October 06, 2025

Categories: The Insider

AFGE members from coast to coast have been speaking out to the media about the damage being inflicted on federal workers and the public they serve due to the government shutdown that began Oct. 1.

AFGE President Everett Kelley has appeared multiple times on national broadcast networks including CBS, MSNBC, and NPR, where he has highlighted the emotional and financial distress being inflicted on federal workers.

“They’re calling this a shutdown, but in actuality, this is an employee lockout. These employees are being locked out of their jobs. They want to go to work, you know, but they are told that they can’t go to work,” Kelley told NPR.

Adding to the uncertainty during this shutdown is the administration’s threat to fire mass numbers of federal workers who have been deemed non-essential or perform work that the administration finds objectionable through a reduction-in-force.

“What has made this one different from the rest is that we’ve not been threatened with being RIF’d during an emergency shutdown before,” AFGE Local 2883 President Yolanda Jacobs from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told CNN. “‘Now that they’ve shut down, how long before they can fire me?’ Those are some of the questions that we’re receiving.”

The threat of being fired is hanging over the heads of employees at the Environmental Protection Agency, said AFGE Local 704 President Nicole Cantello, whose local represents about 1,000 EPA workers across the Great Lakes and Upper Midwest.

“They are so worried about losing their jobs,” Cantello told NBC 5 Chicago. “There is the threat hanging over our heads from the Trump administration that not only will they furlough the employees, but that while they are on furlough they will fire them.”

Encouraged by the administration, some agencies including the Department of Housing and Urban Development have added partisan messaging to their websites blaming Democrats for the shutdown – an unprecedented politicization that could make it that much harder to reach a resolution.

“It’s a lawless land right now,” AFGE Local 476 President Ashaki Robinson from HUD told MSNBC. “It’s unprecedented to have this. I’ve been here for every shutdown for the past 19 years. This is not normal. There’s nothing normal that’s going on right now.”

On the other end of the spectrum are federal employees who are required to go to work because they are deemed essential, yet they are not being paid until the shutdown is over.

“It gets really tricky with these government shutdowns because there are essential services that have to be provided. So those employees are ordered to work, but they do it without compensation, without a paycheck,” AFGE District 8 National Vice President Ruark Hotopp told ABC affiliate WDIO in Deluth, Minn. “If you’re trying to make ends meet, if you’re trying to put food on your table and make your mortgage payment without income coming in, then obviously folks try to go find other work. Well, that’s really difficult when most of your day is spent working a job without compensation.”

During the most recent government shutdown – the historic 35-day lockout during President Trump’s first term – some transportation security officers required to work had no choice but to call out due to the ongoing financial hardship. That’s likely to happen again if this shutdown drags on, AFGE Local 554 President Aaron Barker from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport told Atlanta News First.

“If something happens in Atlanta with the flight or storm comes through, everything kind of comes to a halt. So if this continues and officers are not able to afford to come to work, you can expect to start seeing delays across the country,” Barker said.

AFGE Council 100 Secretary-Treasurer Johnny Jones from Ft. Worth, Texas, echoed those concerns.

“Child care does not take IOUs. Gasoline does not take IOUs. Your house payments do not take IOUs. And sometimes it becomes very difficult to maintain focus on the mission when you’re trying to figure out how you’re going to get to and from work,” Jones told Good Morning America.

The last thing transportation security officers need is the additional stress of worrying about paying their bills and simply affording to get to work if the shutdown continues.

“It’s a high stress job. We’re looking for bombs, weapons, stuff like that, and you can’t miss right? So you don’t want officers with added stress,” AFGE Council 100 Regional Vice President Joe Shuker told the Today Show.

Staffing has been cut so much at the National Park Service that there’s little room to accommodate additional absences during an extended shutdown, AFGE Council 270 President Mark Cochran told the Associated Press.

“We’re already at critical staffing levels and on top of that suddenly we have to figure out how we’re going to get by without the paycheck because we’re not sure how long this is going to last,” Cochran said. “A lot of the employees I represent, we’re living paycheck to paycheck like most of America right now.”

With so many employees furloughed, it’s difficult for the employees who are required to work to get the job done, said AFGE Council 214 President Troy Tingey, whose council represents more than 35,000 employees in the Air Force Materiel Command.

“It’s frustrating going to work not knowing if you’re going to get a paycheck,” Tingey told Fox affiliate KSTU in Salt Lake City, Utah. “It’s also frustrating if you’re going to work and your co-workers are on furlough and you kind of need them to complete the mission.”

More than half of the workforce at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been furloughed – roughly 8,700 employees. Of those, 1,500 could lose their jobs altogether, according to shutdown contingency plans published by CDC’s parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services.

“For those of us who are still working there, morale has never been lower, honestly,” AFGE Local 2883 Chairman Peter Farruggia told Fox 5 Atlanta as the shutdown began Oct. 1. “I have been furloughed today, and we don’t know how long this government shutdown will last.”

Having to work with a paycheck will put an additional strain on the federal correctional officers and staff who work in the 122 facilities operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, AFGE Local 1237 President Aaron McGlothin from FCI Mendota in California told Your Central Valley.

“Our staff do a very dangerous job. They put their lives on the line every single day working with these offenders and they don’t know when they’re going to get paid and when they’re going to be able to take care of their family and put food on their table,” McGlothin said.

Like other AFGE leaders, McGlothin called on lawmakers to come together and find a bipartisan solution to reopen the government.

“It’s on both sides of the aisle. They need to come together and find common ground because they forget about the people that are still doing the hard work on the ground and put their life on the line every single day,” he said.