This article was originally published by Labor Notes.

Federal employee union members have been speaking out, rallying, and suing, as agency after agency has been hit by Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) — a private unaccountable entity which has been demanding access to all government records while spreading wild lies about waste and fraud.

Around 20,000 workers have been summarily fired so far.

Federal workers raised the alarm at over 30 “Save our Services” rallies around the country Wednesday, including in New York, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Philadelphia, Denver, Boston, Boise, Chattanooga and Chicago.

Workers protesting included those fired, or under threat, at the Environmental Protection Agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the IRS, Social Security, the Veterans Administration, and an alphabet soup of other agencies that do everything from running national parks to warning residents about impending floods.

Protesters warned of the potential privatization of essential services like Social Security and veteran’s healthcare, and the elimination of consumer and environmental protections.

“The only way we have out of this is if the federal workforce on the front lines puts out a call to the broader labor movement and enters the streets and makes this a political crisis that they cannot manage,” said Chris Dols, president of IFTPE Local 98 at the Army Corps of Engineers, at one of three Wednesday Save Our Services rallies in New York City.

Dols is one of the leaders of a new group, the Federal Unionists Network, which called the protests. Using lists they had been building for months and contacts made through the explosion of energy over the past weeks, members called federal union activists around the country, asking them to bottom-line local actions. Many of these rallies were endorsed by local or national chapters of federal worker unions.

“Everybody right now and for the weeks or months or whatever it takes needs to become an organizer,” said Dols. “If you’re a federal employee and you don’t know what your union is, get involved with the FUN, we’ll help you figure it out. If you don’t have a union, we’ll help you learn how to organize one.”

First in line for firing, according to the administration, are 200,000 workers who are on probation, usually because they have been in their role for less than 12 months.

“It’s stressful because you have probationary people that are learning their job and they’re getting emails with no notice that they’re........

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