The federal workers put on leave by the orders of the dei of Trump are angry and fear what awaits them

Many of those who work in the federal government knew that a new Trump administration would aim for diversity, equity and inclusion within their ranks. It was just a question of knowing when and how far he would go.

For most employees, this occurred on Wednesday at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, when they were informed that they would be forced to take paid holidays, according to a note from the personnel management office (OPM). This memo follows the decree of President Donald Trump ending the programs of diversity, equity and inclusion in federal agencies.

“I am angry,” said a federal employee put on leave from the agency where he has been working for more than two decades. He asked for anonymity for fear of not being able to find jobs within the government.

“I devoted 23 years of blood, sweat and tears to this agency,” he said.

In his inaugural speech on Monday, Trump promised to put an end to “the government policy which tries to socially integrate the race and the gender in all aspects of public and private life” and to forge a “Daltonian” society and ” based on merit ”. His decree is the culmination of the rhetoric and the commitments of Trump and his advisers, as well as the extension of the previous actions he took during his first mandate to erase the initiatives in favor of diversity.

The MEMO of the OPM also fixes another deadline: January 31, date on which federal agencies must submit a written plan to dismiss the employees put on paid leave.

The employee put on leave after 23 years had been advisor to the DEI for his agency for two years until December, when his office was dismantled in anticipation of Trump administration policies, he said. Although he currently receives a salary and benefits, he fears that if his job is deleted, he will not be able to pay his bills and that the career he considers as a “central part” of his life will be erased.

“I was a southern gay little boy. I felt moved, different and foreign and uncomfortable in my house or in my skin for many years, “he said.” I also grew up in the poorest side … that m ‘simply made you want to use the privilege I have to improve areas for people who do not benefit from privileges in these areas.

“We have become pawns”

A woman of color who is also a federal worker put on leave this week said that she was preparing well before election day to lose her job. She also asked for anonymity for fear of reprisals.

In June, the federal employee began to buy clothes for her children in larger sizes, thinking that she could not afford to buy new ones as they grew up. Last month, gifts under the Christmas tree were rare, she said.

“It’s hard,” she said. “You decide not to take your children to Target so that they do not ask you for a lot of things that you will not be able to afford, because you are trying to plan whatever happens.”

Despite her preparations, the woman said she was always surprised and upset by the speed with which Trump’s order was implemented. When she received the news from her leave, her superiors did not explain to her why, she said.

“When you decide to become a civil servant, your goal is to really help the American people. And whoever exercises this job knows that the goal is to always help everyone, ”she said. “It is discouraging that we have become pawns in this control for control. But, once again, that is why the American people voted. »»

A man who directs a group of resources for LGBTQ employees in a ministerial agency and who asked that his name is not used for fear of reprisals, said that his group had helped the agency create an internal policy for employees that change sex. Policies included a protocol on how to modify the internal files of a Trans employee in order to precisely reflect his new gender identity and his new name. Wednesday evening, the former public policy was no longer available on the agency’s website.

“From now on, an employee who crosses a transition will have to understand the whole process himself: he creates the wheel again and again for each individual,” he said. “Without a policy, it is essentially to the employee that it is the responsibility of trying to understand.”

The man added that since the re -election of Trump in November, many LGBTQ workers from the Federal Agency have told him that they planned to return to the closet at work. He said that many said, “My plan is to be invisible for the next four years. »»

The repercussions of the memo and the decree have extended to the whole federal government. The Wilson Center, a Washington reflection group supervised by administrators appointed by the president, sent a letter to employees closing all the diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility offices and associated contracts. Citing the order, the letter indicated that the programs “divided the Americans according to the race, wasted taxpayers’ money and led to shameful discrimination”.

Trump published a separate order ordering the Federal Aviation Administration to end the efforts of Dei. An information sheet accompanying Trump’s actions indicated that they had led to the hiring of people suffering from a “severe” intellectual handicap, psychiatric problems and complete paralysis. She also ordered performance assessments of all FAA employees.

