Uncertainty and stress are demoralizing Alaska’s federal workforce, a union official told legislators Monday.
“I can tell you my phone has not stopped ringing with staff that are scared,” said David Traver, chief steward for AFGE local 3028, representing workers at the Department of Veterans Affairs. “We have staff prepping their resumes, looking for work elsewhere — nurses, providers.”
The Trump administration is pressing to reduce the federal workforce nationwide, to diminish the “Deep State” and weed out “woke” bureaucrats that President Trump alleges hinder his agenda. But far from Washington, the effects look different. In Alaska, which has about 15,000 federal employees, the impact on government services — and the hit to the economy — could be substantial.
Traver, who identifies as a conservative Republican and a veteran, said the threatened cuts of 5% to 10% of personnel undermine the mission of the VA.
“We've all gone there and dedicated our lives to serving our veterans because we wanted to give back and right now, what's happening is chilling,” he said. “It's just chilling.”
The Trump administration late last month offered millions of workers seven months pay in return for voluntary resignations. AFGE is warning its members that the compensation part might not be enforceable. Separately, some federal workers have received emails warning that they could be fired immediately. The administration has also collected names of new employees still on their probationary period.
Traver told legislators Alaska has 1,200 federal employees who have been in their jobs less than a year, and medical staff at the VA remain on probation for two years.
“If those employees are let go, total lost wages to the state of Alaska: $88,898,788,” he said.
And if the lower-level VA employees are fired, Traver said the medical providers will be under more pressure and have less time to see patients, so service to veterans will suffer.
The implications of federal job cuts would reverberate across Alaska, which is heavily dependent on federal spending. Much of that goes to state and local governments, private contractors and nonprofits. Just the portion paid in wages to Alaska’s federal employees adds up to $1.4 billion a year.
“You know, The federal government is our No. 1 industry,” said Neal Fried, a retired state labor economist. “We should be watching this really closely. And it's kind of like, I suspect, the way people in Detroit watch what's happening in the auto industry.”
University of Alaska Anchorage Economics Professor Kevin Berry said federal jobs pay well, about 28% more than the average Alaska wage and essentially eject money into Alaska’s economy.
“The federal government jobs are unique, in that they are one of the industries, in addition to oil and resource development, that brings money into the state of Alaska instead of just shuffling it around within the state,” Berry said.
Federal jobs also support private sector jobs, in part through the recirculation of money, as federal workers spend their pay. Berry said federal employees also provide services that help sustain jobs in, for instance, the oil industry.
“Resource development, in general, requires people to answer the phone and help move permitting processes forward and get things done,” Berry said. “So federal funding is not only large in the amount of money that it directly brings into the state, but the amount of activity that it enables as well.”
It’s not clear how many federal jobs in Alaska the Trump administration might cut, or if legal challenges might eventually restore them. Traver, the union shop steward, says even VA managers have been turning to him for information because they can’t get answers from the administration.
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