Community continues to stand for fired staff at Mendenhall Glacier
- Jasz Garrett
- Jul 30
- 4 min read
NFFE Local 251 expects more RIFs following reorganization plan
Former Deputy Mayor Michelle Hale began organizing “Stand for Staff” weekly protests at the Mendenhall Glacier Recreation Area in late April.
It started with three people and the largest attendance so far has been 13. Most days, the group has stood in the rain. Last Thursday morning, eight Juneau residents held colorful signs under a cloudy sky. Tourists walked by them on their way to see Juneau’s most popular attraction. The “Stand for Staff” protests are held on Thursdays from 11 a.m. to noon.
Hale emphasized the protest does not oppose tourism, but instead aims to educate the public. Mass firings by the Trump administration in February left two employees remaining at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center. But protesters said federal workers have experienced uncertainty since January.
“I just wanted to let people know that we support their staff and I wanted tourists to know,” Hale said. She paused the interview as taxi drivers driving by honked and waved in support.
“Thank you,” she shouted back.
Hale said the group plans to continue protesting until the end of the cruise season in October.
“I spent a lot of my career working in government, and I’ve spent a lot of my career seeing people hate on government, and it’s wrong,” she said. “So I support all the federal workers that are in such a horrible situation.”
She said most interactions with tourists over the last few months have been friendly, with some stopping to share their support.
“Solidarity is so important,” Hale said.
Eric Antrim, recording secretary of the National Federation of Federal Employees Local 251, has been attending the protest for months. He held up a “Solidarity” sign decorated with painted Ukrainian and Canadian flags.
Antrim said it is a challenge to build solidarity because NFFE Local 251 represents non-supervisory U.S. Forest Service employees in a diverse range of locations and professions across Alaska. It has workers spread throughout Anchorage, Cordova, Craig, Fairbanks, Girdwood, Gustavus, Hoonah, Juneau, Ketchikan, Moose Pass, Petersburg, Sitka, Thorne Bay, Wrangell, and Yakutat.
Antrim said employees still feel they have no job security.
“A lot of fear, a lot of trauma, a lot of fear of the unknown,” he said. “Folks aren’t happy. Folks are demoralized. Folks are feeling like their work doesn’t matter to the American people.”
Before coming to the protest, Antrim attended a staff meeting discussing a memorandum issued that morning by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The memo outlines a Department of Agriculture reorganization plan, stating that it will “phase out” the Forest Service’s nine regional offices. It also says the Forest Service will maintain a reduced state office in Juneau. Antrim was asked how many Forest Service employees remain in Alaska as of July.
“We still don’t have good numbers, and that’s one of the main complaints is they're calling it a plan, but there’s still no acknowledgement of what the numbers are, what the programs are,” Antrim said.
The memo also calls the Department of Government Efficiency layoffs voluntary.
“Much of this reduction was through voluntary retirements and the Deferred Retirement Program (DRP), a completely voluntary tool,” it states. “As of today, 15,364 individuals voluntarily elected deferred resignation.”
Antrim said he’s hearing pushback to that from former and current staff.
“It was all under duress and that’s the opposite of voluntary,” he said.
On July 8, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Trump administration could move forward with plans to slash the federal workforce and dismantle federal agencies. The ruling allows the administration to pursue restructuring efforts. Nationwide, at least 75,000 federal employees took deferred resignation and thousands of probationary workers have already been let go, according to the Associated Press.
In May, the Juneau Assembly approved spending up to $200,000 to hire additional staff for the Mendenhall Glacier Recreation Area.
City Tourism Manager Alix Pierce said the money is still sitting in reserves.
To use it would take a multi-agency decision from the Forest Service, Discovery Southeast, and cultural ambassadors from the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. The funds would go toward Discovery Southeast employees and cultural ambassadors. Both have supported the Forest Service at the Mendenhall Glacier this summer.
“We don’t know what that reduction is going to look like,” Pierce said regarding the reorganization plan. “Hopefully it doesn’t affect the Juneau office more. They’ve already been hit pretty hard. But it’s there if we need it and hopefully we don’t have to spend it.”
The Department of Agriculture reorganization plan is “only the first phase of a multi-month process.” For now, the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center will continue to operate with limited hours and staff. The visitor center is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Sunday through Friday. It is closed on Saturdays. The hours for the recreation area remain unchanged, open daily from 6 a.m. to midnight.
Ten minutes before the visitor center closed on Friday, a group of tourists became junior rangers. Forest Service employee Brad Schumaker, who came from Admiralty Island this summer to help, swore them in.
Liv Seagrave, 14, was visiting from Phoenix, Arizona. It was her first time in Alaska. She proudly held up her junior ranger patch.
“We were sworn in to take care of national parks and learn about other cultures,” she said. “It’s important to protect and preserve the beauty of the world because we’re kind of guests here.”
• Contact Jasz Garrett at jasz@juneauindependent.com or (907) 723-9356.
