Businesses Are Not Aware Furloughs Affect Their Bottom Line IMPORTANT: This information should not be downloaded using government equipment, read during duty time, or sent to others using government equipment, because it suggests action to be taken in support of and/or against legislation. Do not list your government email or government address in filling out this message, and do not use a government provided phone for this action. EPA employee Giselle Jasmin walked into a lunch buffet restaurant near her office in Washington, D.C. and handed an AFGE Federal Dollar bill to a restaurant manager. She explained how pay freezes and furloughs were reducing her income, which in turn prevented her from frequenting the place. “Of course they were not going to accept the bill. They were shocked,” she said, adding the restaurant didn’t know that furloughs could affect its bottom line. “Now they know. Everybody is feeling it.” Most people are not even aware of federal employees’ pay freezes, said Jon Klaybor, ICE Local 2580 shop steward in Buffalo, New York. Klaybor used the AFGE Federal Dollar bills to talk to his neighbors and explain how federal employees’ furloughs and the pay cut affect local economies. He also asked them to call their local lawmakers to cancel the furloughs. Even though he himself won’t be furloughed, there are a lot of federal employees in the area who will. “When they think about sequestration, they think about long lines at the airport,” he said. “They didn’t even know stores and restaurants were losing businesses because of the furloughs.” But a waitress at a Red Lobster in St. Paul, Minnesota, noticed the trend. She immediately sympathized with AFGE Local 1969 First Vice President Gary Schabert when he told her he wouldn’t be able to come to the restaurant as often as he’d like because of the pay freezes. The waitress said her boss cut her hours as business had been slow. She promised to call and ask her senators to stop the federal pay freezes and furloughs. So far, AFGE Locals across the country have ordered more than $160,000 in AFGE Federal Dollars. The union launched the campaign last month to raise public awareness about the impact of federal employees’ furloughs on local economies. AFGE Federal Dollars are available at the AFGE Local 1920 offices on Engineer Drive, Fort Hood.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Jun 2013 05:28:50 +0000
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