MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — On Wednesday, a group of about 100 gathered near the Morgantown National Institute for Health and Safety (NIOSH) office to protest recent mass firings by the federal government.
About 185 members of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 3430 were terminated in early April , most by email. Local President Cathy Tinney-Zara said they have recently met with Senator Shelley Moore Capito, R, W.Va., and commented on the letter she sent to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“We met with her, and she seems very supportive,” Tinney-Zara said. “I think she’s trying to do everything she can.”
Cami Shamont-Menendez is an 18-year employee, and her husband was for 20 years before they were notified in early April. Since being fired, they have tried to exercise regularly and eat right, and they appreciate the letter penned by Capito and hope she’ll continue her efforts.
“Very grateful,” Shamont-Menendez said. “I hope she continues to escalate her approach. She sees the value in reinstating all of NIOSH because we all work together—we’re a research family.”
Scientist Kyle Mandler is a pulmonary toxicologist with more than seven years at NIOSH and a pregnant wife when he received the email that he would no longer have access to the building and he was being fired. He said the support from elected officials to get their jobs back has been slow to materialize.
“It’s encouraging, but it’ seems like a little, too little, too late,” Mandrel said. “I don’t know why that would take three weeks to formulate. It seems like that would have been an obvious first response the week it happened.”
Silicosis is a serious growing threat in the workplace due to new types of materials like engineered stone. Mandler was working with those materials to find the cause of the disease and ways to prevent it when the mass firings were announced.
“There’s a big outbreak of silicosis in workers in that industry,” Mandler said. “We were studying that ongoing project when we were shut down, so we won’t get the answers we were looking for, unfortunately.”
Mandler said he’s under additional pressure with his wife preparing to give birth to their child. While holding out hope some of the firings will be reversed, Mandler is one of many scientists trying to find a new opportunity that will allow him to provide for his family.
“My wife here is due any day now, and she isn’t working, so it’s a real point of stress for us,” Mandler said. “I’m looking for new jobs now, and we’ll probably have to leave the state.”