Anyone Think This Shutdown Could Go Through October? (house, contractors)

[Old Monkey]

WaPo is reporting that, according to Eric Cantor, back pay is a done deal. The vote tomorrow morning will make it official.

[Bigfoot424]

As a contractor we lucked out and are still working at our govt desks. At least until the end of Oct. After that we're not sure. I know some in other agencies who are not working.

[The Dissenter]

As someone who works in finance with a lot of furloughed employees this week has been rough. A lot of shutdown loans have had to be processed. A lot could not be given bc of circumstances that tied our hands. Clients are totally wound up. It broke me up having to say to some people I can't help you through this.

Don't even get me started on my worry for my mother who is out potentially 75% of her income as a DOD employee and disabled vet and who is stuck at home in Nowhereville Kentucky. Im worried for a couple of friends who are furloughed and have babies at home.

Really, I just want this over with and done.

[frostopsy]

This is probably going to be bad for the area. The major problem is if people don't get back pay from being furloughed. In my situation, I'm required to travel and pay my government card. In essence, I have to "pay to work", which is the big kicker. So I'm in a bind, call in sick and get furloughed, with chance of getting paid, or work and pretty much have to pay for it til they figure it out. It's pretty sad my agency didn't come up with a contingency plan for something like this. I saved 3 months of living expenses, but this kinda f's me up

On the other side of the coin, I listen to an out of town radio station, and it seems like the majority of the public could care less what happens to government workers. Its pretty much mass schadenfreude by the rest of the country, probably as they watched the DC explode in wealth after the past decade, who could blame them.

Where ever you land politically, this was a bad idea for either side. They both have lousy hands to play. Buckle up for a wild ride.

[graceC]

I just heard that Lockheed is going to furlough 5000 employees effective Monday. This followed by another gov't contracting firm furloughing 3000 employees. This is really bad.

I wonder how much this shut down will determine next month's governor election. I'm just so angry at the tea baggers right now that i will punish G O P with the only way I can: my vote.

[sullyguy]

Originally Posted by graceC

I wonder how much this shut down will determine next month's governor election. I'm just so angry at the tea baggers right now that i will punish G O P with the only way I can: my vote.

Fortunately that one looks like it's a done-deal here in Virginia so, IMHO, this current SNAFU won't be a major issue with it, however elections in other states might get hit by it. You can bet a year from now, however, a lot of us are going to have "long memories" and do what we can to affect gerrymandered election districts anywhere they exist, Virginia or not.

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by Old Monkey

WaPo is reporting that, according to Eric Cantor, back pay is a done deal. The vote tomorrow morning will make it official.

Hope it happens. Unfortunately I've been hearing that things are "likely to happen" all year only to have them not happen in the end. Hope this one is the exception.

[Carlingtonian]

I hope these contractor companies reimburse their employees; the fat-cat CEOs and lobbyists are not going to hurt; they can well afford to do the decent thing for their workers. It's also in the long-term interest of those companies to retain their employees and keep morale high.

If there were a "Furloughed Contractors Fund" for federal employees to donate to, I would gladly chip in.

[CaliTerp07]

Originally Posted by Carlingtonian

I hope these contractor companies reimburse their employees; the fat-cat CEOs and lobbyists are not going to hurt; they can well afford to do the decent thing for their workers. It's also in the long-term interest of those companies to retain their employees and keep morale high.

If there were a "Furloughed Contractors Fund" for federal employees to donate to, I would gladly chip in.

When the market crashed in 2008, my old company laid off anyone who wasn't on a money making project. Didn't matter how good your performance reviews were, how long you'd been there, etc. Just gone from bad luck, with no notice. I was lucky enough to stay on, but morale sucked then. Big time.

Company stock prices never really dropped. They are now nearly 3x as high as they were then. It really frustrated me. I believed as you do that it was in the best interests of the company to treat the employees well so they would be loyal and stick around when times were good. Apparently not.

[Carlingtonian]

Originally Posted by CaliTerp07

When the market crashed in 2008, my old company laid off anyone who wasn't on a money making project. Didn't matter how good your performance reviews were, how long you'd been there, etc. Just gone from bad luck, with no notice. I was lucky enough to stay on, but morale sucked then. Big time.

Company stock prices never really dropped. They are now nearly 3x as high as they were then. It really frustrated me. I believed as you do that it was in the best interests of the company to treat the employees well so they would be loyal and stick around when times were good. Apparently not.

Does anyone happen to know if that was true at contractor companies decades ago? It seems like the farther back you go, employers in general took more of a long-term view of how to treat employees. I wonder if in the '60s, say, a Lockheed engineer between contracts would have been allowed to do research or work on some long-term, self-directed project.