Today, Pennsylvania House Democrats hosted a hearing on the challenges and opportunities federal workers in Pennsylvania are facing.

In the past two months, over 24,000 federal workers got termination notices… then most got re-hired (through court cases and agency re-assessments). Around 2,000 are on administrative leave.

From talks of downsizing the U.S. Veterans Affairs (to 2019 staff levels) to an idea to privatize the TSA (Transportation Security Administration)… continued federal workforce changes are expected.

In Pennsylvania, over 1,000 federal workers were impacted by this initial round of firing and re-hiring. At least 500 federal workers have applied for unemployment in the state. Around 700 have applied for a job with Pennsylvania state government.

Philip Grover, vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), highlighted how D.C. decisions are impacting the Pennsylvania workforce.

This week, at least 200 federal workers in a Pittsburgh lab facility partnered with the CDC were told they’would be terminated in June.

Last Thursday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning collective bargaining for nearly 40 agencies. That would impact around 175,000 of their 700,000 members nationwide.

Glover says the AFGE is involved in at least 8 court cases over federal workforce issues 

“We've been successful in some of those cases already. We're waiting to see what the appellate level looks like,” Glover said. "Obviously, the Supremes [Court], you never know what they're going to do. You know, we're hoping that John Roberts takes back his complete immunity of the president and says, no, he can't do certain things.”

As federal supports continue to be examined, state lawmakers are questioning how Pennsylvania might have to fill in gaps of service… and how that will impact the state’s own workforce and budget.

In today’s hearing, member’s of Pennsylvania’s Office of Administration testified to their progress on an executive order signed by Governor Josh Shapiro at the start of March. Shapiro ordered his administration to create a website landing page that tells federal employees about correlating state positions.