Iowa unions protest cuts outside Miller-Meeks’ Davenport office

DAVENPORT — Federal workers and supporters gathered Thursday evening outside of Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks' Davenport office to protest cuts to the federal workforce and government programs.

Labor unions in the Quad Cities and Iowa City organized the rally. The unions estimate about 7,000 federal employees live in Miller-Meeks' Southeastern Iowa congressional district, and about 20,000 live throughout the state.

A bulk of the federal workers in the congressional district, the unions estimate, are employed through the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Rock Island Arsenal.

Union representatives said six people were laid off from the Iowa City Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Six National Weather Service employees were laid off from the Davenport office, which provides forecasts for the Iowa City and Cedar Rapids area, according to U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen, an Illinois Democrat.

Chad Finch, vice president for the American Federation of Government Employees Local 2119, which represents workers at the Rock Island Arsenal, said the work of Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency group, which is working aggressively to shrink the size and spending of the federal government, will have ripple effects.

"Everybody knows someone who gets (Veterans Affairs) benefits. Everyone knows someone who gets a Social Security check. Everybody knows somebody who is on food stamps. Everybody knows somebody that's going to be affected by this," Finch said.

Trump told reporters Thursday in the Oval Office that he'd instructed his cabinet members that they were in charge of agency cuts, not the tech billionaire, according to reporting from the National Public Radio and others.

The Quad City Times reached out to Miller-Meeks' office for comment and to ask if she supported DOGE’s work and the terminations of federal workers and funding freezes.

In a statement, Miller-Meeks spokesperson Anthony Cruz wrote: "Losing a job can be an incredibly tough and emotional experience. Earlier today, President Trump made it clear that Secretaries are responsible for workforce changes, and we will actively press them to ensure every decision is carefully reviewed before being finalized."

Union worried about Rock Island Arsenal

The arsenal houses the only government-owned foundry, and Local 2119 represents about 650 workers who do heat treatment, plating, assembly, fabrication, painting, maintenance and crane operation or who are millwrights at the arsenal.

"We do a lot of work over there to make equipment that help the soldiers out in the field … and keep them alive," Finch said.

Finch said no union members have been let go so far. But the administration has frozen hiring, told workers to return to the office and put a $1 spending limit on government credit cards, which he said are for buying emergency supplies or job-related travel.

The arsenal is among the top employers in the Quad Cities region along with John Deere, hospital systems and grocery chains.

"We've lost a large amount of jobs in the Quad Cities due to the Deere layoffs," Finch said. "If anything happens to the Rock Island Arsenal, that will devastate this community."

VA workers, veterans concerned

Pat Kearns is the president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 2547. He's a registered nurse at the Iowa City VA Medical Center and represents about 2,000 employees in Eastern Iowa.

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The six employees at the Iowa City VA location let go were in the first two years of their jobs. Kearns said that has already impacted the VA's operations, though Kearns said he's even more concerned about reports that the Trump administration wants to cut more than 80,000 people from the VA nationwide. That's about 16 percent of VA employees, Kearns said.

"We would cut services, we would have to cut inpatient beds. We wouldn't be able to carry out the truly cutting edge medicine that veterans have access to because of the VA,“ Kearns said.

Kearns said the union wants Miller-Meeks to "step up to the plate and advocate for veterans and other employees that do critical missions."