Federal employees protest Musk’s ‘Fork in the Road’ offer with spoon -emojier

Some federal employees have a new symbol of their opposition to President Trump’s and Elon Musk’s radical overhaul of the US government: a spoon.

Last week, in an E email with the subject line “Fork in the Road”, the administration called on federal workers to consider resigning their positions and said they would be paid through September – a bid to quickly shrink the size of the workforce.

The Union leaders have urged employees not to accept the offer and question its legality and legitimacy. And on Wednesday, workers at Technology Transformation Services, the technology -focused arm from the general service administration, made their dissatisfaction with the offer known during an organizational meeting with their new manager, a former employee of Mr. Musk’s carmaker Tesla, by sharing spoon emojis in an online chat according to people who are familiar with the answer.

At the meeting, Thomas Shedd, a former Tesla Engineer who was appointed to lead technological efforts on GSA, tried to dampen concerns about the deferred resignation plan and asked workers to “read as much as you can” about the offer, according to an audio recording provided to the New York Times. He also called on federal workers to review information published on the Office of Personal Management site.

“Have that context in mind when you think through the decision you need to make in the next 24 to 30 hours,” added Mr. Shedd. “The deferred resignation is the first step in streamlining the federal workforce. Personal work will be the next step. “

His insurance did not seem to work. Employees in the Tech Division rained down -emojis in the chat, accompanied the video meeting, which was seen by more than 600 people, according to photos of the chat screen delivered to the times and three people who were familiar with the reaction. Some employees also added spoon emojis to their status on Slack, a workplace communication app.

“Thomas: Whether you mean or not, you play a role in ruining TTS,” wrote a worker in the chat.

“The culture is the people,” another employee wrote. “Without the people, TTS is nothing.”

After Mr. Musk’s acquisition of $ 44 billion of Twitter in 2022, he sent an E email with the same subject line – “Fork in the Road” – to the company’s employees who offer them a buyout to leave the company if they did not want to join his “extremely hardcore” vision.

During the Twitter acquisition, employees used Honnøremoji as a sign of solidarity with their colleagues and as a goodbye under mass coverings.

After renaming the social media service like X, Mr. Musk pressed for serious cuts to the federal government. He shared a post It estimated that 5 to 10 percent of the federal workforce would take the deferred resignation, potentially saving the government $ 100 billion.

The last date that accepts the offer is February 6, according to the E email to government workers.