Federal workers union says HHS layoffs 'targeting science'
Labor unions say layoffs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) are threatening science even as some employees get their jobs back.
In a statement released Friday, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) said the layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) "gut frontline science and shut down life-saving public health programs."
While some staffers are being brought back, the union called this move a "false choice."
"The layoffs are not targeting inefficiency, they are targeting science," said Yolanda Jacobs, president of AFGE Local 2883. “Public health researchers and frontline scientists are being thrown out of their jobs while the country faces growing environmental, occupational, and public health crises."
Earlier this week, roughly 300 NIOSH employees were rehired by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In a budget hearing before the House Appropriations Committee, Kennedy assured Rep. Riley Moore (R-W.Va), whose district was impacted by the layoffs, that key NIOSH programs would continue.
Some NIOSH employees in Cincinnati and the World Trade Center were also rehired.
The AFGE is calling the rehirings a "zero-sum game" because HHS apparently told employees that an equivalent number of CDC staffers would be cut to "offset" the decision.
The layoffs encompassed 10,000 employees who were fired and 10,000 more who chose the Trump administration's "fork in the road" deferred resignation offer. According to the AFGE, more than 1,500 CDC employees and 90 percent of NIOSH staffers were targeted by the HHS Reduction in Force.
Despite what Kennedy told lawmakers this week, the AFGE stated many NIOSH programs remain defunded or disrupted including those that focus on "toxicology research, chemical hazard risk assessment, and surveillance of high-risk industries."
The union is demanding that all laid off employees be restored and that all program funding be refunded. It also wants an end to retaliatory or offsetting layoffs; and direct engagement with union leadership prior to any forthcoming restructuring.
The Hill has reached out to HHS for comment.