Federal employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are hoping the agency’s newly confirmed leader will work to repair the relationship between workers and management following a tumultuous year punctuated by forced terminations, the removal of benefits for workers with disabilities, and a deadly shooting outside the agency’s Atlanta headquarters.
Erica Schwartz was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Aug. 5 as CDC’s new director – a position that has been vacant for nearly a year after the previous director was fired after less than a month in the position in a dispute over vaccine policy with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
During a press call following Schwartz’ nomination, AFGE Local 2883 President Yolanda Jacobs urged the newly confirmed director to work collaboratively with the union to protect our nation’s public health.
“A new CDC Director has an opportunity to turn the tide,” Jacobs said.
The past year and a half has been a whirlwind for CDC’s employees. The agency shed nearly a quarter of its workforce within months of President Trump taking office through reductions-in-force and employees voluntarily quitting.
On Aug. 8, 2025, an armed man fired more than 500 rounds into multiple buildings on the agency’s Atlanta campus and killed responding police officer David Rose.
The following month, the agency announced that employees with disabilities would no longer be approved for telework or remote work as a reasonable accommodation – only to abruptly pause implementation of the new rule following AFGE’s pushback.
Then in October, amidst a governmentwide shutdown due to a lapse in continuing appropriations, CDC issued termination notices to nearly 1,800 employees – only to immediately recall about 800 of those that were issued in error.
During all that time, CDC leaders made little effort to connect with affected workers.
“Leadership has had 18 months to check in on workers as they navigated mass layoffs, repeated leadership turnover, and the long-term implications of last year’s traumatic shooting. And yet leadership has continually failed to show up for its workers, causing many to rightfully take their expertise elsewhere,” Jacobs said.
More than a year after the shooting rampage at the agency’s headquarters, shattered windows have yet to be repaired and no comprehensive safety plan has been provided to workers.
“It’s time to repair the damage done as a result of sweeping RIFs by actively rehiring RIF’d workers to fill the gaps left behind, address the disintegration of the reasonable accommodation process at CDC, provide a procedural process for workers to access their private records in a timely manner, and reopen the lines of communication between workers and management,” she said.
For 94 years, AFGE’s mission has been to improve the lives of government workers and make sure they have the resources they need to serve the American people.
Read More
Hundreds of AFGE leaders and activists are newly empowered to stamp out discrimination in federal and D.C. government workplaces thanks to the training they received at the 2026 S.T.A.N.D. Conference.
Read More
Federal employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are hoping the agency’s newly confirmed leader will work to repair the relationship between workers and management.
Read More
