'Bad for everybody': Western Pa. labor leader pans federal shutdown

With the U.S. government shut down, more than 500 unionized federal workers throughout Western Pennsylvania are wondering whether they’ll still be allowed to do their jobs — and, if so, when they’ll get paid for it.

Elizabeth McPeak, first vice president of the National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 34, on Friday told TribLive the Treasury Department is using Inflation Reduction Act money to keep workers in their roles through Wednesday.

What happens next, she said, is uncertain.

Federal employees may continue working but see their pay delayed until the federal government shutdown is resolved. They may be furloughed and unable to work — or collect a paycheck — at all.

“Here’s the bottom line: a government shutdown is bad for everybody,” McPeak said. “It’s bad for the American taxpayers and it’s bad for federal workers.”

The shutdown doesn’t impact just federal employees in Washington, D.C., McPeak said. About 85% of federal workers live and work outside of the D.C. area, including more than 66,000 federal employees throughout Pennsylvania.

“It is possible there will be people who are working who will not get paid for weeks — or longer — which is inconceivable in America,” McPeak said. “This is just an absolute morale buster.”

The federal government shut down much of its operations Wednesday as Congress failed to reach a funding deal.

The workers from various agencies represented by the National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 34 are largely assigned to the William S. Moorhead Federal Building in Downtown Pittsburgh, McPeak said. Others are scattered from Washington to Erie to Altoona.

“What people don’t realize is it’s happening to your neighbors,” she said. “We live and work in your community.”

The union represents workers who field calls from people who have questions about their taxes and advocate for taxpayers having issues with the IRS. They also conduct audits on domestic and international corporations, ensuring they pay their fair share in taxes.

Last year, federal workers in Pittsburgh answered nearly a million calls from taxpayers, McPeak said. That averages roughly 3,000 calls per day — calls that will go unanswered if workers are furloughed while federal officials hammer out a spending plan.

“When there’s a shutdown, if we’re not working, those services stop,” McPeak said. “Our ask is that Congress does its job and come to a resolution. Keep us working.”

The shutdown has left Americans in limbo because of a halt in funding for an array of programs. Partisan messaging on the websites of various federal departments blamed Democrats for the shutdown — and may have violated ethics laws, experts said.

The shutdown — which some fear could be a lengthy standoff — could spur the loss of thousands of federal jobs, suspend scientific research, slow air travel and withhold pay from U.S. troops.

McPeak said the prospect of missed paychecks is stressful for federal workers who don’t know how long a shutdown could last.

“Right now, people are delaying home improvements, canceling vacations. Some people were getting ready to holiday shop — they’re putting that off,” she said. “We’re not going to spend any money we don’t have to spend because we don’t know if our pay is delayed, when we’re going to be paid.”

Workers in McPeak’s union are expecting to receive one more paycheck next weekend before their paychecks are paused.

“After that, we won’t get paid until the shutdown is over,” she said.

It hurts local economies when federal workers tighten their purse strings, she said.

And it deters people from considering federal jobs for fear that more shutdowns will leave them in the “unfathomable” position of wondering when their next paycheck could materialize.

The last time the federal government shut down, some of the Pittsburgh area workers in the National Treasury Employees Union continued to work without pay. Others faced forced furloughs.

McPeak described that shutdown — which dragged on for over a month — as devastating. It left federal workers seeking meals from food banks and scrambling to find help paying mortgages or rents, she said.

Some local businesses, she said, stepped in to offer help, including low-interest loans.

“It is not good for America when we are out of work,” McPeak said.