Federal workers win as judge further halts Trump’s shutdown layoffs

Federal workers and their unions won big this week as a federal judge extended her order barring the Trump administration from firing federal workers because of the government shutdown. 

The judge’s order now bars layoffs based on the shutdown indefinitely for any offices of the federal government where members of the plaintiff unions, including AFSCME, work. 

“Today’s ruling is another victory for federal workers and our ongoing efforts to protect their jobs from an administration hellbent on illegally firing them,” said AFSCME President Lee Saunders. “Unlike the billionaires in this administration, public service workers dedicate themselves to serving their communities. These attempted mass firings would devastate both the workers and the people they serve.” 

AFSCME members protected by the injunction work for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Peace Corps, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), and other federal executive agencies. 

Since the beginning of the year, they have been speaking out against the attacks from the Trump administration, and winning in court—even before this major victory. 

AFSCME members’ stories were particularly influential in Judge Susan Illston’s ruling.  

One of those stories came from AFSCME District Council 20 member Dan Ronneberg, an Air Force veteran who works for the Federal Aviation Administration and is president of AFSCME Local 1653. 

In a court filing, Ronneberg explained how the shutdown reductions-in-force would literally be a matter of life and death for him if they were to be extended to the FAA. 

Having received a kidney transplant days before the shutdown, Ronneberg said that without insurance through his job, his medications would cost over $9,000 a month. 

“Any gap in health care coverage, especially one caused by a RIF during the shutdown when I am also not being paid, is enough to put my life in serious jeopardy,” Ronneberg said, in the portion of his declaration quoted by the court’s opinion. “If I am terminated, my life will be at risk and, at the very least, my family will face financial ruin.”