‘Pawns in a political game’: Federal workers in western North Carolina frustrated by government shutdown

Many federal workers in western North Carolina are being furloughed or asked to work without pay, amid a government shutdown that has no end in sight.

Local federal union workers warn that the government shutdown and threats of further reduction in force by the Trump administration use federal employees as “pawns in a political game,” undermining employee morale after hundreds resigned in Western North Carolina earlier this year.

On Oct. 1, the federal government entered its 15th shutdown since 1981, after Congress failed to reach an agreement in a bitter standoff over funding the government. And there’s no end in sight, as Democratic lawmakers demand health care policy changes that Trump and Republicans have refused to entertain, USA TODAY reported.

As a result, many federal employees are furloughed in the Asheville-area, including those at the Blue Ridge Parkway, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, U.S. Forest Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

About 95% of employees have been furloughed from National Centers for Environmental Information’s 30-person staff in Asheville, which was hit hard earlier this year by staffing cuts, according to Brandee Morris, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 446. With headquarters in Asheville, the NCEI office manages a massive archive of climate data collected by NOAA scientists, researchers and others.

 

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Other workers, including National Park Service law enforcement rangers, are forced to report for work without pay, Morris said. While those employees will eventually get back pay, there is no clear indication of when that might happen. Morris said she’s seen cases where that’s “taken months” after a shutdown ended.

Morris said she is concerned this will exacerbate an already diminished workforce and group morale, following a federal hiring freeze, probationary worker terminations, and the rollout of a deferred resignation program.

About 300 Asheville employees with the Department of Veterans Affairs resigned this year through the federal government’s voluntary buyout or deferred resignation programs, according to Morris. However, the department is under a continued resolution, meaning their budget was passed last year and employees will not be furloughed during this shutdown, Morris said.

Nearly 60 others took the resignation deal at Asheville’s NCEI, the Citizen Times reported. At least a dozen parkway employees also did, according to James Jones, a parkway maintenance staffer and an AFGE Local 446 member.

“People are quitting like crazy. It’s exhausting, and they’re scared for their livelihood,” Morris said.

And now, with the shutdown, Morris’ biggest fear is that the administration will follow through on further reductions in force, or “RIFs.”

Russell Vought, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, told Republican lawmakers in a private call on Oct. 1 that mass reductions in force will begin in “a day or two.” Morris said she has not heard of any RIFs being sent to local employees as of Oct. 3.

“In this shutdown, we’ve been used as political pawns. It’s setting a bad, dangerous precedent for the future,” Jones said.

The parkway is already “down to the bare minimum,” Jones said. Should a reduction in force hit, Jones believes it would be “devastating for the parkway” and its visitors.

“We’re barely staying afloat as is, trying to keep things moving and maintain.”

Over 100 protesters gathered to oppose the recent purge of the federal workforce ordered by President Donald Trump outside of the Veach-Baley Federal Complex in downtown Asheville on Feb. 21, 2025. (USA Today via Reuters)

Some Blue Ridge Parkway maintenance continues

Jones, a combat veteran who has worked maintenance on the parkway for 28 years, said this shutdown is different in one important way. A couple of maintenance staffers are getting paid through the park service’s user fee fund to keep operations going at a minimum.

On a rotating shift, these employees will work a couple of hours a day to clean bathrooms, pick up trash, and other maintenance work.

Travelers can still drive to scenic overlooks, hike trails, camp out, and picnic on the parkway. The last direction Jones said he received was that the parkway will operate at “status quo.”

The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation announced Oct. 3 that it will fund the reopening of three parkway facilities that had closed due to the shutdown, including the Parkway Visitor Center in Asheville and the Museum of North Carolina Minerals in Spruce Pine. The opening will last for seven days, starting Oct. 4.

Nonprofits like the Friends of the Smokies, local governments and the state of Tennessee coordinated a plan to reopen the Great Smoky Mountains National Park until at least Oct. 10, after the shutdown caused services to go offline as well as popular sites like Cades Cove.

October is one of the busiest months for the parkway and the Smokies as visitors seek fall colors, especially as last year’s leaf peeping was halted by Tropical Storm Helene, a significant blow to area tourism. Even though law enforcement are still working, Jones said it’s still going to be a challenge to keep people safe with limited staff.

The Blue Ridge Parkway is the most-visited unit of the National Park Service, drawing nearly 17 million visitors in 2024. About 2 million of those visitors come in October. Great Smoky Mountain is the busiest national park, with some 12.1 million visitors last year.

The Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks conducted surveys of national parks across the country during the partial government shutdown. The coalition found that there was no removal of invasive species, no routine or preventative maintenance, ongoing research was minimized or compromised and parks suffered from resource damage.

“The resources are going to take a hit,” Jones said.

Reporting by Ryley Ober, Asheville Citizen Times / Asheville Citizen Times

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect