The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM Union), representing 600,000 members in aerospace, defense, and Service Contract Act sectors, has called on Congress to support legislation aimed at securing back pay for federal contract workers affected by the ongoing government shutdown.
The bipartisan Fair Pay for Federal Contractors Act (S. 2963 / H.R. 5657) was introduced following the shutdown by U.S. Representative Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.), with additional sponsors including Senators Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), and Representatives Donald Norcross (D-N.J.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), as well as Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.). The bill is designed to ensure that thousands of federal contract workers who have faced furloughs and missed paychecks during the shutdown are compensated retroactively.
IAM Union International President Brian Bryant addressed lawmakers in a letter, stating: “Through no fault of their own, many of these families faced the reality of missing payments on their mortgages, student loans, school tuition, car loans, health care premiums, daycare, interest fees, and so many other expenses. Today, they are looking down the barrel of a similar fate. Contract workers and their families should not suffer the consequences of a shutdown they had no hand in creating. Dedicated federal contract workers maintain the aircraft, vehicles and systems that keep our military mission-ready and our nation secure. Many live paycheck to paycheck and are among the first to feel the devastating impact of a government shutdown.”
In addition to supporting the passage of this legislation, IAM Union criticized what it described as an unlawful threat from the Trump administration to withhold back pay from federal workers impacted by the shutdown.
The union expressed solidarity with both federal and contract workers and urged legislators in both chambers to act quickly to end the shutdown and pass the Fair Pay for Federal Contractors Act, emphasizing that working families should not be left behind.
