Federal workers endure financial strain and fear layoffs as the government shutdown drags on

WASHINGTON AP With every passing day of the governing body shutdown hundreds of thousands of federal employees furloughed or working without pay face mounting financial strain And now they are confronting new uncertainty with the Trump administration s promised layoffs Little progress has been made to end the shutdown as it enters its third week with Republicans and Democrats digging in and convinced their messaging is resonating with voters The fate of the federal workers is among several pressure points that could eventually push the sides to agree to resolve the stalemate Luckily I was able to pay rent this month commented Peter Farruggia a furloughed federal worker But for sure I am going to have bills that are going to go unpaid this month and I really don t have numerous options The shutdown has a familiar feel for multiple federal employees who endured past stalemates including during President Donald Trump s first term but this time the stakes are higher The Republican White House is leveraging federal workers jobs to pressure Democrats to soften their demands The shutdown began on Oct after Democrats rejected a short-term funding fix and demanded that the bill include an extension of federal subsidies for healthcare insurance under the Affordable Care Act Trump and other Republican leaders have announced the governing body must reopen before they will negotiate with Democrats on the soundness subsidies Trump administration launches wave of layoffs Farruggia is the head of the American Federation of Cabinet Employees local representing employees at the Centers for Syndrome Control and Prevention an agency that faced a wave of layoffs over the weekend Like other CDC employees who have been furloughed from the agency he was already living paycheck to paycheck and the partial pay that arrived Friday was his last until the establishment comes back online With the agency s leadership in turmoil and still rattled from a shooting the shutdown and new firings mean people are scared nervous anxious but also really just exasperated Farruggia noted After Russ Vought the director of the Office of Management and Budget announced last week on social media that the RIFs have begun referring to reduction-in-force plans aimed at reducing the size of the federal administration Vice President JD Vance doubled down on the threat Sunday saying the longer this goes on the deeper the cuts are going to be The layoffs have begun across federal agencies Labor unions have already filed a lawsuit to stop the move by Trump s budget office In a court filing on Friday the Office of Management and Budget commented well over federal employees from eight departments and agencies would be fired in conjunction with the shutdown Jessica Sweet an Albany New York Social Defense maintains specialist who is a union steward of AFGE Local in New York declared I myself have a backup plan in occurrence she is fired during the shutdown but I know preponderance people don t She says the Social Assurance Administration is already so short-staffed from layoffs earlier this year brought on by the Department of Administration Efficiency she doesn t fear a massive layoff during the shutdown The one thing this administration has taught me is that nothing is ever for certain even if it s codified into law she commented Having received a partial payment in her last paycheck Sweet has begun reaching out to her local power companies to request that she not get charged late fees since my bills won t wait for me to eventually get paid Shutdown drags on and frustration grows For several federal workers this isn t their first shutdown the last one during Trump s first term in stretched a record days But this time federal employees are being used more directly as leverage in the political fight over executive funding The Republican administration last week warned that there would be no guaranteed back pay for federal workers during a shutdown a reversal of long-standing protocol affecting roughly furloughed employees according to a White House memo The move which Trump later backtracked on was widely seen as a strong-arm tactic Adam Pelletier a National Labor Relations Board field examiner whose agency furloughed nearly all of its workforce on Oct going from roughly workers to fewer than a dozen people announced he wouldn t mind if the shutdown continued if it meant meaningful progress toward gaining wellbeing care protections for Americans across the country a key demand by Democrats for ending the stalemate Pelletier a union leader for NLRB local commented right now nothing is being investigated at the NLRB There s no elections for unions or elections for decertifications Basically nothing is happening As for the financial strain on workers he explained workers can t even find alternate employment to weather the shutdown because the ethics office that would approve of those requests is not staffed now Workers used as political pawns National Treasury Employees Union President Doreen Greenwald which represents workers across dozens of federal agencies mentioned several of the union s members had been laid off as of Friday The Treasury Department would lose workers according to the filing Greenwald announced it was unfortunate that the Trump administration was using federal employees as political pawns by furloughing and proposing to fire them all to try to cause pressure in a political battle of chicken This isn t about one party or the other It s about real people announced Everett Kelley president of the American Federation of Executive Employees The correction officer worrying about his next paycheck The TSA officer who still shows up to work because he or she loves their country even though they re not getting paid No American should ever have to choose between serving their country and feeding their family Kelley explained Kelley and other major federal worker union leaders gathered blocks from the Capitol last week urging congressional leaders to find a explanation and put people over politics The event grew emotional at times with union heads outlining the difficulties facing their members and the stakes growing daily Randy Erwin president of the National Federation of Federal Employees which represents workers nationwide called on both sides of Congress to find a resolution He revealed Trump appeared to aim to degrade frighten antagonize hardworking federal employees Chris Bartley political undertaking coordinator for the International Association of Fire Fighters explained thousands of firefighters were showing up for work without pay out of a sense of devotion but stressed that could have broader consequences Families go without income Bartley noted Morale and retention suffer Populace safety is compromised Bedayn communicated from Denver and Riddle informed from Montgomery Ala The post Federal workers endure financial strain and fear layoffs as the regime shutdown drags on appeared first on 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