this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2025
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Summary

The Trump administration abruptly fired multiple National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) employees, then struggled to reinstate some due to a lack of updated contact information.

The NNSA, which oversees the U.S. nuclear stockpile, asked remaining employees to relay the message.

The terminations, part of mass federal layoffs orchestrated by Trump and Elon Musk, coincided with a Russian drone strike on Chernobyl, raising security concerns.

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[–] Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 123 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (5 children)

I can't imagine anyone would want to come back after being abruptly fired from what was likely a long career requiring expertise and multiple security clearances, likely after a military career. To have all that just brushed away with the swipe of a hand like you're entire life is fucking meaningless... I can't imagine what that was like for those people. People that had been loyal to the machine for a lifetime.

And then this asshole has the balls to ask them to come back? Wow, just wow!

[–] ShepherdPie@midwest.social 63 points 1 month ago (1 children)

And then this asshole has the balls to ask them to come back? Wow, just wow!

He doesn't even have the balls to do that. He's asking their coworkers to do it for him.

[–] billiam0202@lemmy.world 18 points 1 month ago

Yep, this is 100% a lie.

They're so afraid of looking weak by admitting fault they'd rather look incompetent by claiming the US Government doesn't know how to contact the people in charge of our nukes.

[–] Ebby@lemmy.ssba.com 47 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Great time to negotiate a salary increase.

Though to be honest if you were working that job, I imagine you weren't financially struggling.

[–] jonne@infosec.pub 31 points 1 month ago

Yeah, same thing happened when Musk fired a bunch of critical Twitter people.

[–] PersnickityPenguin@lemm.ee 2 points 1 month ago

I'd be like "50 million single payment, cash goes into an offshore bank account thats tax free. And I get my own private island."

[–] PersnickityPenguin@lemm.ee 15 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Well, Elon IS running the government like a CEO. Clueless, fucking moronic CEO which, lets be honest, most of them are.

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[–] Wooki@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Answer is simple:

Double the pay or f**k right off

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 month ago

I bet they need to eat, and this will give them time to find a new job while still eating.

Also, as their coverage will end with the job change they're certainly planning, it's time to get the entire family in for dental check-ups and to the GP for tests and jabs.

[–] ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world 88 points 1 month ago (2 children)

It would be absolutely hilarious if the workers took this opportunity to unionize and negotiate getting their jobs back with higher pay and better benefits.

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 28 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Or unionize as consultants, at double the pay, plus benefits.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 21 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

unionize as consultants

The two groups don't often overlap. That's like "flying as sharks".

Consultants, by their nature, may have drastically-reduced job security, something people usually want from a union when they can't get it from their government.

[–] cynar@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

It's context dependent. Some fields are inherently batch work. E.g. TV. In these cases, unions can allow contractors to set pay baselines etc, without a race to the bottom. Otherwise big companies can try and play us off against each other.

E.g. BECTU (uk tv union) organised a strike against a company last year, after they changed their invoice pay time to 3 months.

[–] sunbrrnslapper@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Not sure its unionizing - just charging the market rate for highly valued skills and knowledge. We should be infuriated as tax payers that we are going to end up paying more because of this debacle.

[–] PersnickityPenguin@lemm.ee 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I thought the federal employees were unionized to some degree, but were still fired? I read something to that effect a week ago but the article didn't go into much detail.

[–] OCATMBBL@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

They're unionized but lack the ability to strike.

And, yes, it does make the union largely useless. They can file lawsuits, and cite law, and involve themselves in employee arbitration, but that only matters when the opposition engages in good faith.

[–] sunbrrnslapper@lemmy.world 63 points 1 month ago (1 children)

This is management at its best.

[–] andyburke@fedia.io 63 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Never let a business person near a functioning business. Never, ever let a business person be in charge of government.

[–] Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

In my professional experience it's most specifically people with a sales and sales-like background (which includes grifters).

People whose speciality is "wheeling and dealing" are horrible at managing anything whose success criteria is not purely based on convincing other people of something, so basically anything were actual things must be created, made, distributed and so on.

