Trump’s executive orders affect Federal employees in West Virginia – The Daily Times

Graphic courtesy/W.VA. Ministry of Economic Development

Charleston – the effects of a number of executive orders issued in the last two weeks by President Donald Trump, aimed at federal employees, are felt in West Virginia, which provides a number of services for the maintenance of federal departments and agencies.

Since taking office for a second and final term on January 20, Trump has issued several executive orders as he has been processing the federal government to pursue priorities in public policy.

Trump has issued a freezing hiring for all unfilled federal civilian positions in the enforcement branch, with orders for the White House Management and Budget Office (OMB) and the new Ministry of Government (Doge), led by Tesla and Spacex owner Elon Musk to He presented plans by April 20 to reduce the size of the executive branch.

On the same day, Trump ordered all the executive departments and agencies to terminate all the remote work arrangements and to require all employees to return to office work in the office (RTO).

Several federal staff based in West Virginia, or working in the DC-MD-VA-VA-WV metropolitan area, agreed to be interviewed as long as they were allowed to remain anonymous due to fears of dismissal or revenge against.

A federal employee with headquarters in the southern part of the state said that the return policy causes problems in their workplace where the space is limited.

“Offices have no room for people and it will cost money to reconfigure spaces so they can fit everyone,” the employee said. “There are people who work remotely, for whom we have no place and there is no idea how to include them in the building.”

Another federal employee who is exhausted for the DC Federal Agency said their bodywork policy precedes the Covid-19 pandemic, allowing some employees to work remotely throughout most of the week that their agency found for increased morality and productivity. The employee Union contracts a collective agreement agreement to allow expanded bodily work in the summer of 2026.

“We have had some work for more than a decade, long than my entire term here and the experience was extremely positive for everyone,” says the employee. “The new Trump/Elon OPM employee has released a note this week, effectively telling agencies that they don’t have to comply In a week we are waiting for the Union to fight for us in court.

“Every single person I know in my agency is against it,” the employee continued. “The management is also extremely pro-Roller, and even the leaders of our agency who fought for RTO did not want to get it here. Morale will decrease and there will be no more balance between professional and privacy; An area with which my agency has always put well in the past in polls. “

As part of these orders, the White House released a note last week, allowing federal workers to buy. If workers resign by email by the end of the day today, they will still be paid by September 30. According to Axios, approximately 20,000 federal workers have agreed to take the purchase or nearly 1% of the federal workforce. However, unions representing federal employees called on their members not to take the purchase.

“I am currently overcome with (Personnel and Management Service) emails trying to offer the” postponed resignation “package,” said a federal employee. “Low levels (me!) They find things at the same time. Absolutely chaotic. Well.

“I think the powers-who want federal workers to leave/retire/resign and then not fill the positions (which will cause the government to look ineffective and then more cuts can be made)” , they can be made) “, they are continuing.

“Feders are spamming every day in our work email, which encourages us to take this” buying, “said the Federal DC -based employee. “One of the emails actually told us to leave our” low productivity of public jobs “for high -performance work in the private sector. Rumors also about mass cuts, if there are not enough people, take the purchase. Everyone is quite worried. No one really knows what’s going on. “

According to a report published in December by the Congress Research Service, West Virginia was home to 17 338 federal workers as of March 2024, with the exception of US Postal and Law and Judicial Branches employees. This number also does not include federal employees who live in West Virginia but work in Washington, Colombia/Virginia/Maryland Metropolitan Region.

According to 2023, the US Census Bureau for Federal Congress Congress Congress had approximately 33 322 federal officials residing in West Virginia, representing more than 8% of the total Western Virginia workforce.

Mountain State is home to several major anchor institutions ranging from the FBI Criminal Information Services offices in Clarxburg, which run the national system of criminal inspections, to the US Department of Finance Bureau in Parkersburg, which tracks the public debt of the public The Public Debt Bureau.

The I-79 Technology Park near Fairmont is the home of several federal agencies, such as the National Ocean and the Atmosphere (NOAA), the US and the National Aeronautics and the Space Administration (NASA). Morgantown is home to the US National Laboratory.

Trump and Musk’s dock has already been reviewing several federal agencies to shrink or close them completely, such as USAID, the Ministry of Education and the Federal Agency for Emergency Management.

In a more enforcement order, the federal employees participating in the programs of diversity, justice and inclusion (DEI) were placed on paid leave. FBI employees and the Ministry of Justice participating in the investigation on January 6, 2021, an attack on the US Capitol building by Trump supporters, who believe the 2020 elections were also viewed for termination, although these plans were also They seem to be up -to -date on Wednesday.

“We just watched Trump and Elon dismantle the USAID and it seems that the ED department is next,” said the federal worker based on DC. “It’s just very demoralizing and stressful when it’s more fear and intimidation tactics every day, trying to make you give up. At the moment, they don’t seem interested in my agency, but that can change quickly.

“At the end of the day, all this will simply make it difficult for my work and this will affect the agency’s ability to successfully fulfill its mission,” they continued. “We have been underfunded and have no staff for years, and if we start losing more people than all this and we cannot replace them, this is even more for those of us who remain to take up. It is not sustainable. I am very worried about what the future of the Federal Service will look like, if it continues. “