Worried that Trump administration cuts to the EPA will mean slashing thousands of jobs, EPA employees are organizing to defend their work, says NPR. At one union hall in Washington, D.C., dozens of EPA staffers filed in to discuss the issue.
NPR spoke with Marie Owens Powell, an EPA enforcement officer and local union leader. “The mood in the office is fear, dread. At least twice a week I have people coming to the union office in tears,” said Owens Powell. The fact that Trump announced rollbacks to air quality and climate change policy at the EPA headquarters in Washington bothers Owen the most, since many of her colleagues had spent years working on those issues.
“If you’re in an area that has a Republican congressman, you have got to go meet with that Republican Congressman and explain what you do,” advised Phil Glover, an organizer from the American Federation of Government Employees.