Goodfellow AFB May Not Be Spared Mass Firings

According to reports out of Goodfellow Air Force Base, twenty percent of the base’s civilian workforce may lose their jobs in the coming weeks. Out of the approximately 800 civilian employees, that would mean the loss of 160 jobs to the San Angelo economy. Civilian employers must give sixty days notice to the local government before a mass layoff of 100 or more employees. But that law does not apply to the U.S. Government.

Goodfellow is the largest employer in San Angelo and has an outsize economic impact on the region. Service members and their families have started sending letters and emails to Congressman Pfluger’s office to support these civilian employees who are critical to Goodfellow’s mission. The Pentagon will start firing 5,400 DoD probationary employees this week. We reached out to Goodfellow’s Public Relations office for more information but received no reply by press time. Congressman Pfluger, Senator Cruz, or Senator Cornyn have made no statements and provided no information.

DoD Statement Confirms Plans To Terminated 61,000 Employees

Acting Under Secretary of Defense Darin Selnick’s statement about the terminations says, “We anticipate reducing the Department’s civilian workforce by 5-8% to produce efficiencies and refocus the Department on the President’s priorities and restoring readiness in the force.” The Pentagon has issued a hiring freeze for civilian employees as well. Selnick goes on to say, “As the Secretary made clear, it is simply not in the public interest to retain individuals whose contributions are not mission-critical. Taxpayers deserve to have us take a thorough look at our workforce top-to-bottom to see where we can eliminate redundancies.”

Five to eight percent of the civilian workforce could be up to 61,000 employees nation-wide.

Supposedly the targets for these termination will be underperformers. But there is some disagreement about who will be making the determination of who is underperforming. Sunday the DoD tweeted a statement from Selnick to DoD personnel to not respond to an email from the Office of Personnel Management requiring the employee to describe their job and duties.

As inter-departmental rivalries emerge, departments and bases will seek to protect their civilian workforce. That has already begun at Goodfellow AFB. This week should tell us more about what we can expect from this fluid situation.