After the Trump administration this week ordered federal agencies to lay off nearly all probationary employees who had not yet gained civil service protection, affecting tens and even hundreds of thousands of workers, protesters gathered in downtown Milwaukee Friday, in front of a Wisconsin Avenue building that houses at least 10 federal agencies.
One person attending was federal employee, Renee Medved, who works for the National Labor Relations Board. She started to tear up speaking of how difficult the past three weeks have been for her and her fellow federal employees.
“Getting an e-mail saying ‘Fork in the road.’ ‘Resign, go work somewhere where you know that's more productive,’ in the ‘more productive’ private sector,” she told the crowd of a few dozen. “I am incredibly productive defending workers’ rights at the National Labor Relations Board.”
“I do not work for Elon Musk, I work for the American people!” she shouted, to cheers.
The Trump administration has enlisted billionaire businessman Elon Musk to run DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, in order to downsize the federal government.
People wielded signs that said: “We Support Federal Workers,” and at times chanted “Shame on Trump!” as they bundled up in big coats, scarves and mittens, braving the frigid Wisconsin weather. The protest was organized by a coalition of area grassroots groups and included some local Democratic politicians, like Milwaukee State Representative Chris Larson, who asked Medved to speak.
The grassroots organizations were also trying to bring attention to the confirmation of Russ Vought, the architect of Project 2025, as director of the Office of Budget and Management. They said it's all part of an effort to end the independence of the federal civil service and amass more power for Trump.
“Well, I’m here because I needed to feel less alone,” said Sarah Mitchell, a Milwaukee area seminary student. “I know that this is a government of the people, and so I needed to be with other people and to see people who cared and who are following the news and are not OK with what's happening.”
Retired counselor Carol Limbach said what brought her out was her “disgust at the betrayal by this administration of ‘we the people.’ Now it's the federal workers.”
She said it reminds her of the famous quote, "First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out," attributed to German pastor Martin Niemöller, referring to people's complicity leading up to the Holocaust.
The Associated Press reports that the civilian federal workforce, not including military personnel and postal workers, is made up of about 2.4 million people, and that “layoffs are unlikely to yield significant deficit savings. When the Congressional Budget Office looked at the issue, it found the government spent $271 billion annually compensating civilian federal workers, with about 60% of that total going to workers employed by the departments of Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs...The government could, in theory, cut all those workers and still run a deficit of over $1 trillion that would continue to grow as tax revenues are needed to keep up with the growing costs of Social Security and Medicare.”
