Federal workers in Chicago protest mass firings by Trump administration
Former and current employees of the EPA are decrying sweeping and sudden terminations, executed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
By Barb Markoff, Christine Tressel and Tom Jones and Liz Nagy
Tuesday, February 18, 2025
CHICAGO (WLS) — On the bitterest of Chicago winter days, federal workers recently iced out of their government jobs swapped a short lunch break to rally.
Not far from their Midwestern hub in the Loop, some former and current employees of the Environmental Protection Agency are raising the megaphone.
“Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s unprecedented assault on the EPA is irresponsible, and puts people right here in Illinois at risk,” shouted former regional EPA administrator Debra Shore.
They are decrying sweeping and sudden terminations, executed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
Emails hit inboxes of probationary employees at the EPA’s Chicago office late Friday afternoon saying, “This is to provide notification that the Agency is removing you from your position and federal service.”
“My supervisors didn’t have any advanced notice either. I really just got a form letter that I’d failed to demonstrate my qualifications even though I’m highly qualified for this job, and I’ve only been here for a month,” Bridget Lynch told the I-Team. She is a physical scientist who was a probationary employee for the EPA.
“Who’s going to answer the phone? My phone is going to be ringing, and no one is going to be there,” said fired EPA employee Nyla McCranie.
Lynch and McCranie were both locked out of laptops, cut off from the careers they’d been recruited to fulfill: Seeking grants and enforcing clean water regulations.
“I’m sad that I lost my job. But I’m also sad I’m not going to be able to help these people anymore who desperately need it,” said McCranie.
Tuesday afternoon, President Donald Trump made it clear he is standing by budget slashing and mass firings.
“Don’t forget, I got elected on the basis of making our government stronger and smaller because we have millions of people that obviously they’re paying millions of people that shouldn’t be paid,” said Trump.
“I was making $55,000 a year. So, I think that’s important for people to know, that these are the kinds of jobs being eliminated,” Lynch told the I-Team.
Late Tuesday, a federal judge in Washington, D.C. rejected an urgent request to block Musk and his agency, known as DOGE, from firing employees and accessing sensitive records “without clear evidence of imminent, irreparable harm.”
The White House put out a memo Tuesday with new demands for the executives of federal agencies, who have had budgets and staff slashed, to detail the programs and jobs that have been cut and make those lists public.