AFSCME files lawsuit to prevent gutting of FEMA

AFSCME, along with a broad coalition of labor unions, nonprofit organizations, and local governments, has filed a new lawsuit opposing the Trump administration’s plan to drastically cut staffing at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). 

The complaint challenges the Department of Homeland Security’s 2025 decision to cut staffing at FEMA by half, violating congressional protections designed to ensure the agency can fulfill its mission.

The lawsuit warns that slashing FEMA’s workforce would leave the agency unable to prepare for or respond to natural disasters and other emergencies—putting lives at risk. 

In other words, if allowed to continue, the cuts would undermine the entire reason FEMA was created in the first place.

FEMA staff respond to wildfires, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, and terrorist attacks and other man-made emergencies. It is the only agency large enough to respond to such disasters on the scale needed to prevent further harm and help communities recover.

 “The administration’s attacks on the workers who provide life-saving services during disasters are shameful and put lives across the country at risk,” said AFSCME President Lee Saunders. “When homes flood, hurricanes and tornadoes devastate communities, or wildfires burn through neighborhoods, FEMA employees show up to help families through the worst days of their lives. 

“Dismantling this workforce will lead to slower response times and preventable loss of life, and further strain emergency response as state and local workers, including AFSCME members, lose this critical support. We will not stand by while the administration recklessly dismantles this essential workforce.”