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‘Pay the workers, furlough Trump’: Federal workers rally at White House for end to shutdown

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/federal-workers-to-demand-end-to-government-shutdown-at-white-house-protest/2019/01/10/330d1c4e-144c-11e9-803c-4ef28312c8b9_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.789a07a84afc
Furloughed federal employees and supporters protested the ongoing government shutdown, urging President Trump and Congress to open the government.
(Video: Joyce Koh /Photo: Michael Williamson/The Washington Post)

By Marissa J. Lang
January 10 at 3:52 PM

Furloughed federal employees and out-of-work contractors greeted each other Thursday with a sarcastic nickname that, on the 20th day of a partial government shutdown, captured their feeling of powerlessness: “Hello, fellow pawns.”

They shouted it to each other over the brutal wind and bitter cold on Thursday in downtown Washington, where hundreds gathered to demand government leaders put an end to the shutdown and allow them to get back to work.

“I want our politicians to get to the table and work out a meaningful plan,” said Anand Desai, 36, an auditor with the Internal Revenue Service from Prince William County, Va. “They need to just solve it and stop using federal workers and the services we provide as a bargaining chip.”

Leaders of the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) said they hoped bringing federal workers to the president’s doorstep would show him whom the shutdown has hurt most.

President Trump, though, wasn’t there to see them, having left earlier in the day to visit the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas.

Those who gathered — chanting “pay the workers; furlough Trump” as they marched to the White House — work for various federal agencies and live in different states. Some said they support Trump’s push for a border wall and increased security along the U.S-Mexico border. Others scoffed at the idea.

But they all agreed on one thing: They need to get back to work.

[For charities, the government shutdown could not have come at a worse time]

“We want to send a very strong message — that this is not about politics, it’s about getting people back to work,” said Brittany Holder, a spokeswoman for the NFFE and a protest organizer. “People are feeling really stressed and anxious, and they want to know when this will end.”

Protesters packed the street outside the AFL-CIO building on 16th Street NW holding signs that read, “Congress: Do your job so we can do ours.”

After about 90 minutes of speeches, the group marched to the White House, where workers lined up along the fence.

“This is the people’s house,” shouted Jeffery David Cox, president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE). “Surround our house with our workers.”

The protest came amid a partial shutdown that has left nine federal departments and several agencies closed since Dec. 22.

With similar marches in cities around the country, such as Chicago and Dallas, Thursday’s demonstration in the District as the largest protest of the shutdown since it began. Union leaders said if the federal stalemate continued, there would be more.

Negotiations over the shutdown remained at a standstill Thursday after a meeting between Trump and Democratic leaders unraveled a day earlier.

Workers said they felt abandoned and betrayed by a government — and president — that doesn’t seem to understand the hardship they are facing.

“We are public servants. People get into public service because we want to help others,” said De’Neal Gilliam, 30, a furloughed IRS employee from Richmond who stood outside the White House with a colorful sign adorned with pictures of Rihanna that read, “We don’t want a wall. We want work work work work work!”

“Right now, we can’t help ourselves or others,” she said.

Nationally, food inspections and maintenance of national parks have degraded, while federal loans and housing subsidies have languished in a state of limbo.
Thousands of federal workers and government contractors have turned to charities and online fundraisers to feed their families and pay bills.

[...]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/federal-workers-to-demand-end-to-government-shutdown-at-white-house-protest/2019/01/10/330d1c4e-144c-11e9-803c-4ef28312c8b9_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.789a07a84afc