Workers decry Trump officials as out of control' as longest shutdown drags on

"It's already been a chaotic year, said Micah Niemeier-Walsh, who works at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (Niosh). She was initially fired along with most employees at the agency, but reinstated in May after a court intervened to block most of the firings. For many agencies, like the one that I am employed by, we've been effectively shut down for many months already because of the reductions in force that have already happened, and all of the attacks that we've been seeing on the federal workforce, said Niemeier-Walsh, who is also vice-president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 3840. It's become out of control, and I really hope that this shutdown is a wake-up call of how bad things have gotten."

"Denial of back pay has been a threat repeatedly made by the Trump administration during the shutdown, along with firings during the shutdown, which were blocked in a federal court."

The US federal shutdown entered its second month and surpassed 35 days, exceeding the previous record set during Donald Trump's first term. About 700,000 federal employees are furloughed without pay and another roughly 700,000 are working without pay. Affected workers report ongoing attacks including mass firings (many overturned in court), drastic budget cuts, pushes for early retirements or resignation buyouts, and repeated threats to withhold back pay. Some agencies faced effective shutdowns earlier due to reductions in force. Furlough extension notices often lacked assurances of back pay, and courts blocked some firing actions.

Read at www.theguardian.com