In The News
A new audio series published by the group Federal Workers Against DOGE looks at the plight of fired federal workers whose jobs and careers were cut short by the Trump administration’s systematic defunding of government services in favor of tax cuts for the wealthy and the reallotment of resources to anti-immigration enforcement.
I Do Solemnly Swear, co-created and directed by filmmaker Laura Nix, features interviews with current and former employees of federal agencies including the FAA, CDC, EPA, IRS and more.
“I felt it was very important to focus on not just the illegality of the firings, but the impact on Americans,” says Nix. “We’ve depended for a very long time [on] these benefits, the safety of our highways, our water, our airspace, [but] we’re learning that these are all being taken away.”
Zoom in: The series is called “I Do Solemnly Swear,” based on the oath that federal workers take to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic…”
The 16 short audio clips were put together by Federal Workers Against DOGE, a group that now comprises about 2,000 current and former federal employees and their allies.
It’s grown quickly from its origins as a Signal thread, and especially as the federal government has ramped back up the pace of firing, says Aisha Coffey, the group’s spokesperson, who was just fired on Monday from her job at HHS, along with thousands of her colleagues.
Indivisible.org and the Teachers/AFT led the organizing for what may well have been the largest ever nationwide protests. Other sponsors included the Communications Workers, the Postal Workers, retirees of New York City’s AFSCME District Council 37, the Federal Unionists Network, Federal Workers Against DOGE, the Labor Campaign for Single Payer, and the United Electrical Workers.
Demonstrators outside the Department of Labor building on April 14 hold signs during a news conference with Federal Workers Against DOGE to oppose the Trump administration’s funding cuts and firing of federal workers.
Participants hold signs during a news conference with Federal Workers Against DOGE outside the Department of Labor, April 14, 2025.
As a cybersecurity professional for more than 30 years, I was aware that I was taking a risk when, the night before, I sent a call for volunteers to speak at a rally being organized by the group Federal Workers Against DOGE, to a private list of current and former U.S. Digital Service workers.
On Friday, the first convening of a group called Federal workers against DOGE gathered outside the US Health and Human Services building.