AFGE Education Local Still Fighting for Members One Year After Mass Firing
March 16, 2026
Categories:
Education, The Insider
One year after the Trump administration slashed the Department of Education’s tiny workforce in half, AFGE Local 252 is still fighting for its members and urging Congress to support the department’s critical programs and services.
Local President Rachel Gittleman traveled cross-country from her home in Seattle to join members of Congress at a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol on March 11 marking the removal of more than 2,000 federal employees at the Education Department within two months of President Trump taking office last January.
Gittleman was one of nearly 1,400 Education employees who received reduction-in-force notices one year ago on March 11. Nearly 600 other employees were pressured to leave through earlier retirement or deferred resignation programs, while another 100 newly hired employees were fired while on probation. Although hundreds of staff were reinstated due to legal and congressional action, more than half of the department’s employees were pushed out or fired last year.
This historic mass firing hobbled the agency’s ability to follow federal laws and continue safeguarding taxpayer dollars from fraud, waste, and abuse, according to the agency’s Inspector General and the Government Accountability Office.
“The Trump administration has shown it will stop at nothing — even ignoring court orders and violating federal law — to dismantle the department and sow chaos for students, families, and communities,” Gittleman said. “They will continue to undermine the careers of thousands of dedicated public servants who work every day to support students and families. We need Congress to step up on behalf of students and families by holding the administration accountable for following the law.”
AFGE and the local’s advocacy on behalf of our members has been paying off. A legal challenge brought by Victim Rights Law Center and other key partners forced Education Secretary Linda McMahon to recall about 300 employees in the Office for Civil Rights who had been on paid administrative leave for nine months, while McMahon brought back another 60 Federal Student Aid employees after realizing the department couldn’t function without them.
The secretary tried to fire another 500 workers in October during the historic 43-day government shutdown, but the cuts were paused due to a court case brought by AFGE and fellow national unions and then halted by Congress as part of the legislation reopening the government.
“Between gutting staff and moving Education Department functions to other federal agencies, Secretary McMahon is creating confusion for schools and colleges, eroding public trust, and harming students and families. This is an insult to the tens of millions of students who rely on the department to safeguard access to quality education and to the taxpayers who depend on federal oversight to prevent waste,” Gittleman said.
U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono said the chaos and confusion is not only impacting the department’s workers – it’s affecting our nation’s students.
“Since retaking office, President Trump and his Secretary of Education, billionaire Linda McMahon, have engaged in an all-out attack on public education,” Hirono said. “This regime has continued from day one to dismantle public school programs. Trump knows he can’t shut down the department even if he wants to, only Congress can do that. So he’s doing everything he can, mainly through Executive Orders, to undermine support for education.”
