I am Eric Antrim, a proud member and the elected Recording Secretary for National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) Local 251. The Forest Service Alaska Region has nearly 500 bargaining unit employees in my Local representing nonsupervisory employees of the Forest Service Alaska Region, including the Tongass and Chugach National Forests.

The NFFE Forest Service Council submitted a request for information to receive the information Forest Service management provided to the current administration on probationary employees. The list the union received from management was incomplete, inaccurate and unreliable, including employees that were not probationary and missing some that were. The probationary period dates in the information provided were also inaccurate and often missing.

One of our Local’s dues-paying members and probationary employees reported to me that a Forest Service Alaska Region human resources official told her that 30% of the Alaska Region’s staff were probationary before the last “wave” of 30 firings in the Forest Service Alaska Region. The Forest Service Alaska Region currently employes 671 people; 30% of this would be just over 200 employees. My union sources are telling me that all probationary employees will be fired nationally regardless of performance, agency, or position; with limited exceptions for law enforcement, firefighters, and “public safety.”

I know the Alaska Region has prioritized hiring events and hiring for critical functions in recent years and leveraged Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) hiring authority to get that done, which comes with a two-year probationary period, versus the normal one-year period. I also know that new employees hired under special hiring authorities for veterans are also subject to the two-year probationary period.

Last year, the NFFE Forest Service Council, which includes our Alaska Region’s Local 251, negotiated a new collective bargaining agreement or contract with Forest Service Management that we call the Master Agreement. Our contract, Article 22, Section 8, titled “Termination of Probationary/Trial Employees” includes, “that the probationary/trial period is an extension of the examining process,” and “Employees will have an opportunity to demonstrate their performance and conduct for continued employment to the fullest extent possible during their probationary period.” The mass firing of all probationary employees without cause violates the intent and plain reading of this part of our contract.

Our members are receiving generic letters written by the Forest Service director of human resources in Washington, D.C., Deedra Fogle, including: “The Agency finds, based on your performance, that you have not demonstrated that your further employment at the Agency would be in the public interest. For this reason, the Agency informs you that the Agency is removing you from your position of [automatically populated position title] with the Agency and the federal civil service effective immediately.” There is no way the director of HR, sitting in D.C., can credibly judge Alaskan’s performance.

Our dues-paying Local 251 members include administrative support assistants, aircraft dispatchers, archeologists, biologists, botanists, budget analysts, civil engineers, customer service representatives, data services specialists, engineering and forestry technicians, firefighters, geologists, hydrologists, maintenance workers, natural resource specialists, park rangers, partnership coordinators, public affairs specialists, realty specialists and silviculturists. We have workers spread throughout communities in Alaska including Anchorage, Cordova, Craig, Fairbanks, Girdwood, Gustavus, Hoonah, Juneau, Ketchikan, Moose Pass, Petersburg, Sitka, Thorne Bay, Wrangell and Yakutat.

Probationary employees are the new employees that represent the new ideas and new ways of getting work done that any honest attempt to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the federal government requires. Probationary employees are the exact employees that subject matter experts and supervisors in the Alaska Region’s Forest Service management have prioritized hiring in recent years to respond to urgent workloads including massively increasing visitor numbers, disaster responses, and supporting economic development in rural Alaska.

Please, call our elected officials in the United States Senate and Congress; Lisa Murkowski, Dan Sullivan and Nick Begich. Tell them that you support the work of the Forest Service and the hard-working employees on the ground in Alaska that get it done.

Eric Antrim is a Juneau resident and the recording secretary for NFFE Local 251.