CLEVELAND — Elon Musk’s unchecked influence over government programs has reached a dangerous tipping point. Congress must decide: Will they stand with workers or allow Musk and his enterprise, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), to dismantle essential public services?
Federal workers are the backbone of our nation, ensuring Social Security, Medicare, and the Department of Veterans Affairs function properly. They inspect our food, protect infrastructure, and deliver essential services. These aren’t faceless bureaucrats — they are our neighbors, friends, and family members. Eighty-five percent of federal workers live outside Washington, D.C., working every day to keep communities safe and running.
Yet a dangerous agenda is unfolding — one that seeks to gut these essential services, strip federal workers of their rights, and hand government functions over to private interests that prioritize profits over people. Musk’s reckless push for privatization aims to weaken labor protections, cut public services, and drive -up costs for working families — all while billionaire-backed lawmakers set the stage for massive tax breaks.
At the heart of this fight is the role of unions in protecting workers. Federal employee unions ensure fair wages, job security, and safe working conditions. They fight back against efforts to erode collective bargaining rights, preventing corporations and anti-worker politicians from turning government jobs into low-wage, precarious employment. When unions are strong, workers have a voice — one that holds the powerful accountable and pushes back against reckless privatization schemes.
That’s exactly why Musk and his allies want to weaken unions. They know an organized workforce stands in the way of their unchecked power and corporate greed. We’ve seen this in Musk’s own companies, where he has aggressively fought unionization, retaliated against workers, and used intimidation tactics to silence dissent. Now, he wants to bring that same anti-worker agenda to the federal government — stripping public employees of their rights and making government services ripe for corporate takeover.
If he succeeds, federal workers could lose union protections, job security, and vital workplace rights. Without unions, wages stagnate, conditions deteriorate, and jobs that sustain middle-class families disappear. The consequences extend beyond public employees — when essential services are slashed, delays and inefficiencies harm everyone.
Congress must act now to protect federal workers’ collective bargaining power, block Musk and DOGE from dismantling agencies, and defend Social Security and Medicare from privatization. Allowing one billionaire to dictate national policy is not just undemocratic — it’s dangerous.
Undermining federal workers isn’t just an attack on public servants — it’s an attack on all of us. We’ve seen what happens when public services are gutted: Working families pay the price while corporations and the wealthy reap the benefits. If Congress fails to act, essential protections and services will erode, and more power will be handed to private interests with no accountability to the American people.
The North Shore AFL-CIO refuses to stand by while our jobs, health care, and retirement security are under attack. We call on our representatives to do what’s right: Stand with workers, protect our federal workforce, and stop Musk and DOGE from dismantling the services Americans rely on.
Our democracy must serve the people — not the ambitions of one billionaire.
Brian Pearson is Executive Secretary of the North Shore Federation of Labor in Cleveland.
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