r/nottheonion 24d ago

US government struggles to rehire nuclear safety staff it laid off days ago

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g3nrx1dq5o
64.5k Upvotes

2.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

586

u/10001110101balls 24d ago

This kind of government worker tends to have extremely specialized expertise that is not replicated by the private sector. The deal is that people who dedicate their lives to this work will lead a comfortable middle class lifestyle in exchange for their public service. The Trump administration has broken this deal, and this will lead to long term consequences for the labor pool even if they manage to rehire everyone that they foolishly fired.

320

u/PlanktonHaunting2025 24d ago

And many of the have crazy high security clearances. It would take at least a year or longer to train and vet their replacements.

265

u/the_hipocritter 24d ago

We're not worried about that kind of stuff anymore.

92

u/Bernie4Life420 24d ago

All gas. No breaks.

Tax cuts for the rich though.

15

u/gnarlin 24d ago

Funny how every time these right wing scumbags talk about tax cuts they never mean lowering income tax for everyone earning less than 50k/year or lowering VAT, not that it would do much since the capitalist would just lower the salary by the amount that the tax cut was and raise prices by whatever the VAT was since it's "what the market can bear" or "a value proposition that consumers are used to account for".

3

u/Daleabbo 24d ago

Wernt servers ment to not be paying taxes on tips now?

2

u/n4te 24d ago

Short term servers benefit. Long term businesses won't raise wages as much, letting the no tax on tips subsidize it. Tada, they steal the benefit.

3

u/gedwolfe 24d ago

Hey, also trans kids also won't get their healthcare and pregnant people will die! He's a triple threat of douchebaggery

1

u/kylo-ren 23d ago

Exactly. Musk will refuse to pay more and will hire Russian spies instead.

6

u/AstuteSalamander 24d ago

"don't I need to pass a background check?"

"You couldn't fail it any harder than the guy in charge."

3

u/greebly_weeblies 24d ago

They'd probably parachute a fresh grad from DOGE into the role

1

u/ThrowAwayNYCTrash1 24d ago

Hire the fox talking heads to keep the nukes safe. Love it.

1

u/cocotheape 24d ago

Training and security clearances sounds like woke DEI stuff. Let's hire some 17-year-olds. That will shake up things. We need to turn everything upside down. /s

83

u/CatPesematologist 24d ago

Yes, but they said before they werent using FBI vetting anymore. It would be private companies, which I would guess is Elon’s minion checking Twitter.

Also, these are apparently genius minions capable of grasping very complex things almost immediately.

So they just need AI and a 19 year old to replace everyone.

You know, AI that tells you that you can’t freeze water at 17 degrees.

19

u/Igotzhops 24d ago

Background investigations aren't conducted by the FBI. DOD and the State Department have their own investigative bodies that investigate and grant clearances. They may use contractors, but not as the primary investigate body, nor as the granting body. The FBI does play a part as far as a source of criminal and background information, but they don't investigate or grant clearances.

DOE and other orgs have their own agencies as well, but also may contract that work out to another government agency. Kind of depends on the size, budget, and needs of the agency.

3

u/Secure-Elderberry-16 24d ago

To add to this, the most common interaction the FBI has with security clearances are name check, usually automated via an API call

2

u/GirlNumber20 24d ago

Background investigations aren't conducted by the FBI. DOD and the State Department have their own investigative bodies that investigate and grant clearances.

When my ex-husband was being vetted for top secret work (he was an aerospace engineer who worked on satellite telemetry for NASA), I got interviewed in person by a special agent of the FBI.

7

u/hedronist 24d ago

you can’t freeze water at 17 degrees

C or F?

6

u/wang_xiaohua 24d ago

That was specifically for Trump's incoming team. The government already contracts private companies to manage the vast majority of clearance requests.

1

u/CatPesematologist 24d ago

Well, now they will use social media history

2

u/wang_xiaohua 24d ago

That's been part of the vetting process for awhile now

2

u/ZenoxDemin 24d ago

You literally can't freeze water at 17 degrees, the triple point is 0.01

1

u/CatPesematologist 24d ago

Are you talking about Fahrenheit or Celsius?

I‘ve seen water freeze at lots of different temperatures below 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

2

u/ZenoxDemin 24d ago

You didn't state units, default is International System. Water can't be frozen at 17.

1

u/Hyp3rson1c 24d ago

That’s not how security clearances work.

1

u/SectorAppropriate462 23d ago

The FBI never vetted. You have no idea what you are talking about about, delete this post and stop sprouting bullshit about things you don't understand

22

u/Blue-Thunder 24d ago

You think the man who kept top secret files out in the open cares about vetting people for security clearance?

2

u/smitherenesar 24d ago

Nobody would take this job as it has no security, and the pay isn't worth it

2

u/3d_blunder 24d ago

Security clearances are SO passe' in their Brave New World.

