Pittsburgh-area health workers reinstated after layoffs
U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio is one of a group of local lawmakers who continue to fight layoffs of federal employees by the Trump administration.
This week, they won one of those rounds when 70 people who were previously laid off were reinstated, specifically respirator certification workers from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health facility in Pleasant Hills.
Deluzio, a Democrat who represents Pennsylvania's 17th District, said those employees do important work around respirators that he's been told are not only safe for first responders but also people who work in building trades.
"They could live anywhere in our region," Deluzio said. "But their work is public safety work that matters to painters, construction workers, firefighters, on and on. It's important that the administration change course here, that these public safety folks are getting back to work. But we still have mine safety workers there at that facility who are on the chopping block."
Those mine safety workers were among the greater sum of about 200 workers who were laid off from the Pleasant Hills facility. Those layoffs were announced on April 1, amid claims from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that his department was filled with "duplicative and wasteful offices."
Deluzio said he wants the federal government to focus on areas where he believes there is more wasteful spending, citing the Pentagon for markups on equipment and weapon systems, for instance.
"To me, it goes to the recklessness and the chaos of this DOGE effort and the administration," he said. "It's not focused on whether a service is needed or not. It just seems to be a pretty aggressive sledgehammer to government programs that are about keeping us safe."
Deluzio said he will continue to work with his colleagues in the delegation, like Rep. Summer Lee, who represents the district where the NIOSH facility is located, to get the Trump administration to change its mind on more federal layoffs to eliminate what he says is important, bipartisan public safety work.
"I'll keep pushing and making sure folks understand that their work is important, and that it's foolish to cut them," he said. "Public service is honorable, and I think the importance of the work that comes out of so many of these programs is something we need to think about and be clear about, whether we expect these services to be delivered or whether you're willing to cut them.
"I think the story hear about what happened with these NIOSH workers is a cautionary one. We've got to be clear about pushing back where cuts are going to hurt things that we expect and demand of our government."
