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Government shutdown creating financial stress for federal workers: union leader

by Niv Elis - 12/24/18 1:57 PM ET

A partial shutdown has led to financial stress for federal workers, according to one of the biggest unions representing government employees.

“I’ve been dismayed and frankly angered by suggestions that they shouldn’t have financial concern, that they signed up for disruptions in their lives,” National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) President Tony Reardon said Monday on a call with reporters.

The shutdown is affecting about 25 percent of the federal government, including some 800,000 workers who are either furloughed or required to work without pay.

{mosads}An NTEU survey that received just over a 1 percent response rate from its 150,000 members found that almost 80 percent of those workers were concerned about their ability to pay bills as a result of the shutdown. About half of those respondents said they had to reschedule leave plans as a result, and more than 85 percent said they were scaling back spending as a result.

NTEU did not provide the margin of error or methodology for its survey.

The White House Office of Management and Budget said paychecks for the latest pay period, which ended on Saturday, would still be issued on time during the coming week, though it would not include pay for Saturday because the shutdown began that day.

If the shutdown continues for two weeks, affected workers would miss their next paycheck.

“We don’t know for sure if we will be paid or when,” said Doreen Greenwald, a furloughed IRS revenue officer in Wisconsin who is also a local NTEU chapter president.

“We want the government to reopen so we can go back to work,” she said on Monday’s press call.

Over the weekend, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said a shutdown was likely to extend into the new year. Democrats will take control of the House on Jan. 3.

Tags Government shutdown Mick Mulvaney