Since they can't actually make things work, they instead try and manipulate perception around it to convince others that things are working or for them to do it for them, and the former only holds for a while whilst problems accumulate and things eventually fail in an too-big-to-be deniable way (at which point they try to dump the blame on somebody else), whilst the latter when done by somebody supposedly leading something just yields a parasite manager that doesn't manage and whose selection of manpower is based on how easy it is to manipulate their "underlings" rather than competence, so things get badly done but said "manager" can't actually tell until it's too late.

[–] billiam0202@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

A lot of the cultural issues in the modern US can be traced back to Pat Robertson.

A lot of the economical issues in the modern US business can be traced back to Jack Welch.

Fuck that asshole.

[–] dan1101@lemm.ee 2 points 1 month ago

I've definitely seen this to be true on the local level for years. So much potential for conflict of interest if nothing else. And yeah I think it applies even more to national government.

[–] lolola@lemmy.blahaj.zone 58 points 1 month ago

MoVe FaSt AnD bReAk ThInGs

[–] sik0fewl@lemmy.ca 58 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Suddenly, it's not so difficult to believe that he bankrupted a casino.

[–] TammyTobacco@sh.itjust.works 17 points 1 month ago

3 casinos, even! And he's had 6 total corporate bankruptcies!

[–] hddsx@lemmy.ca 39 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Man, if this was me I just straight up wouldn’t go back.

Who the fuck wants to go back to a job where you can get fired out of the blue

Who the fuck wants to go back to a job where you can get fired out of the blue

That's pretty much any job in america dude...

[–] Spacehooks@reddthat.com 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

because you are in a position to resist and negotiate for more money now.

[–] SketchySeaBeast@lemmy.ca 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Until they decide to fire you again.

[–] Spacehooks@reddthat.com 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Oh that's expected. Before that was time for weaponized incompetency and/or causing tons of roads Blocks that can't move anywhere. Can't let children run rampaging. Rosa parks is example of just doing nothing to further a bad agenda can have ripples.

[–] hddsx@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yeah no. I have a family. I’d rather have stable income thanks

[–] Spacehooks@reddthat.com 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Fair play. That's what they are banking on and why most people don't so anything. Then replace with some loyal dog that will do anything.

[–] hddsx@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 month ago (3 children)

For most roles, I could see that being the case. For this one? They are hiring back because they don’t know what the hell is going on

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[–] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 32 points 1 month ago (2 children)

And in the confusion.... the government lost track of several nuclear weapons

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 month ago

Russia lost track of something like 75 "suitcase nukes" as they went missing and often sold off a truck, right after the fall of the Soviet union.

Because we needed more parallels to Russia.

[–] tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] GraniteM@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

"I don't know what's scarier, that it's happened, or that it happens often enough that there's a word for it."

[–] rowanthorpe@lemmy.ml 28 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I'm waiting to see the headline: "Fired NNSA employees can't be found for reemployment because they moved to off-grid locations outside the blast-radius of all major centres"

[–] subiacOSB@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Back in the day. If you did nuclear work for the government they would keeps tabs on you for some time. Maybe they fired those people too. Who knows.

[–] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 24 points 1 month ago

"We've been trying to reach you about your expired nuclear safety job" /s

[–] notsoshaihulud@lemmy.world 17 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Glowing demonstration of eggsceptional management skills.

[–] harmsy@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

I'd prefer if things don't glow, thank you very much.

[–] fan0m@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago
[–] PersnickityPenguin@lemm.ee 13 points 1 month ago

Can't wait until they fire half of NASA and then we lose all of our satellite, launch, tracking and deep space capabilities.

Whoops, we abandoned all the astronauts in orbit when we shut down Houston! Guess they're on their own! What do you mean, the ISS is about to crash into Washington DC?!

[–] Mbourgon@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago

Now imagine what would happen if this had happened a year in the future… Everybody has new gigs, no intentions of coming back, and the institutional knowledge has been lost. Almost makes you think that these 2 presidents might be traitors

[–] aTun@lemm.ee 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Maybe he lost nuclear weapons firing sequence.

[–] Spacehooks@reddthat.com 1 points 1 month ago

Prob for the best

[–] ConstantPain@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

"Everybody is replaceable" is only true for menial jobs. Some jobs are so critical and demand so much specialization that sometimes there's only one person that can do it right.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Elect a clown, expect a circus.

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