Dear Representative:
On behalf of the AFL-CIO, I urge you to co-sponsor the “Fairness for Federal Contractors Act” (H.R. 824) to provide back pay to the over 1 million federal contract workers who lost pay during the federal government shutdown.
Federal contractors and their families endured 35 days of unnecessary and unjustified financial hardship. This urgently needed back pay will allow them to begin piecing their lives back together. Every day that Congress fails to advance this legislation, the fallout from this manufactured crisis will continue to punish the workers who make America run.
Congress correctly acted to make sure federal workers who were furloughed or compelled to work without pay would receive back pay when the shutdown ended. Similarly, the executives who own the firms that contract with the federal government will be able to pay themselves back. Unfortunately, that cannot be said of their workers who missed mortgage payments, tuition checks and car payments. Some lost homes, while others were forced to withdraw their children from college.
The shutdown may be behind us and off the front page, but for the workers who lost over a month’s salary, the hardship is ongoing. We urge you to co-sponsor H.R. 824 without delay.
Sincerely,
William Samuel, Director
Government Affairs