'A Kick in the Mouth': Trump Administration Makes Staffing Cuts to CDC's Safety Office Months After Shooting

[Celerity]

The cuts were made to an office whose role includes providing mental health support for employees affected by the August shooting at CDC headquarters.

https://www.notus.org/health-science/trump-administration-cuts-cdc-shutdown

https://archive.ph/6O7Yv



The Trump administration laid off staff in the office that oversees safety and security at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just months after a deadly shooting at the agency’s Atlanta headquarters, agency employees and union members told NOTUS. The cuts were made late last week as part of the administration’s move to reduce the federal workforce in response to the government shutdown.

Staff at the CDC’s Office of Safety, Security and Asset Management — including those working within the WorkLife Wellness Office and the Occupational Health and Safety Office — were among those swept up in the RIFS, a spokesperson for AFGE 2883, a union which represents workers at the CDC’s headquarters, told NOTUS.

And a CDC employee told NOTUS that the cuts to OSSAM were a “kick in the mouth” given the office’s role in responding to the attack. “OSSAM is particularly unsettling given that they are safety and asset management who supply us with updates about the state of campus after the shooting and basically anything regarding safety on campus,” the employee said.

The laid-off WorkLife Wellness staff included mental health support services for CDC employees, the union spokesperson said. The Office of Occupational Health and Safety ensures CDC employees are safe in the workplace, including when deployed to respond to public health emergencies.

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