The administration’s reckless decision to lay off 10,000 workers at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and abruptly cancel HHS grants to states and localities is putting lives at risk.
It’s creating chaos among behavioral health service providers and state and local public health departments across the United States.
And it’s endangering critical health care services and forcing state and local governments to fire public service workers — including AFSCME members — or plan for mass layoffs down the line.
All this just so Elon Musk and his fellow billionaires can enjoy bigger tax cuts.
A range of HHS agencies are being gutted
The administration is firing employees at agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and the Administration for Children and Families (ACF).
Infectious disease tracking has been hampered at the CDC because there aren’t enough people to do the work. At the FDA, the review of new drugs and medical devices and food safety inspections have been dealt a blow.
These layoffs came days after HHS canceled $12 billion in federal grants to states that were being used to track infectious diseases, provide behavioral health services and tackle other urgent health issues.
Front-line public service workers everywhere will be hard hit. That includes the thousands of AFSCME members who bravely helped the country through the COVID-19 pandemic. Many members even sacrificed their lives for their communities.
Impact on states, localities — and AFSCME members
Here are early examples of the ripple effects being felt throughout the country:
- In Minnesota, the federal funding cuts represent 25% of the state’s Department of Health budget. A total of 170 people were laid off — including 30 AFSCME members. More layoffs are possible.
- In Washington state, up to 200 members of AFSCME Council 28 who work in the state’s health department are likely to be laid off.
- New Jersey is losing about $350 million in federal funding for the state’s Department of Health and its Department of Human Services. New Jersey was using this money to prevent the spread of communicable diseases and combat the opioid crisis. Phil Murphy denounced these “irrational and inexplicable cuts” and said they’ve caused an “unfillable void in funding that will have disastrous ramifications” on the most vulnerable New Jerseyans.
- At least two-thirds of the staff at NIOSH — nearly 900 employees — are expected to lose their jobs. This is an agency dedicated to ensuring worker safety and health — with potential consequences at workplaces where AFSCME members work. NIOSH staff investigate outbreaks and injuries, like a deadly fungal outbreak that closed a Michigan paper mill in 2023, and recommend ways to reduce hazards and prevent work-related illness.
- About half the staff at ACF are being fired and five of the agency’s offices across the country are being closed. ACF staff oversee federal funding for child care— including the Head Start program and the Child Care and Development Fund, which fund the work of thousands of AFSCME members.
Let’s GO
AFSCME has launched the GO campaign to fight back against these and other attacks that threaten the safety and well-being of our communities.
Through the GO campaign, AFSCME members are standing up to the billionaires and anti-union extremists who are attacking public service workers and gutting public health programs including Medicaid, and targeting Medicare and Social Security.
It’s time to Get Organized.