President Donald Trump‘s chainsaw-wielding, cost-cutting associate Elon Musk threatened federal workers with termination on Saturday, if they didn’t reply to an electronic mail from the Workplace of Personnel Administration highlighting their work final week. The e-mail requested employees to answer and supply “approx. 5 bullets of what you achieved final week and cc your supervisor” earlier than Monday at 11:59 p.m.
Whereas the OPM message doesn’t indicate {that a} lack of response might result in an worker getting fired, Musk took to his social media website X, previously Twitter, and said, “Failure to reply shall be taken as a resignation.”
In a press release, OPM mentioned that the emails are “a part of the Trump Administration’s dedication to an environment friendly and accountable federal workforce,” and that “businesses will decide any subsequent steps.”
Everett Kelley, nationwide president of the American Federation of Authorities Workers, the highest union representing federal employees, has already said the group would problem any “illegal terminations” that end result from not responding.
“As soon as once more, Elon Musk and the Trump Administration have proven their utter disdain for federal workers and the important providers they supply to the American folks,” he mentioned in a press release. The AFGE represents greater than 800,000 federal employees.
“It’s merciless and disrespectful to lots of of 1000’s of veterans who’re carrying 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 sincere public service in his life,” Kelley continued, including that “AFGE will problem any illegal terminations of our members and federal workers throughout the nation.”
That is the most recent transfer by President Donald Trump‘s administration and Musk’s Division of Authorities Effectivity to purge federal employees and upend long-held authorities spending practices. The precise variety of workers who’ve had their job reduce is unclear, although it’s estimated to be within the tens of 1000’s—a purge that would quantity to the largest job cuts in American historical past, based on reporting from CNBC on Sunday.
Musk’s submit got here hours after Trump wrote on his social media website, Fact Social, that he thought “ELON IS DOING A GREAT JOB.” “BUT,” he added, “I WOULD LIKE TO SEE HIM GET MORE AGGRESSIVE.” Musk, who has a internet price of over $380 billion, employed this same email tactic at his firm, Tesla, and when he took over Twitter.
