MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — There have been additional job cuts at NIOSH in Morgantown.
The cuts apparently came at the end of the work day Friday.
UMWA President Cecil Roberts was the first to announce the cuts in a Saturday statement.
“What happened at NIOSH last night is nothing short of shameful. Telling hardworking, dedicated employees that they no longer have a job at 6:30 on a Friday night — after the workday is done and with no forewarning — is cowardly, heartless, and utterly unacceptable,” Roberts said.
There’s no word on exactly how many jobs were cut Friday. Several hundred workers were told last month their jobs were being eliminated under the work by Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency.
“Let me be clear: this is not just an attack on jobs. This is an attack on the very foundation of worker safety in the United States of America,” Roberts said. “The dismantling of the Respiratory Disease Division at NIOSH is not just a bureaucratic shuffle. It is the elimination of our nation’s leading defense against black lung disease and other respiratory illnesses that afflict miners and workers across this country.”
A union spokesperson said the workers were told the jobs would be eliminated on July 2.