Latest news with #staffReduction
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
U.S. Veterans Affairs will cut nearly 30,000 jobs, far fewer than planned
By Christian Martinez (Reuters) -The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will make two-thirds fewer employee cuts this fiscal year than it first targeted, reducing staff by about 30,000 people rather than 80,000, the agency said on Monday. The agency employed about around 480,000 people at the start of the Trump administration and expects to end the fiscal year in September with nearly 450,000 staff. Under President Donald Trump's program to downsize the federal government, the agency had planned to reach just under 400,000 employees. That proposal drew widespread condemnation from military veteran groups and Democrats. The agency said in a statement it was on pace to reduce its staff "through the federal hiring freeze, deferred resignations, retirements and normal attrition." It did not say why it no longer needed to make further cuts. The scale of the original planned layoffs was far greater than proposed cuts at other government agencies and potentially posed a political risk for Trump, who portrays himself as a champion of the U.S. military and its members. Between January and June, the agency shed nearly 17,000 employees and expects "nearly 12,000 additional VA employees to exit" by September 30, the VA said. "A department-wide RIF is off the table, but that doesn't mean we're done improving VA," VA Secretary Doug Collins said in a release, referring to a reduction in force, which means permanent layoffs. Just under 9 million veterans were enrolled in the VA Health Care System in March, according to the VA website.
Al Arabiya
21-06-2025
- Business
- Al Arabiya
Voice of America parent terminates over 600 more staff in likely death knell
The parent agency of Voice of America said on Friday it had issued termination notices to over 639 more staff, completing an 85 percent decrease in personnel since March and effectively spelling the end of a broadcasting network founded to counter Nazi propaganda. Kari Lake, senior advisor to the US Agency for Global Media, said the staff reduction meant 1,400 positions had been eliminated as part of US President Donald Trump's agenda to cut staffing at the agency to a statutory minimum. 'Reduction in Force Termination Notices were sent to 639 employees at USAGM and Voice of America, part of a long-overdue effort to dismantle a bloated, unaccountable bureaucracy,' Lake said in a statement. She said the agency had been 'riddled with dysfunction, bias, and waste.' Lake said the move meant USAGM now operated near its statutory minimum of 81 employees. She said 250 employees would remain across USAGM, Voice of America, and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, which transmits news into communist-run Cuba. She said none of OCB's 33 employees had been terminated. The move likely marks an end to VOA, which was founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda, operated in nearly 50 languages and reached 360 million people a week, many living under authoritarian regimes. In May, nearly 600 VOA contractors were dismissed. Some Republicans have accused VOA and other publicly funded media outlets of being biased against conservatives, and called for them to be shuttered as part of wider efforts to shrink the government. Another USAGM station, Radio Free Asia, which has already been reduced to skeleton staffing, said in a staff email on Friday that it was implementing additional furloughs in its human resources, ordinance, journalist security, and research, training & evaluation teams. Various court cases are in train against the USAGM cuts.
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Voice of America parent terminates over 600 more staff in likely death knell
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The parent agency of Voice of America said on Friday it had issued termination notices to over 639 more staff, completing an 85% decrease in personnel since March and effectively spelling the end of a broadcasting network founded to counter Nazi propaganda. Kari Lake, senior advisor to the U.S. Agency for Global Media, said the staff reduction meant 1,400 positions had been eliminated as part of U.S. President Donald Trump's agenda to cut staffing at the agency to a statutory minimum. "Reduction in Force Termination Notices were sent to 639 employees at USAGM and Voice of America, part of a long-overdue effort to dismantle a bloated, unaccountable bureaucracy," Lake said in a statement. She said the agency had been "riddled with dysfunction, bias, and waste." Lake said the move meant USAGM now operated near its statutory minimum of 81 employees. She said 250 employees would remain across USAGM, Voice of America, and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, which transmits news into communist-run Cuba. She said none of OCB's 33 employees had been terminated. The move likely marks an end to VOA, which was founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda, operated in nearly 50 languages and reached 360 million people a week, many living under authoritarian regimes. In May, nearly 600 VOA contractors were dismissed. Some Republicans have accused VOA and other publicly funded media outlets of being biased against conservatives, and called for them to be shuttered as part of wider efforts to shrink the government. Another USAGM station, Radio Free Asia, which has already been reduced to skeleton staffing, said in a staff email on Friday that it was implementing additional furloughs in its human resources, ordinance, journalist security, and research, training & evaluation teams. Various court cases are in train against the USAGM cuts.
Japan Times
21-06-2025
- Politics
- Japan Times
Voice of America parent terminates over 600 more staff in likely death knell
The parent agency of Voice of America said on Friday it had issued termination notices to over 639 more staff, completing an 85% decrease in personnel since March and effectively spelling the end of a broadcasting network founded to counter Nazi propaganda. Kari Lake, senior adviser to the U.S. Agency for Global Media, said the staff reduction meant 1,400 positions had been eliminated as part of U.S. President Donald Trump's agenda to cut staffing at the agency to a statutory minimum. "Reduction in Force Termination Notices were sent to 639 employees at USAGM and Voice of America, part of a long-overdue effort to dismantle a bloated, unaccountable bureaucracy," Lake said in a statement. She said the agency had been "riddled with dysfunction, bias, and waste." Lake said the move meant USAGM now operated near its statutory minimum of 81 employees. She said 250 employees would remain across USAGM, Voice of America, and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, which transmits news into communist-run Cuba. She said none of OCB's 33 employees had been terminated. The move likely marks an end to VOA, which was founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda, operated in nearly 50 languages and reached 360 million people a week, many living under authoritarian regimes. In May, nearly 600 VOA contractors were dismissed. Some Republicans have accused VOA and other publicly funded media outlets of being biased against conservatives, and called for them to be shuttered as part of wider efforts to shrink the government. Another USAGM station, Radio Free Asia, which has already been reduced to skeleton staffing, said in a staff email on Friday that it was implementing additional furloughs in its human resources, ordinance, journalist security, and research, training and evaluation teams. Various court cases are in train against the USAGM cuts.
