ESCANABA — Rapid cuts being made to the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) include firings that are not only in violation of policy — without just cause and with no advance notice — but also without taking into account the actual jobs performed by the people being let go, a local union steward told the Daily Press.

“Everything that’s happening is against policy and against law, and nobody is standing up to stop it,” said Linda Peterson, who currently works for Hiawatha National Forest as a data services specialist but has filled a number of roles since beginning work with the forest about 24 years ago. “There’s no process being followed. …There’s no strategy for positions or workforce or succession planning; we’re not seeing any of that.”

News emerged on Thursday, Feb. 13, that roughly 3,400 Forest Service federal employees across the nation would be terminated, just after the deadline for the “Fork in the Road” buyout offer, which encouraged federal employees to resign but stay on payroll through September.

The Press reached out to the USFS to see how many workers would be laid off at the Hiawatha National Forest’s four posts and was directed to a Washington, DC-based press desk for the region.

“Secretary (Brooke) Rollins fully supports President Trump’s directive to optimize government operations, eliminate inefficiencies, and strengthen USDA’s ability to better serve American farmers, ranchers, loggers and the agriculture community,” a USDA spokesperson wrote back on Friday.

Rollins had been appointed as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture one day prior.

The email confirmed that the “USDA has released individuals in their probationary period of employment,” but did not answer the direct question of how many people were released in Hiawatha, locations for which include the Rapid River/Manistique Ranger District, the St. Ignace/Sault Ste. Marie Ranger District, the Munising Ranger District and the Forest Supervisor’s Office in Gladstone.

However, Peterson reported that seven employees in Hiawatha had been terminated on Friday and three more on Saturday. She said they expect another ten to be lost this week.

“I can tell you, also, with my union steward hat on, that there has been absolutely no communication (out of the Washington office) to the supervisor’s office in Gladstone or anybody in any of the districts on the forest,” said Linda, steward for Local 2086, which represents Hiawatha and Huron-Manistee National Forests. “We have been completely abandoned by the Washington office.”

The union — National Federation of Federal Employees Forest Service Council (NFFE-FSC) — called the recent bout of firings the “Valentine’s Day Massacre.” A press release from the union mentioned that employees were being directed to work outside of their normal work hours — over the weekend and on Monday, a federal holiday — so that they could be terminated by the 17th.

The immediate cuts have been to workers on probationary periods, which can mean they were recently hired, but that’s not always the case and certainly doesn’t equate to a person being disposable. There are certain hiring methods that can automatically instate a probationary period — for example, on-boarding done through the Veterans’ Recruitment Appointment (VRA) or Schedule A.

“The VRA is bringing our veterans on into federal service, using that special authority to hire veterans, and that comes with a two-year probationary period,” Linda explained. “Of those seven people that we lost on Friday, two of them were veterans.”

Another special hiring authority that also comes with probationary periods is Schedule A, which is for employees with disabilities. Sometimes that was utilized by new employees, but long-term career employees could also use Schedule A to change roles within the USFS.

“One person, for example, has been on the forest for over 20 years, and that person used the Schedule A authority to apply for another position on the forest. So because they were selected underneath that authority that came with a two-year probationary period, we have a career employee that is tenured, that has been in this community for over 20 years, and all that federal service — who is now being told, ‘I’m sorry, you’re out the door,'” Linda said. “They’re not even looking at positions. They’re not even looking at what that person does, what the position is. It is across the board, if you’re in a probationary period, you are out the door.”

Even if they were looking at current official titles, such information wouldn’t relay the jobs people actually perform, said Michael Peterson, who worked for the USFS as a wildland firefighter before retiring two years ago. As part of a workforce that’s already relatively small, employees wear many hats. People with firefighting qualifications, regardless of the positions they hold within the USFS, regularly dispatch to fight fires and across the country.

In Michael’s 32 years of federal service, he said, 11 of those years were not in a fire role, but he fought fires the whole time.

“I’m trying to frame the impact that these arbitrary firings are going to create,” Michael said. “You think you’re getting someone that’s just on a two-year probation. You get rid of them, and then people don’t realize that those people have been here for 15, 20, 25 years, and a lot of them participate in fire. And so it’s going to impact that nationally.”

Officially, legally, there needs to be a good reason to fire people. Linda said that supervisors have been instructed to let staff members go by telling them that the reason was performance-based — but that the cuts are being made to good employees, without documentation of poor performance.

“They can’t fire you unless it’s misconduct or performance,” Michael explained. “You have to be given reasonable notice, which is, most people think, at least a two week notice …. and they have to get that in writing, and they are allowed to get a final performance evaluation and an exit interview.”

Those things aren’t happening.

Last week, the NFFE joined a coalition of labor unions in filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration’s slashes to the federal workforce, alleging that the administration “is illegally undermining Congress’s authority by eliminating federal agencies and jobs that have been created and authorized by the Legislative Branch,” according to a press release.

“…executive actions to gut the federal workforce are not only illegal, but will also have damaging consequences for federal employees and the public services they provide,” said NFFE National President Randy Erwin. “If this Administration and Elon Musk truly wanted to make our government more efficient, they would have taken the time to understand that these actions will only lead to chaos and poor service for the American people. …These efforts hurt middle class Americans who chose to work in service to the public as federal employees. It is unpatriotic and unacceptable,” Erwin said.

“You will find across the agency that people absolutely love their jobs, and they are active in the communities that they’re in,” Linda said. “And we seek out this position. These jobs aren’t jobs you can get anyplace else. When you lose somebody that’s got this kind of specialized experience — so if you lose a GIS person or a biologist or a firefighter, they can’t just pick up another job in community. There’s nothing for them.”

“We are confident that talented individuals who have been affected by this change will have many opportunities to contribute to our economy and society in countless ways outside of government,” USDA officials stated to in a press release.