Target: Russell Vought, Director of Office of Management and Budget
Goal: Do not deprive workers of wages due by federal law.
American workers are once again being used as political pawns by the federal government. After carrying out thousands of potentially illegal firings in the midst of the government shutdown, the White House is reportedly planning to deny workers still on the job their rightfully earned pay. A draft memo from the Office of Management and Budget apparently lays out a plan to withhold back pay from federal workers furloughed for the duration of the shutdown.
Publicly, the office has already signaled this intention by sowing deliberate confusion about whether workers are entitled to this pay. Under a law signed by the president during his first term, the language explicitly spells out that all federal workers must receive back pay following the conclusion of a government shutdown. The law arose because of a 2019 government shutdown brought about by the president’s insistence that the federal budget include a large sum of money for a border wall. During that 35-day shutdown, 800,000 federal employees worked without pay. The current shutdown could eclipse even these numbers.
Sign the petition below to demand the federal government stop treating its own employees as indentured servants.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Director Vought,
“Each employee of the United States Government or of a District of Columbia public employer furloughed as a result of a covered lapse in appropriations shall be paid for the period of the lapse in appropriations, and each excepted employee who is required to perform work during a covered lapse in appropriations shall be paid for such work, at the employee’s standard rate of pay.” The Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 is quite clear on the matter of back pay for federal workers impacted by a government shutdown. The president himself signed off on this law, so it cannot be retroactively leveraged as some kind of negotiating tactic or punishment.
A key member of the Senate Appropriations committee, Senator Lisa Murkowski, joined with several colleagues in denouncing the “punitive actions” directed at the federal workforce responsible for carrying out critical missions in all sectors of society. Over two million American workers – along with their families – are having their livelihoods threatened…just in time for the holiday season. If you truly value a stable American economy, then stop inflicting deliberate harm on the critical engines that make this economy run.
Guarantee that every worker will receive their rightful dues.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Nicola Barts