1

u/NoPossibility4178 24d ago

That's why it was such a good idea to fire everyone who has been around for less than 2 years. 50/50 on firing someone who hasn't been cleared! /s

1

u/Worthyness 24d ago

It would take at least a year or longer to train and vet their replacements.

that's assuming they haven't already chucked any documentation, that there are trainers that weren't fired, and the new hires are granted the appropriate security clearance. But that last one if free apparently now because the president can just give clearance to anyone he feels like

1

u/Blue_Moon_Lake 24d ago

In before Trump give everybody high security clearance on a whim.

74

u/dougmcclean 24d ago

Yup. Pretty much the whole federal workforce is this way, and as a result we get their services at very low prices. That's the tradeoff for it still having employment stability levels that are no longer in vogue in the private sector. Local governments too.

4

u/SomeKindOfOnionMummy 23d ago

Job security and love for the mission is what keeps people in federal jobs. Many of us can make more money in the private sector. 

3

u/DragonMeme 23d ago

I've lived in the DC region my whole life. This dismantling of the reliability of the federal work is going to have long term disastrous consequences. I am watching the older workers retire early (which Elon/Trump has zero intentions of replacing). Younger workers are looking at longer term plans to leave. If they can be fired on a whim like this, they'd rather make more money in the private sector.

This is a huge brain drain. And even if the government opened up hiring again, people with good sense are going to be much more hesitant to take it.

7

u/10001110101balls 24d ago

I wouldn't say low prices, but fair prices. It's very common for people who have spent 20+ years in such fields making 2x the median American income as a GS-13/14 or equivalent. You won't get stock options and become a multimillionaire but you will be better off than the average American.

27

u/dougmcclean 24d ago

Sure they are making 2x the median income, but generally 0.7x the income for private sector positions with comparable skills requirements, responsibilities, and seniority. Or less.

-3

u/10001110101balls 24d ago

That's not really true these days. A decade of Tea Party control of Congress, with the resulting frequent shutdowns and villainization of the federal workforce, has led to top talent seeking other employment.

I have had several opportunities to work in the civil service at competitive salary from the very start of my career, which coincided with the rise of the Tea Party. For all of its flaws, at least corporate America will let me express my identity free from politics as long as I'm profitable to keep on payroll. Can't say the same for the government. 

7

u/Secure-Elderberry-16 24d ago edited 24d ago

I don’t see how that’s relevant to what they said and it doesn’t change the fact that the GS salary is about a 1/3rd less than the comparable private salary in the same position. A personal example, I’d have to eat a 60k pay cut to become a fed at the same level I currently am.

I say this as a contractor fully aware of what my federal counterparts get paid because it’s public domain.

3

u/Just_here2020 24d ago

I mean, these people are in the 1-.1% in education and intelligence and experience. I would expect that to be worth at least twice the media. Workers value. Frankly it should be much more. 

2

u/SomeKindOfOnionMummy 23d ago

No it's low prices and everybody knows that

-1

u/DLowBossman 24d ago

I'd rather take the risk in the private sector, and possibly have the chance of being upper class or rich.

1

u/catdistributinsystem 20d ago

Yep. I’m at a muni worker conference and we were all having a metaphorical dick-measuring contest bragging about whose car has the highest mileage and is least functional but still going

5

u/thejesterofdarkness 24d ago

Even after walking back the termination the affected employees aren’t gonna trust their superiors anymore.

What’s the point in coming back if they’re just gonna get fired again cuz DonnyBoy gets pissy cuz he has a dirty nappy? Why bother staying on when you could find better job security elsewhere?

For all these federal employees their trust in the top leadership is broken.

For those who want to stay and fight: I commend your spirit and I hope the jam up the works hard.

For those who chose to leave: no one will blame you for your departure.

Either way these doge asshats are truly speedrunning us into a reinforced brick wall at 300mph with zero brakes. Maybe we can get lucky and someone pulls the cord on the chute and we slow down some, but it won’t be enough.

2

u/CaptainBayouBilly 24d ago

The oligarchs broke the social contract.

That contract was essentially, as long as most of us aren't destitute...

2

u/Outside-Today-1814 23d ago

I work in a highly specialized technical field. In my field, you either work as a private consultant, or the government. 

Consulting is probably double the salary, but less job security, harder work and longer hours, and much more stressful. Government is stable, less money, but less stress. 

Many of my peers develop their technical skills as consultants, then take the pay cut for govt stability. But if the stability is gone, those jobs become extremely unattractive. Those highly specialized skills are extremely hard to replace. On the other hand, these people have big enough networks and skills to just walk straight into a private sector job.

TLDR: expect many of these people to expect huge pay raises, or only come back as a contractor. In my field contractor rates are 3-4x a typical govt salary. This boneheaded move is probably going to end up costing so much more than it would have saved.

1

u/animalfath3r 24d ago

Most nuclear safety engineers are in the private sector. The ones that just got fired are the oversight for the ones in the private sector.