Despite a crippling federal hiring freeze and continued morale-draining attacks from some members of Congress, a thousand AFGE members who work in the federal and D.C. governments stood together in Washington, D.C.
But not all lawmakers use the federal workforce as a punching bag. During the week of activities, AFGE members heard from elected officials who recognize the service and sacrifice that comes with government worker.
Here's What They Said:
- “Together, we are going to stand up for collective bargaining rights.”—Rep. Steny Hoyer, Maryland, 5th District
- “Federal workers, you are part of our lives every single day."—Sen. Mazie Hirono, Hawaii
- “A lot of people don’t realize what a hiring freeze does. It makes it harder for the people who are working every day to do their jobs and then they send these jobs to contractors who charge you more.”—Rep. Elijah Cummings, Maryland, District 7
- “I’m so grateful for AFGE and all of you. You are protecting workers’ rights. You are restoring dignity to the workplace. You’re giving workers a place to stand, and together we will move the economy of this country forward.”—Rep. Mark Takano, California, 41st District
- “Public service is a noble cause. We need you now more than ever.”—Rep. Gerry Connolly, Virginia, 11th District
- “We couldn’t do the work we do in D.C. without AFGE members.”—D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser
- “I also realize it’s often convenient for you guys to be a convenient political target. There’s a caricature of federal employees that says they are ineffective. But the majority of those are the exact opposite. They are hard working members of the community. Attacking benefits and attacking pay is not the right way of going about in these types of situations and only trying to force changes only through that process.”—Rep. Rob Bishop, Utah, 1st District
- “We need to put an end to scapegoating and demonization of federal workers just to score political points. If we want to continue to have the world’s best public servants, those of us in Washington owe it to you to do our best to make sure that government employees are treated with respect by the government.”—Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Illinois
- “We are the nation we are today because of you.”—Rep. Rob Wittman, Virginia, 1st District
- “You help make us the greatest nation in the world and you deserve respect and support.”—Sen. Ben Cardin, Maryland