Call to Action: Contractor Pay

Hey guys, just a quick post here to call for your help (again). Hopefully you’ve seen my post on Twitter that, so far, not a single Republican has signed on to support a bill to back pay federal contractors. I believe public opinion can help change this.

Historically, contractors have not received back pay during shutdowns — and that’s always sucked — but this time is worse. The longest shutdown in history has left us with some heart-wrenching stories from some of our lowest-paid government workers. Through no fault of their own, they are suddenly faced with a financial burden that is nothing short of unconscionable. Here’s an example story from the Washington Post:

“Her debt was mounting: $156 for the gas bill, $300 for electricity, $2,000 for the mortgage. She could no longer afford her blood pressure pills. But what stung Audrey Murray-Wright most was rationing the groceries.

“I never, ever want to tell my son, ‘Don’t drink all that milk so you can save your brother some,’ ” she said, choking up.

Murray-Wright, a cleaning supervisor at the National Portrait Gallery, is one of more than a million federal contract workers nationwide whose income halted when the government partly shuttered for 35 days.”

Murray-Wright has worked at Smithsonian properties for 15 years. She had a little money in the bank when the shutdown started, but she spent everything — including her sick leave — trying to stay afloat. Her story is tragic, but unfortunately, it’s not unique. Contractors are security guards, cafeteria workers, janitorial staff, etc; they don’t make much as it is, and asking them to just accept not being paid for 35 days is unreasonably cruel.

What Can We Do?

Democrats in Congress are currently working on a bill that would alleviate some of their pain and authorize up to $965 per week in back pay, although most don’t earn anywhere near that much money. While that won’t keep some from being evicted, or turn their lights on now, it’s a start. As I said previously, no GOP Senators have signed on to this bill yet, so we can start by contacting them. If you have a GOP Senator in your state, please call them and ask them to support the legislation to take care of our contractors.

Calling Congress isn’t the only thing we can do. From the Vox article I shared on Twitter:

“The public should be aware that agencies do in fact have the ability to immediately and single-handedly provide workers back pay, without forcing members of Congress into the long and uphill battle of passing legislation,” said Jaime Contreras, a vice president of 32BJ SEIU, a union representing building services workers. “In this way, federal agencies are holding a lifeline to rescue workers who are drowning in bills through no fault of their own. Agencies must fulfill their moral and financial obligation to repay workers for a shutdown these men and women had nothing to do with.”

The Office of Management and Budget could direct agencies to examine their budgets and determine how much it would cost to cover contractor wages that were not paid out during the shutdown, the union representative added.

This is where you come in again. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has a public comment line where you can leave a message for the OMB director. The phone number is 1 (202) 395-3080. Option “1” will get you to the public comment line. Public opinion could sway this matter in the contractors’ favor — if you will call OMB and request they order agencies open an inquiry into getting contractors paid for the shutdown, I believe we can really make a difference. Get in contact with your Congressional representatives as well, but OMB is probably the quicker route at the moment. They need our help.