WASHINGTON: Elon Musk, the billionaire advisor to Donald Trump, stated on Saturday (Feb 22) that each one US federal workers should justify their work or lose their jobs, hours after the president pushed him to be “extra aggressive” in slashing authorities spending.
Musk – the world’s richest individual and Trump’s largest donor – has led the trouble to fireplace swathes of the federal government workforce.
“All federal workers will shortly obtain an e-mail requesting to know what they bought executed final week. Failure to reply can be taken as a resignation,” Musk wrote.
In line with a replica of the e-mail supplied to AFP, federal staff had been requested to submit “approx 5 bullets of what you completed final week”.
The e-mail, with the topic line “What did you do final week?”, got here from the US Workplace of Personnel Administration (OPM). The deadline to answer was 11.59 pm on Monday, although the message didn’t say failure to take action would result in termination.
The OPM didn’t instantly reply to AFP’s request for touch upon Saturday night.
The American Federation of Authorities Staff (AFGE), the biggest federal worker union, vowed to problem any illegal terminations in a press release from nationwide president Everett Kelley.
Kelley slammed Musk and the Trump administration, saying the transfer confirmed “their utter disdain for federal workers and the important companies they supply to the American individuals”.
“It’s merciless and disrespectful to a whole lot of 1000’s of veterans who’re sporting their second uniform within the civil service to be pressured to justify their job duties to this out-of-touch, privileged, unelected billionaire who has by no means carried out one single hour of trustworthy public service in his life,” he stated.
A number of federal workers instructed AFP they had been suggested by their companies not to reply to the e-mail and watch for additional instruction, a suggestion echoed by the Nationwide Treasury Staff Union.
