FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 10, 2010
March 10, 2010
Christina Erling
(202) 639-6419
(202) 639-6419
AFGE Applauds the U.S. House of Representatives for Passing Bill to Ensure Full Pay for Furloughed Department of Transportation Workers
(WASHINGTON) – The American Federation of Government Employees, today, expressed thanks to H.R. 4786 sponsor Representative Gerry Connolly (D-VA), as well as Representative Jim Oberstar (D-MN), Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and Representative Howard Coble (R-NC), on behalf of the Committee’s ranking member, Representative John Mica (R-FL), for ensuring that the pay and benefits of recently furloughed Department of Transportation (DoT) employees will not be reduced.
On March 3, thousands of employees from DoT returned to work after being on non-paid furlough for two days because an interim extension of the Highway Trust Fund was blocked while Congress debated a longer extension.
Upon learning of the furlough of thousands of its members, AFGE flew into action by aggressively lobbying members of Congress to ensure that the affected workers would not “lose one minute of pay or suffer any consequences in what amounted to an outrageous, partisan action taken by one senator,” said Beth Moten, AFGE legislative director.
“Without this legislation and without the tireless work of our DoT local president Antonyio Johnson, our 2,000 DoT members would otherwise not be paid for the time they were furloughed when the highway trust fund was not reauthorized in a timely fashion. This bill will ensure that the paychecks of the affected employees are not reduced. We urge the U.S. Senate to quickly follow the House and get this bill passed,” said Moten.
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