MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — More than a thousand people marched in Morgantown on Saturday in an anti-DOGE, anti-Elon Musk rally in a city that has been hit hard by federal government cuts.
Weeks ago, West Virginia University, an R1 research institution, notified faculty and the community about the potential loss of about $12 million in federal research grants over the next two years — and the impact that might follow.
Last week, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health office in Morgantown was the target of major job cuts through the Department of Health and Human Services, reportedly slashing the workforce from 800 to just 10, eliminating the entire 185-member union workforce of Local 3430 of the American Federation of Government Employees.
Rally participants have had enough, said Frank Gmenidel with Mountaineers Indivisible. He said they want to get the attention of the American people.
The Morgantown rally on Saturday was one of more than 1,200 “Hands Off!” demonstrations planned by more than 150 groups at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., state capitols and other locations in all 50 states.
“Our intention is to say ‘hands off’ to all the things DOGE is cutting,” Gmenidel said.
He went on to say most of the cuts, like NIOSH and the Mine Safety and Health Administration, are illegal in his view.
“The fact is that most of the things he is changing were established by Congress, and he is cutting them single-handedly, so that’s illegal,” Gmenidel said.
A fired NIOSH worker who declined to be identified said the work functions at the office are unique and can’t be duplicated, that the American worker will suffer, and that money will not be saved.
“Protecting workers is the best investment that America could make,” the worker said. “West Virginia needs good jobs, and West Virginia needs NIOSH.”
Gmenidel backed up the NIOSH worker but also said these cuts could have a global impact as well.
“They’re providing essential services to the people of the state as well as the nation and even to the world because of the research that is done to develop methods of technology,” Gmenidle said.
