A member of the White House economic staff has characterized the government shutdown as extra vacation for workers. Sorry, but three+ weeks without pay is the equivalent of the punishment for a severe infraction of rules, not extra vacation time. Further, for the half of the employees still required to work, it’s called slavery.
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And the question is how long they will continue to work. There are already rumblings that the TSA is going to walk off the job en masse within the next few weeks if they don’t get their next paycheck.
If you are a TSA screener at a major airport, you aren’t paid a living wage for the area. Now that their pay check is zero, they are putting in extra hours on their side jobs that are paying. The only reason for working on the bottom rung of the civil service pay ladder is health insurance for the family. In the midst of this mess Trump has cancelled the scheduled pay increase for Federal workers and their cost of living increases. I can see the TSA ‘flu’ increasing.
The USCG aren’t getting their pay either. Admiral Shultz posted a PDF that was sent to the USCG personnel (I cannot see or hear that name without thinking “I know nothing!” Ahem… He mentions Sec. Nielsen “remains fully engaged” aha. Whatever that actually means.
https://www.dcms.uscg.mil/Portals/10/2019_budget/CCG_FundingLapseEmail_20190108_v1.pdf?ver=2019-01-15-132940-603
Unbelievable… I mean, it’s Dotard Turnip, so it *IS* actually quite believable given his long history of stiffing many people on their promised pay. It’s Unbelievable that he is POTUS. It always will be. I know the GOP has no moral or ethical regard to anyone at all & many voters are completely easily deluded morons… but still!
After 9-11 they shifted the Coast Guard to the Department of Homeland Security. So, while the Department of
Defense is still funded, the Department of Homeland Security isn’t, so the Coast Guard is screwed. Given that this is supposedly about border security, it makes no sense that all of the primary people involved in securing the borders [Border Patrol, TSA, Coast Guard, etc.] aren’t being paid.
Note that it’s illegal to pay their health insurance provider too during the shutdown… so let’s hope none of them get sick.
This is speeding the arrival of the recession. You never “recover” from something like this because of all of the interest and penalties you incur.