Statement from Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain on President Donald Trump’s announcement regarding the government shutdown:
Reopening the government is long overdue and it should never have shut down in the first place. Working people in Oregon and across the country pushed for the government shutdown to end by marching, protesting, calling Congress, and donating food and resources to impacted federal workers. We stood together. We stood strong. And we’re ready to do it all over again if the government shuts down after the proposed three weeks of funding are up. The 800,000 workers impacted by this manufactured crisis deserve stability, not to be pawns in a political game. In Oregon, 9,583 workers faced hardship because of the shutdown. We must do better.
The fight is not over. Federal workers urgently need their back pay. Federal contractors need their back pay authorized. Everyone impacted by the shutdown deserves a long-term funding bill, not a temporary fix to a failure of governance that equates to one guaranteed paycheck after weeks of uncertainty and hardship.