SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — “This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy,” said Elon Musk who now has his sights on the Department Veterans Affairs. In an internal VA memo, the department stated plans to reduce their staffing levels by roughly 83,000 workers.
“Very worrisome and at the same time, it’s infuriating,” said Mario Campos, a federal employee and union vice president.
Campos is a retired Marine Corps veteran and current Border Patrol Agent. He says his government employee union is not taking these proposed layoffs lightly.
“Their union’s here and we are going to fight for them. We are going to fight for all federal employees and all civil servants,” said Campos.
The American Federation of Government Employees, or the AFGE union, has already filed several lawsuits against DOGE and the Trump administration, bringing some workers back to their jobs.
The VA serves over 15 million veterans with healthcare, home loans, educational benefits, among other services.
Former Army Capt. Matthew Shillingburg says redundancies at the VA were to be expected.
“If you are looking at that situation where you’re going to be terminated and let go, just reach out to your other veterans,” said Shillingburg. “Folks in the VFW the American Legion, all different veteran services organizations to help you.”
Now with roughly 20,000 vets losing their jobs, Shillingburg says veterans are going to need each other more than ever.
With the speed with the cuts, there are fears of immediate termination, but Shillingburg doesn’t believe it will all happen as fast as other departments.
“Doug Colins (Secretary of VA) said that they will be phasing that all of this year and I hope with his integrity that they won’t just slice it all across the board like that,” Shillingburg continued.
Workers for Veterans Affairs have been ordered not to speak with the media, but FOX 5 spoke to one worker who says there is a meeting set up for Friday where they will be hearing about staffing issues.
