As the government shutdown drags into its fourth week, 1.4 million federal workers and at least 1 million federal contractors have missed a paycheck and will soon miss another if Congress fails to act. In a new letter to senators, the AFL-CIO—representing 63 labor unions and nearly 15 million working people—demands lawmakers stop the games and pass legislation that provides immediate relief and pays every worker impacted by the shutdown, such as the True Shutdown Fairness Act and the Military and Federal Employee Protection Act.

“These workers––military, civilian and private sector alike––serve the American people day in and day out….This shutdown has put some of them out of work and all of them out of pay, through no fault of their own,” AFL-CIO Director of Advocacy Jody Calemine writes in his letter to senators. “While the paychecks have stopped, the bills have not. Rent needs to be paid. Mortgage payments are due. Groceries must be bought.”

Calemine urges lawmakers to ensure shutdown-related bills guarantee immediate relief and continued pay for all impacted workers during the shutdown, and block the Trump administration’s illegal reductions in force. Otherwise, “hundreds of thousands of [workers] would be denied a lifeline” and, in some cases, the Trump administration would be handed “the ability to decide whom it pays or does not pay.”

The letter warns the Trump administration has already “exacerbat[ed] [federal workers’] hardship” with unprecedented attempts to fire more than 4,000 federal workers followed by threats to illegally fire at least 10,000 more and unlawfully withhold back pay from furloughed workers.

“Workers and their families should not be used as pawns,” Calemine notes, warning that workers’ financial pain is being “used as political leverage.” Lawmakers must “support the [Sen. Chris] Van Hollen bill, the [Sen. Gary] Peters bill, and amendments that would ensure immediate backpay and ongoing pay for all impacted workers and prohibit RIFs during the shutdown.”

As AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler wrote in her letter to President Trump earlier this month, “Our livelihoods should not be used as pawns or bargaining chips, whether it is threatening one set of workers after another, canceling construction projects, or jacking up electricity prices on top of higher health insurance premiums. “

Read the full letter here.

Source: AFL-CIO