![Labor groups sue to halt Trump admin’s dismantling of USAID as workforce is expected to be slashed to under 300](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/c0gettyimages-2197460201.jpg?c=16x9&q=w_800,c_fill)
Labor groups sue to halt Trump admin’s dismantling of USAID as workforce is expected to be slashed to under 300
CNN
A pair of labor groups representing employees at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) sued President Donald Trump on Thursday over his efforts to dismantle the decades-old agency as multiple sources told CNN that fewer than 300 employees are expected to be retained at the humanitarian agency.
A pair of labor groups representing employees at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) sued President Donald Trump on Thursday over his efforts to dismantle the decades-old humanitarian agency, as multiple sources told CNN that fewer than 300 agency employees are expected to be retained while countless others are put on indefinite leave or fired. The lawsuit also takes aim at the administration’s freeze on almost all foreign assistance – a move that has brought critical humanitarian work around the world to a halt and has led to thousands of contractors being furloughed or laid off. It is the first lawsuit filed against the rapid succession of moves taken against USAID. The suit was filed in federal court in Washington, DC, by Democracy Forward and Public Citizen Litigation Group on behalf of the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) and the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE). It was filed as a majority of the USAID’s workforce braces to be put on administrative leave Friday night or, in the case of most contractors, terminated. An internal email, described by multiple sources, said that fewer than 300 people would be kept on as essential personnel – an enormous reduction in the workforce.
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The CIA has sent the White House an unclassified email listing all new hires that have been with the agency for two years or less in an effort to comply with an executive order to downsize the federal workforce, according to three sources familiar with the matter – a deeply unorthodox move that could potentially expose the identities of those officers to foreign government hackers.