Federal Employees Are Taking Their Members of Congress to Work
March 11, 2019
Categories:
The Insider
The week of March 18-22 is take-your-member-of-Congress-to-work week for federal employees. As part of our union’s upcoming Federal and D.C. Government Worker Appreciation Week, federal and D.C. government employees are inviting their members of Congress to come by their facilities to discuss their work and raise awareness about what they do for the American people.
AFGE Local 3343 in New York, for example, has invited Rep. Paul Tonko, who will be visiting the Social Security Administration office in Troy on March 18.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s District Director Emily Arsenault will be visiting the Manhattan VA hospital on March 21, as invited by AFGE Local 2094 in New York.
“We’ve got so many attacks going on against VA employees and against unions that we need to involve our representatives more in our facilities,” said Kevin Lapham, Local 2094 legislative and political coordinator. “The only way that we can affect any kind of change within the government is by including the politicians. We have to engage them.”
Congress is in recess the week of March 18, so most members of Congress are home in their districts doing district work and visiting with their constituents. Our union chose this week so federal employees can take this opportunity to connect with their representatives and promote their work.
Because of our efforts in the media and AFGE actions around the country, members of Congress showed tremendous support for federal employees during the 35-day government shutdown, in which more than 800,000 federal employees were either forced to work without pay or locked out of their jobs. Our union also received an unprecedented number of requests from members of Congress inviting federal employees to attend the annual State of the Union address last month.
Federal and D.C. government employees’ work directly affects the lives of the American people. We have to make sure every elected official understands and supports our work. Our union is holding the Federal and D.C. Government Worker Appreciation Week to thank them and raise awareness about their great work moving this country forward.
Want to take your member of Congress to work?
Here’s what you need to do:
- Sign up on our event page.
- Contact your member of Congress and ask him or her to request a visit to your facility.
- Your member of Congress’s office must initiate a request to your agency, but you can coordinate with them about speaking with workers once the agency has given them access to the facility.
Questions? Contact your Legislative and Political Organizer here.
We are also encouraging members of Congress to post public showings of support on social media and in the press.
Check out what else we’re doing during our Federal and D.C. Government Worker Appreciation Week.
