Reps. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor, and Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, joined protesters. “We are here standing united and fighting for the veterans and dedicated government workers. We made a commitment to those who fought and served this country to protect that flag that we all love,” she said, pointing to the U.S. flag outside the hospital whipping in the wind. Tlaib blasted how the Trump administration has approached cutting the federal workforce, saying, “It’s chaos but it’s cruel.”
Free Press Washington Correspondent Todd Spangler contributed to this report
Contact Clara Hendrickson: chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743.
