I wonder how many voted for Trump. I guess you reap what you sew!
PEORIA, Ill (WMBD) — The national wave of terminations that have hit the federal workforce also affected Peoria as roughly 20 people lost their jobs at one of the nation’s premier research facilities.
One employee called the move “a slap in the face” and a “punch to the gut.”
Last week, the Trump Administration fired thousands of “probationary” federal employees and some of those were at the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, more commonly called the Ag Lab.
And more, a union official said, could come over the next couple of weeks. Some of those former employees spoke to WMBD days after they got the news about their dismissal, which is being led by the Department of Government Efficiency.
Probationary employees — those generally on the job for less than a year and who have yet to gain civil service protection, number in the hundreds of thousands. The Trump Administration has called on several agencies to cut ties with nearly all of those employees.
Last Thursday, Bri Walker was told she’d be receiving a termination notification in her email letting her know she’d be laid off from her position as secretary for office automation, a dream job for her. She went into the office on Friday and saw the email.
“To have all of that time and hiring effort and started research just gutted at once, you know, there’s not much you can say at that point except, ‘Oh, okay, I guess that’s it,'” she said.
She is from Los Angeles, but hopes to stay in central Illinois following her dismissal.
Ethan Roberts heads American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), local 3247. The union represents more than 80 workers at the Ag Lab. He said he’s not confident the termination notices are fully legal.
“I’m responsible for making sure that the agency that employs them follows rules and regulations, and it was my first instinct, after reading these termination letters that they were receiving, that these terminations were of dubious legality,” Roberts said.
Roberts said federal workers face an uncertain future as a result of the layoffs.
“They’re watching it all disappear and wondering what they’re going to do next,” he said.
Many unions, including the AFGE, have filed a lawsuit challenging the terminations.
Dr. Jeannie Klein-Gordon was a research plant pathologist at the Ag Lab. Now, more than a year’s worth of work on delivering farmers solutions for their crops is now gone.
“I was working on diseases and biological control,” she said. “So using organisms like on seed coatings or cover crops and using these to help control plant diseases, and now that’s gone.”
Klein-Gordon, 30, is devastated by the loss of progress she and many other people have made in their careers, all for it to come down to an email. Originally from Oregon, she and her husband have moved several times for her schooling and for jobs.
Peoria, she hoped, would be her final stop and a place where she could raise her 3-year-old and 10-month-old. Now, things are up in the air.
“What’s happened here is such a slap in the face, punch to the gut, it’s awful,” she said. “Just the way that it was done is very disrespectful. Think about all the money and time that was spent hiring these people, training these people, building these programs, and now it’s just vacant.”
The email that she and many other federal workers received said they were terminated based on their performance.
On Klein-Gordon’s annual performance appraisal, where scientists like her are evaluated on different projects and how well they achieve their goals, a box was checked with how well her performance was.
The box that was checked? “Fully completed.”
PEORIA, Ill (WMBD) — The national wave of terminations that have hit the federal workforce also affected Peoria as roughly 20 people lost their jobs at one of the nation’s premier research facilities.
One employee called the move “a slap in the face” and a “punch to the gut.”
Last week, the Trump Administration fired thousands of “probationary” federal employees and some of those were at the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, more commonly called the Ag Lab.
And more, a union official said, could come over the next couple of weeks. Some of those former employees spoke to WMBD days after they got the news about their dismissal, which is being led by the Department of Government Efficiency.
Probationary employees — those generally on the job for less than a year and who have yet to gain civil service protection, number in the hundreds of thousands. The Trump Administration has called on several agencies to cut ties with nearly all of those employees.
Last Thursday, Bri Walker was told she’d be receiving a termination notification in her email letting her know she’d be laid off from her position as secretary for office automation, a dream job for her. She went into the office on Friday and saw the email.
“To have all of that time and hiring effort and started research just gutted at once, you know, there’s not much you can say at that point except, ‘Oh, okay, I guess that’s it,'” she said.
She is from Los Angeles, but hopes to stay in central Illinois following her dismissal.
Ethan Roberts heads American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), local 3247. The union represents more than 80 workers at the Ag Lab. He said he’s not confident the termination notices are fully legal.
“I’m responsible for making sure that the agency that employs them follows rules and regulations, and it was my first instinct, after reading these termination letters that they were receiving, that these terminations were of dubious legality,” Roberts said.
Roberts said federal workers face an uncertain future as a result of the layoffs.
“They’re watching it all disappear and wondering what they’re going to do next,” he said.
Many unions, including the AFGE, have filed a lawsuit challenging the terminations.
Dr. Jeannie Klein-Gordon was a research plant pathologist at the Ag Lab. Now, more than a year’s worth of work on delivering farmers solutions for their crops is now gone.
“I was working on diseases and biological control,” she said. “So using organisms like on seed coatings or cover crops and using these to help control plant diseases, and now that’s gone.”
Klein-Gordon, 30, is devastated by the loss of progress she and many other people have made in their careers, all for it to come down to an email. Originally from Oregon, she and her husband have moved several times for her schooling and for jobs.
Peoria, she hoped, would be her final stop and a place where she could raise her 3-year-old and 10-month-old. Now, things are up in the air.
“What’s happened here is such a slap in the face, punch to the gut, it’s awful,” she said. “Just the way that it was done is very disrespectful. Think about all the money and time that was spent hiring these people, training these people, building these programs, and now it’s just vacant.”
The email that she and many other federal workers received said they were terminated based on their performance.
On Klein-Gordon’s annual performance appraisal, where scientists like her are evaluated on different projects and how well they achieve their goals, a box was checked with how well her performance was.
The box that was checked? “Fully completed.”
