The government shutdown is now in its 12th day, meaning some 800,000 federal employees are still without a paycheck because President Donald Trump refuses to sign a federal budget that doesn’t include $5 billion for a border wall. Working people—and their livelihoods—should never be used as political pawns. 

Despite the shutdown, roughly 420,000 federal employees, from law enforcement and corrections officers to Transportation Security Administration agents, are still working and putting their lives on the line without collecting a paycheck. That doesn’t include about 380,000 workers who are currently furloughed, or sent home without pay.

That’s why AFGE filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for illegally forcing federal employees to work without pay.

“Our members put their lives on the line to keep our country safe,” said AFGE National President J. David Cox Sr. “Requiring them to work without pay is nothing short of inhumane.”

To make matters even worse, Trump actually suggested that federal employees don’t want to work and then canceled a 2.1% pay increase for this year.

Our AFGE brothers and sisters take home an average of $500 a week. Losing this pay is devastating.

The shutdown began Dec. 22 after Trump demanded more than $5 billion for a wall along the southern U.S. border.

This blog was originally published by the AFL-CIO on January 2, 2018. Reprinted with permission.