Civil Servants To DOGECatchers: Federal Workers Are Saving Our Services
The modern civil service is one of the greatest victories won by the social movements of the 50s, 60s, and 70s. As Paul Prescod notes, far more Black Americans benefit from federal employment than corporate DEIA efforts or small business grants. The federal government, until the Trump administration took power, was a place where indigenous people and people with disabilities benefited from unique hiring paths to ensure access to good, union jobs. As a queer worker, my workplace was extremely accepting of my identity, and I know several other trans people who saw the federal workforce as a place where their rights would finally be respected.
The federal government is one of the only places where you can serve the people while living a decent life. Unlike most private sector jobs, legal protections and hard-fought labor victories mean that most federal workers work 40 hours a week and have access to a fair retirement. And the work you’re doing is work that Americans need done—you have a democratic mandate to do your job. The pay might not be market rate, but for those of us who care deeply about the mission of public services, that doesn’t matter. It’s not perfect—good God, it’s nowhere near—but for many of us, it’s a lifeline we rely on. In turn, we provide lifelines for the public.
That is why the Trump administration is attempting to destroy the civil service. The hard-right administration believes that people who dedicate their lives to the public good, who benefit from decades of struggles for justice, must be taught a lesson. Beyond wrecking vital services that Americans rely on, the goal is to break us, federal workers. As OMB Director Russell Vought said, the capitalists want us traumatized and driven out. That’s why, rather than just starving the government like they usually do, they are discriminating against trans workers, harassing us with emails that endanger national safety, and making layoffs without warning.
These attacks are an effort to discipline the whole working class by breaking the institutions we rely on and the people who run them. The billionaire elites want you to think that federal workers are leeches, not servants. They want you to be terrified that what is happening to us could happen to you. They want a working class that doesn’t know that good, union jobs where you help people can even exist. They don’t want you to know that a better world is possible. Once they shatter us and destroy the public services that you rely on, they’re coming for your livelihood next.
The good news is that while we are miserable, the civil servants are not broken. Rapid growth in federal unions means that more and more of us are realizing our collective power. I am an organizer with the Federal Unionists Network (FUN), an organization of rank-and-file federal workers fighting back against the administration. My union, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 1748, has had my back every step of the way as we attempt to fight the Trump administration’s transphobic policies. As we draw more people into our network, unions, and struggle, we will put the brakes on DOGE’s destructive cuts.
As one of the architects of the Trump agenda, and billionaire Elon Musk’s biggest target, federal workers are well-positioned to be DOGECatchers. But we know that we cannot win alone. FUN is building a coalition of unions and working-class organizations to stop cuts and Save Our Services. At a local rally held on the coldest day of the year, FUN and my comrades in the St. Louis Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) stood strong to demand an end to the service cuts, layoffs, and ongoing devastation of our communities. A few weeks later, my union, AFGE, gathered on March 8 to push back against DOGE’s cuts. Our movement is gaining momentum, and we need to keep fighting.
While we need people out in the streets, we also need people organizing between the rallies. There are nearly 26,000 federal workers in the St. Louis metro, and if you know one of them, talk to them about their union, and invite them to learn more about the Federal Unionists Network. If you rely on federal funding for your job (universities, hospitals, nonprofits, small businesses, etc.), you need to push your employer to fight for that funding. If you’re scared to confront your employer, you should talk to your coworkers about the need to unionize. DSA and our allies stand ready to help. If you’re oppressed by the administration in other ways—especially migrants, people of color, and queer people—now is a crucial time to build solidarity against the Trump administration’s hard-right government. Our struggles are shared and cannot be fought alone.
The government should be a tool of the people to secure a good life. Activists in the previous century died fighting to make it so. We cannot let the ruling class destroy what’s good and use what remains to ruin our lives.
If you want to learn how you can fight back against the ultra-wealthy elites running the Trump administration, you should join us DSA for our monthly drop-in meeting.
Blue Ehrenstrom is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, a federal worker, and a rank-and-file union member.
