West Virginia union leaders decry cuts to federal workforce

Yahoo

03-04-2025

Anita Wolfe, a retiree of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) facility in Morgantown, W.Va., speaks against the federal employee job cuts occurring in the state during a news conference held by West Virginia labor representatives outside the House of Delegates chamber in the state Capitol in Charleston, W.Va., on Thursday, April 3, 2025. (Sean McCallister | Charleston Gazette-Mail photo)
On the heels of a federal office in Morgantown firing dozens of employees, union representatives of West Virginia's federal workforce call on the state's elected leaders to speak out against what they say are 'reckless cuts.'
'We need congress to ask our president to stop the reckless cuts and take a measured approach to reforming government and balancing the budget such as was done in the 1990s,' said Dan Doyle, vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1995. 'The current actions are chaotic, disruptive, counterproductive and frankly wasteful.'
Doyle's comments came during a press conference Thursday outside the House of Delegates chamber at the West Virginia State Capitol. Since January, hundreds of thousands of federal employees have lost their jobs as President Donald Trump and Elon Musk carry out their plan to downsize the government through the Department of Government Efficiency.
About 23,000 employees work at 20 federal facilities in West Virginia and 33,000 federal workers live in the state, Doyle said. The total number of West Virginia federal workers who have been laid off is difficult to say, because many are under orders not to talk about it. Doyle said West Virginians will also be affected by potential cuts to federal programs and services like Social Security and the Mine Health and Safety Administration.
'Instead of letting cuts be made by powerful interests to enrich the hands of a few, we came here today to ask our elected officials in Charleston and our citizens in our state, speak up together with us for the good of the families, for working people and for West Virginia,' Doyle said.
About 400 workers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health facility in Morgantown have lost their jobs, Cathy Tinney-Zara, president of AFGE Local 3040 said. Tinney-Zara had initially said the number was around 200. The new estimate includes 185 bargaining unit employees, nonbargaining unit employees, management, contractors and others, she said.
'We have millions of dollars of research that is just sitting there, I guess, to be destroyed,' she said Thursday. Tinney-Zara and other workers there are terminated as of June 7. At this point, the office is expected to close completely, she said.
Altogether, a restructuring of the federal Health and Human Services will include cutting the workforce by 10,000, federal officials have said.
'I was [at NIOSH] 32 years, and people do not get into public health unless they care,' she said. 'It's devastating. People are going to die.'
The Trump administration has said it plans to cut 80,000 employees from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Bryan Hunt, president of AFGE Local 2384, said that any cuts to staffing at the state's four Veterans Affairs Medical Centers will have a negative impact on the veterans seeking care and the communities where employees live.
'I just ask that our representatives speak that, how concerning that is,' he said. 'And know that our veterans in West Virginia are important and the VA is important. The employees are important.'
Democrats in the state Legislature also called on Republican leaders to stand up for West Virginia workers as DOGE and the Trump administration's tariffs potentially lead to more job loss.
Del. John Williams, D-Monongalia, said since January, the state's north central region has lost about 1,000 jobs. Those include cuts at NIOSH and around 200 jobs that will leave Fairmont when the Novelis facility closes after 100 years in the community. The Legislature's Republican supermajority have done nothing to mitigate those job losses, Williams said.
'No one is sticking up for West Virginians,' he said. 'No one that they elected is sticking up for them. We can talk about it until we're blue in the face every single day, but until Republicans start working for the people that elected them and stop trying to win MAGA member of the month, none of this is going to change.'
Asked about recent job cuts for West Virginia workers during a press conference Thursday, Gov. Patrick Morrisey said the state should do everything it can to drive job development and pointed to some initiatives the Legislature is considering, including universal licensing reciprocity, a bill to speed up permitting processes for businesses looking to locate in the state, and legislation meant to incentivize the creation of microgrids and data centers in the state.
'No one wants to lose a job and certainly my heart goes out to everyone. We're going to work and fight so that there's so many jobs in West Virginia that we're going to really succeed as a state,' Morrisey said. 'I know that there have been a number of stories [about job losses] recently, but I'm optimistic the long-term arc, if we do what we need to do here, is going to work out well for the people of our state.'
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX