AFGE Calls on Department of Defense to Pay Workers for Unnecessary Furloughs
After budget cuts were put into effect because of the sequester, the U.S. Department of Defense began implementing furloughs for 650,000 civilian employees that would cost those workers 11 days of salary at a time when the economy is still struggling to recover from the Great Recession. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has since announced that the number of furlough days will be cut from 11 to six. AFGE applauded the change but said it didn't go far enough.
AFGE National President J. David Cox Sr. said in a press release:
AFGE has argued from the start that the Department of Defense furloughs were always the worst possible way for the department to absorb sequestration’s cuts. The secretary’s announcement suggests that he has finally realized that furloughs are costly in terms of dollars, readiness and morale.
The administration is finally listening to our AFGE activists, who have been flooding the White House and congressional offices with stories of personal hardship and the ways in which furloughs have undermined military readiness.
The terrible economic harm and injustice that has already been done to the 650,000 DoD civilians who should have never been furloughed has yet to be addressed. I am calling on Secretary Hagel to take immediate action to reimburse the furloughed employees for the six days of income they have lost.
The hardworking men and women who support our military were exploited by Pentagon officials to send a political message to Congress about sequestration. Now that these same officials have admitted that the furlough was unnecessary, the only fair thing to do is to make full financial restitution to the employees who were harmed.
