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Tag: federal workers
Senate Democrats: Trump Put Federal Workers At COVID-19 Risk

Senate Democrats: Trump Put Federal Workers At COVID-19 Risk

Reprinted with permission from ProPublica.

Democratic senators are questioning the Trump administration about whether it has been doing enough to protect federal workers during the coronavirus pandemic. In a letter sent Monday to the White House, the senators demanded more information about the administration's policies, and they cited ProPublica coverage detailing how agencies have come up short.

The administration has the “authority and responsibility to make sure that federal agencies have effective and clear policies to protect these employees," wrote Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and 20 other lawmakers.

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Many Federal Workers Remain Unpaid In Wake Of Shutdown

Many Federal Workers Remain Unpaid In Wake Of Shutdown

As of Thursday, some federal workers have not received back pay from the first Trump government shutdown — even as a White House spokesperson says Trump is “on the verge” of initiating yet another shutdown.

The continued lack of paychecks is just one of many headaches federal employees are facing in the aftermath of Trump’s record-long, damaging 35-day shutdown.

Alfreda Dennis-Bowyer, a USDA meat inspector in Delaware, is owed $9,000 in backpay, but she only received a check for $250.

“When I saw that $250 I thought, ‘What in the world is this? Where’s the rest of my money?’” she told the Washington Post.

Dennis-Bowyer is one of thousands of federal employees who experienced delays in receiving back pay for weeks after the shutdown ended.

And the chaos is not limited to federal workers. Some contractors have not been paid for work done as far back as October 2018, and are waiting for agencies to process a backlog of invoices.

Some payment delays, the Post reports, are caused because employees cannot log on to agency networks, since passwords expired over the course of the shutdown.

“People are fatigued by the shutdown,” David Verardo, president of AFGE Local 3403, which represents employees at the National Science Foundation and other agencies, told the Post. “They’re demoralized to some extent,” he added.

The shutdown began in late December, after a tantrum-throwing Trump demanded $5.7 billion to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Over the next 35 days, federal employees did not receive a paycheck, which forced some to worry about homelessness or visit food pantries in order to provide for their families.

In the end, Trump caved to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s demands and reopened the government with no funding for a wall.

However, the agreement only funded the government for three weeks. And on Friday morning, a White House spokesperson said, “We’re on the verge of a government shutdown again.”

While the White House went on to pre-emptively blame Democrats, a bipartisan group of members of Congress is currently working together to come up with a funding plan which includes adequate border security initiatives. Trump will have the opportunity to sign or veto whatever legislation Congress passes.

In the meantime, the back pay issues are already causing resentment and anxiety for federal workers who don’t know how they would cope with another shutdown.

Trump’s initial shutdown caused pain and hardship for 800,000 federal employees, and even Republicans thought it was a stupid idea. Yet here we are with Trump threatening to go down that chaotic, harmful road yet again.

Published with permission of The American Independent. 

Danziger: Feeling Their Pain

Danziger: Feeling Their Pain

Jeff Danziger lives in New York City. He is represented by CWS Syndicate and the Washington Post Writers Group. He is the recipient of the Herblock Prize and the Thomas Nast (Landau) Prize. He served in the US Army in Vietnam and was awarded the Bronze Star and the Air Medal. He has published eleven books of cartoons and one novel. Visit him at DanzigerCartoons.com.

Obama To Raise Minimum Wage For Federal Contractors

Obama To Raise Minimum Wage For Federal Contractors

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will order companies that do business with the federal government to pay their workers a minimum wage of $10.10 per hour as part of his effort to advance his agenda without cooperation from Congress.

The president will announce plans to sign the new executive order in his State of the Union address Tuesday night, according to a White House fact sheet. The order will apply to new contracts between the government and companies that supply it with goods and services.

The order would reach only a fraction of the millions of minimum-wage workers in the U.S., but it would provide a raise to several hundred thousand people. Most of those affected are janitors who clean federal buildings, cafeteria workers and some laborers on federal construction projects.

Obama called for a minimum-wage increase in his State of the Union address last year and is expected to repeat that call this year. White House officials have focused on pushing legislation drafted by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), and Rep. George Miller (D-CA), that would lift the minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10.10.

In the face of solid opposition from Republicans, who argue the move would hurt employers and slow job growth, the wage bill has not gotten very far. Some Democratic strategists believe, however, that it could get through Congress this year, with members facing reelection.

In the meantime, as the president tries to rebound from a bruising year, the White House is eager to show Obama is moving ahead with his plans, even if only in increments.

Aides say the president’s prime-time speech will highlight several other initiatives — on job training, long-term unemployment and education — that don’t require congressional approval.

Obama is scheduled to travel later this week to Maryland, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Wisconsin to promote the plans. He’s slated to visit a Costco in Lanham, Maryland, on Wednesday. The White House document praises the wholesaler for supporting past minimum-wage increases.

AFP Photo/Saul Loeb