Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- Up to 1,000 IRS workers in Ogden face layoffs by May.
- The firings, part of federal job cuts under President Donald Trump and adviser Elon Musk, could impact the local economy, some fear.
- In light of the expected job reductions, IRS workers, their supporters and union reps demonstrated in Ogden, where the agency has a significant footprint.
OGDEN — The firings of federal workers sweeping the nation will result in the axing of around 100 IRS workers in Ogden this week and as many as 1,000 in all by May, says an IRS union leader.
IRS workers are "feeling pretty depressed right now that the probationary employees are about to be removed," said Robert Lawrence, president of Chapter 67 of the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents some of Ogden's IRS workers. "They're feeling depressed and heartbroken. They put a lot of time and effort into their jobs."
The initial 100 firings of probationary workers — newer hires with less than a year of service — were to begin Wednesday and culminate Friday, he said. Because it's tax season and workers are needed to process income tax returns, which are due April 15, the next wave of firings isn't expected until around May, when another 600 to 900 are expected to be let go. That would bring the total number to be fired from the Ogden area — home to around 7,500 IRS workers in all — to between 700 and 1,000.
"Obviously, they're not getting rid of everybody, but getting rid of this many probationary employees ... there's going to be some economic impacts right through the employee and here locally in the economy," Lawrence said. The U.S. Department of the Treasury, which oversees the IRS, is the top employer in Weber County, according to the Utah Department of Workforce Services.
The job reductions here are part of a wave of firings of federal employees across the country by the administration of President Donald Trump and businessman Elon Musk, a government adviser, to trim costs and reduce the federal bureaucracy. In light of the firings, reps from the local NTEU union held a demonstration Wednesday, with speakers variously decrying the job cuts, defending the IRS workforce and blasting Trump and Musk, who heads the entity spearheading the job reductions, the Department of Government Efficiency.
"Times are really tough right now. What we need today is community," said Dan Martinez, legislative director for NTEU's Chapter 67. "Federal employees across the country are under attack. It's scary."
William Stewart, of Ogden, who says he's one of the IRS probationary employees in line to be let go after six months on the job, took part. Speaking before the demonstration, he said his wife, also a probationary worker, is to be fired as well.
"We'll be fired together," he said. "Can you imagine going into a building where 60 people are going to be fired all at once? It's pretty hard."
He said he'll try to move on, seek another job. For now, though, he said his feelings range from anger to despair to disenfranchisement. "I really want to throw a brick right now, but I don't want to go to jail," he said.
Di Allison, of Ogden, attended as a show of support for the IRS workers. She doesn't work for the agency but worries about the impact of the firings to the workers and the local economy. "How are they going to pay the rent? What are they going to do? Where are they going to go?" she said.
The NTEU has teamed with other unions in filing a federal lawsuit against Trump and his administration to halt the firings of probationary workers. However, with less than a year on the job, probationary workers don't have the same protections of longer-term workers and can be fired without cause.
"When it comes to a probationary employee, there's not much recourse we could do under normal circumstances, under circumstances such as this," Lawrence said. But the IRS, he added, had no prior intention of letting the workers go.
Apart from defending the IRS workforce, speakers variously took aim at Trump, Musk and Rep. Blake Moore, R-Utah, who represents Ogden and Weber County.
"I heard a gentleman the other day. He said he's the president; he can do whatever he wants," said Stacy Bernal, a member of the Ogden School Board and the unsuccessful Democratic challenger to Utah state Sen. John Johnson, a Republican, in elections last year. "No, sir, in fact he cannot do whatever he wants. Executive orders are not laws, and if they are found unconstitutional, they cannot pass."
Rosemary Lesser, a Democrat who used to hold the District 10 Utah House seat, referenced moves by the Department of Government Efficiency to review the internal records and workings of federal departments. Musk "and his minions are trampling through the federal government, oblivious to the rules and regulations that have been put into place to protect our privacy," she said.
Lesser also called on those present to reach out to their elected representatives on the issue, including Moore, noting the relatively high concentration of federal workers in his district.
Moore "needs to be speaking out instead of just turning over and agreeing with what Elon Musk is doing in the president's name," she said. Moore serves as co-chairman of the Delivering Outstanding Government Efficiency, or DOGE, Caucus in the U.S. House, which is working with Musk's Department of Government Efficiency in its varied efforts to reshape the U.S. government.
