Workers describe dark mood within federal agencies

The executive orders of President Donald Trump aimed at the Federal Labor Force have injected a new wave of anxiety among the employees of the bureaucracy, fanning the fear that the president comes for his work.

Just a few days after Trump’s second term, some federal workers are contemplating quitting smoking. Others are preparing to present complaints with their unions or communications with each other to ensure platforms such as Signal. Some, who fear that they are trapped in the purge of diversity programs of the White House, are leaving their names of notes and documents that worry them could be labeled as adjacente.

While federal employees searched this week within the orders to see how they will be affected, an employee of the Environmental Protection Agency said they were cleaning their entrance tray and waiting for information about retirement and early purchase programs.

“Trump’s version 1.0 was bad,” said EPA employee. “I have already finished with version 2.0.”

Trump, a few hours after returning to power, issued a large number of executive orders that seek to review how the federal government operates, from eliminating labor protections until ending remote work until implementing a hiring freezing. The reception within the federal government has been restless. But especially worrying for some employees was that of the White House Decision on Tuesday to eliminate Diversity programs, subsequently placing those administrative license employees.

In the State Department, the closing of these programs was something that many saw coming. But some were surprised by the directive that they report individual cases of work descriptions of the people who change to “disguise” the element of an email address of the Special Personnel Management Office. Some saw it as an order to surprise colleagues. Others, who prepared for Trump’s return to the office, had started working months ago with non -profit organizations to archive websites that feared to be eliminated by the Trump administration, including information about the end of the violence of gender worldwide.

“I would love to leave, but I don’t know where I would go, and I am terrified of not being able to pay the rent and not having medical attention,” said a state employee.

Politico spoke with almost two dozen federal workers for this article and granted anonymity to many to protect them from compensation for speaking.

It is too early to know if a massive exodus of federal workers will occur. The vagueness of the president’s orders has many workers hoping to see how they will be implemented once the political personnel are in force. But what is clear is that the new administration intends to follow its threats to purge and dismantle the federal bureaucracy.

“Most of us are looking cautiously and letting dust site,” said an employee of the United States agency for international development. “We know that there are a variety of possible results, and some people are panic, but most are adopting an approach to wait and see.”

In addition to the anguish of federal workers, the Interim Chief of the Office of Personnel Management, which is effectively the Human Resources Department of the Federal Government, in MONDAY INSTRUCTED AGENCIES to compile lists at the end of the week of all recent hiring and “quickly determine if those employees must be held in the agency.”

The career employees who have been at work for less than a year are in a state of trial, which means that they can be dismissed without triggering civil service protections that isolate much of the federal workforce.

“The only reason you would do that is that it will fire them,” said Alan Lescht, a Washington headquarters in Washington who represents federal workers. “If you have these massive shots, you can’t accuse him of discriminating or anything. But then the question becomes who (Trump) hires again. “

Lescht said his company began to receive an increase in calls from federal employees worried from Monday night after Trump began signing executive orders.

The new hiring that have not yet begun are also seeing their work disappear. Employees whose start date was February 8 or later, their job offers revoked with limited exceptions, Under a different option linked to the Federal Freezing of the Trump Administration.

In NASA, in the weeks prior to Trump’s inauguration, union membership exploded as part of an effort to protect itself as public officials. The American Federation of Government employees, which represents more than 800,000 employees throughout the government, “will track how the agencies implement orders and will be prepared to file complaints if our contracts are violated,” said a spokesman.

An employee of the Environmental Protection agency said they plan to file a complaint with the union if their remote work agreement is terminated. Meanwhile, they are preparing to find a job outside the government.

Another EPA employee predicted that important changes would not occur until March, when the draft short -term expenses is exhausted. “After that, it’s a shake,” they said.

Carmen Paun, Katherine Hapgood, Alfred NG and Marcia Brown contributed to this report.