After contractor cuts, Voice of America staffers brace for further layoffs
Voice of America employees have been bracing for further reductions in their workforce, not long after the Trump administration announced plans to terminate more than 500 contractors, according to several staffers who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly about it.
On June 3, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees VOA, sent Congress its proposed plan for a reduction in force, which would eliminate most of the 800 remaining staffers at the government-funded news organization. These employees work full time and are more difficult to fire than the contractors, whose last day was May 30.
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More than 80 years after its creation during World War II, President Trump is attempting to shut down the Voice of America, but his executive order is facing a skeptical response from the courts.
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