Steny Hoyer likens federal employees who work during shutdown to slaves

I'm really tired of hearing all the calls for sympathy for Federal Workers. My wife is the HR manager for an environmental lab that does over half of its work on federal contracts. Of 56 employees 34 are completely laid off, another 18 (including the management team/owners) are reduced to 20 hours a week. My wife, the comptroller and two scientists whose work is exclusively on state projects are the only still full-time.

If this continues for 90 days, the business starts to default on its debts. Around 120 days it shutters its doors forever. If and when these people come back to work full-time, no one will be paying them lost wages. This is going on through out America. We need a higher level of outrage. Federal workers need to face the same potential outcome that private workers face. We do not need to be mad at one party or one official. We need to be mad at all of them. Measures that let the steam out of the problem temporarily, aren't useful. The legislature and the President need to know the electorate has had enough.

Ummm no they can quit. No one is saying they have to go to work. I never liked that I worked during the shutdown and others didn’t and we both got paid for the same amount of days. I felt those who were essential and worked should have received something such as comp time or partial comp time. Oh well it’s part of being a federal employee. Either put up with it every once and awhile or find a different job.

I've been a civil servant for over 30 years now, lived through budget impasses where I received pay late, through furloughs where some of our brothers and sisters didn't cone back... it's the life of a civil servant, get used to it or get out.