Members of the American Federation of Government Employees — the largest union representing federal government workers — rallied together with other Western North Carolina labor activists outside of Asheville’s Charles George Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center
on Oct. 22. The action, part of a broader week of activism organized by the AFGE, protested the approach President Donald Trump’s administration has taken toward the federal workforce.Christine Surrette is the AFGE’s national vice president for the area covering North Carolina. Among the union’s roughly 30,000 dues-paying regional members are VA hospital workers, Transportation Security Administration agents at the Asheville Regional Airport, scientists at the National Centers
for Environmental Information in downtown Asheville, and National Parks Service employees along the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Across those workplaces, said Surrette, the Trump administration has sought to undermine labor protections, cut employees, and encourage voluntary early retirements without filling vacancies. Those who remain are being asked to do more with less. She argued that both government workers and the general public are suffering as a result.
At Asheville’s VA hospital, for example, Surrette said management was eliminating accommodations for workers with disabilities, the majority of whom are themselves veterans. Her colleague Kara Warlich, a national representative for the local AFGE district, added that low staffing levels among medical employees meant some veterans were being told to seek care outside the VA. As previously reported by Carolina Public Press, the VA aimed to cut about 2,600 North Carolina workers in 2025 alone.
“You come here for an emergency as a veteran. This is what this hospital is for,” Warlich said. “But then they say, ‘Sorry, you’ve got to go up the street,’ and then sit in that mess and delay up there that is HCA now.”
Asked for a response to these allegations by the Citizen Times, local VA spokesperson Scott Pittillo said he would have to send questions to higher levels of the federal bureaucracy. The VA did not provide comment by press time.
A number of other local labor organizations joined the AFGE, including the Union of Southern Service Workers, National Nurses United, and American Postal Workers Union. Blake Honeycutt, attending in his capacity as president of the WNC Central Labor Council, said the rally took on extra importance in light of the upcoming midterm elections.
“People can see that this current administration isn’t standing with federal workers,” said Honeycutt. “They can get out and vote this year to put different people in office, with a different perspective, that will take care of our veterans and federal workers as they deserve to be taken care of.”
At the congressional level, said AFGE leaders, that means electing Democratic candidate Jamie Ager to replace Republican Chuck Edwards in North Carolina’s District 11. Surrette said she’d talked with Ager and confirmed his support for federal workers; she said she had no plans to contact his Republican opponent, Jennifer Balkcom.
“She’s not labor friendly — her momma might shoot me,” Surrette quipped, referencing one of the Republican’s recent campaign advertisements. Neither the Balkcom nor Ager campaigns immediately responded to a request for comment.
Asheville City Council candidates Drew Ball and Keith Young also attended the rally. Both said local government should show solidarity with federal workers, recognizing the important roles they play in serving the community.
Daniel Walton is the City Government Watchdog Reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times. Email him at dwalton@citizentimes.com, and connect with him on social media through Facebook, Instagram, or Reddit.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Asheville's federal employees rally against Trump's workforce approach