Trump also canceled a 1965 prescription signed by President Lyndon Johnson at the time, prohibiting discrimination in hiring among federal entrepreneurs.

Trump and his allies qualified discriminatory programs.

“President Trump campaigned to put an end to the scourge of Dei on the part of our federal government and bring America back to a society based on merit, where people are hired according to their skills, not according to color of their skin. This is another victory for Americans of all races, religions and beliefs, “said the press secretary of the White House, Karoline Leavitt.

Many laws and programs on civil rights and diversity have been implemented because, for decades, few people of color, disabled people and veterans occupied jobs benefiting from tax assistance.

In 2023, whites still constituted the majority of federal workers with 59.5 % and men were more numerous than women from 55 to 45 %, according to an analysis of the federal data carried out by the Partnership for the Public Service, a group which strives to attract talented people to the federal government. workforce and improve the functioning of the government. According to the analysis, 74 % of management positions are held by white workers, while 26 % are occupied by people of color.

Today, in the United States, 58.4 % of the population is white non-Hispanic and 50.5 % are women.

Ramiro Cavazos is President and Managing Director of the Hispanic Chamber of the United States, which strives to increase the number of Hispanics and Latinos occupying political posts and in the federal government.

Cavazos qualified these orders as a political message. He wondered if Trump’s orders will have a lot of resistance when they come up against demographic realities of the workforce. Hispanics constitute the group of workers who know the fastest growth, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“We are the only workforce available,” he said. “In the end, they know who will come the workforce. »»

“There is a lot of fear”

The repercussions of Trump’s decrees are even felt among workers who are not on paid leave.

“Right now, there is a lot of fear,” said a federal employee who did not wish to be appointed to protect his job. Some employees have ceased to participate in messaging applications or electronic mail channels connecting workers of similar racial or ethnic origins, said the worker.

“We have the impression of being in Cuba,” said the worker, whose position has not been deleted but whose task is in particular to give access to resources to minority communities.

The worker said his colleagues feared using social networks or their phones, even personal, for fear of being monitored or listening.

A man who works in a federal agency and who asked that his name is not published for fear of reprisals, said that training in the leadership that his team organized had been abandoned in response to new orders. The training was designed to teach managers to manage work with multigenic staff.

“Everyone must align themselves completely. There is not really room for dissent, “he said. “It will be long years.”

The note from the OPM also asked the agency and department heads to provide Lists of DEI offices in their divisions and their employees. An e-mail was sent to all federal employees threatening them with “harmful consequences” if they did not signal their colleagues whose functions could have been obscured or disguised.

The federal employee of more than two decades who became an advisor to the DEI was transferred to a civil rights office in December. On Wednesday at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, he was informed by email that he would immediately be on leave with benefits, that his email would be suspended and that he would receive updates as soon as they are available.

He said the DEI is used “as a practical scapegoat for more grievance policies”.

“The way in which Deia is mentioned, presented and used as a kind of skewer in conservative policy is absolutely incorrect at first glance at what Deia means, what we do, how beneficial these programs are, not only to minority communities of the country. labor, but to everyone, “said the worker.

“DEI policies benefit everyone. A rising tide raises all boats, “he said.

Former President Joe Biden had promoted diversity, equity and inclusion during his administration and had spoken of it in decrees.

In a 2023 prescription, he demanded that each government agency created a team of I and ordered a supervisory committee to direct the work of the Dei. Trump canceled this prescription as well as others.

Jesús Soriano, president of the local section 3403 of US federal government employees and federal worker, stressed that the federal workforce has a lower wage gap between the sexes, the races and other groups compared to the sector private. “We are able to provide professional service to the government under oath, whatever our appearance,” he said.

The government still has a lot of work to do to guarantee that the workforce represents the people it serves, he said.

“This is another way for President Trump to undermine the merit -based public service and then transform hiring and dismissal decisions into loyalty tests,” said Soriano.

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