The Trump Administration has fired an undisclosed number of federal workers at the Togus VA Medical Center, according to a statement from the workers’ labor union.

“As of last night at 7 p.m. probationary VA employees, including military veterans, were arbitrarily fired as part of a widespread purge of federal workers being carried out by Elon Musk and the Trump administration,” Matt Schlobohm, Executive Director of the Maine AFL-CIO, said in a statement released Tuesday afternoon. “We condemn in the strongest terms this arbitrary action and we demand that congressional leaders step in and cease this attack on critical services for our nation’s veterans.”

Schlobohm did not specify how many employees were fired, but said the firings came via email without notice, and the only reason given was “poor performance.”

Officials at the medical center were unavailable for comment. The US Veterans Administration did not respond immediately to a request for comment from Spectrum News, but a press release on the VA’s website, dated Feb. 24, confirmed that 1,400 employees were dismissed nationwide.  

The employees were described as “probationary,” and in “non-mission critical” positions. The statement indicated other mission-critical positions, such as Veterans Crisis Line responders, were exempt from the federal hiring freeze, and that the VA is still hiring for 300,000 of those positions.

The statement indicated the firings are part of a nationwide purging of excess personnel ordered by the Trump Administration. The 1,400 firings will save the department an estimated $83 million per year, according to the statement.