Federal workers in Philadelphia were laid off last month. Now, those still employed face a shutdown

Fallon Roth, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Mar 14, 2025

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Federal workers in Philadelphia faced layoffs last month, and now as a government shutdown looms, some face the reality of having to work through it.

If the shutdown comes to fruition, it would represent "fear, anxiety and insult to injury" for some Philadelphia Internal Revenue Service workers, deemed "essential" federal employees, who would be required to continue to work without pay, said Alex Jay Berman, who represents IRS workers in the city.

"If the shutdown drags on, how do you keep coming into work? Where's the money for the gas coming from? How are you coming into work when you might not have the copay for your doctor if you're getting ill?," asked Berman, the executive vice president of the National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 71.

"We just want to be able to do our job and to be able to do our jobs properly," he said. "That requires proper funding of the government without this gamesmanship."

And right now, the only way for federal workers to avoid a shutdown, which would mean foregoing pay for some, seems to be through the spending bill, spearheaded by Republicans — the party that has created significant upheaval in the federal government and its workforce through mass layoffs and spending cuts ordered by President Donald Trump's administration and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.

The U.S. House passed the legislation 217-213 Tuesday, largely along party lines. Now, it's in the hands of the Senate, where at least eight Democrats are needed to pass the bill, which would fund the government through September. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa, said he intends to vote for the bill to keep the government open.

The spending bill, known to lawmakers as a CR, is now in the hands of Senate Democrats who are weighing whether to vote on the bill that would avert a partial government shutdown. Some in the caucus are worried a shutdown will add to the chaos DOGE is creating in the federal workforce. Others don't want Democrats to be blamed for a shutdown. If an agreement is not reached, some federal workers will be required to continue to work without pay until after the shutdown ends, while others could be furloughed and resources could be strained.

Phil Glover, the national vice president for the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) District 3, who oversees federal workers in Pennsylvania and Delaware, said the union wants to avoid a shutdown, citing the necessity for workers to continue to receive pay. But he would also like Democrats to "fight for our rights," including those of Transportation Security Administration workers, who were stripped of their key union protection last Friday.

LaShanda Palmer, president of Local 333 AFGE who represents TSA workers at the Philadelphia International Airport and Wilmington Airport, opposes a shutdown, remembering the toll that previous cessations have taken on workers. She said TSA employees — already distraught over the Department of Homeland Security's decision to dismantle collective bargaining rights — are bracing for the potential impacts of being furloughed.

Palmer said the union has been reaching out to SEPTA and food banks in the event that employees at PHL can't afford to travel to work or feed their families without a steady income.

"It put us in situations that we should never be put in as employees of the government," Palmer said.

Philadelphia AFL-CIO president: 'The devil's absolutely in the details'

In a letter to House members prior to their vote, AFGE national president Everett Kelley highlighted the harm that a government shutdown will have on the American public and its federal workforce. Kelley wrote in the letter that AFGE supports a bill that includes language for defunding DOGE and reinstating terminatedemployees.

With a Republican trifecta, it's highly unlikely that will come to fruition. Tim Kauffman, an AFGE spokesperson, could not comment beyond the letter on whether AFGE supports a bill that does not include these stipulations.

"[It] disrupts vital services the American people depend on, compromises national security, deprives millions of military personnel and federal civilian employees of their incomes, and hurts an increasingly fragile American economy," Kelley wrote of a potential shutdown.

Danny Bauder, president of the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO, which includes some 15 local unions for federal workers in Philadelphia, noted he is watching AFGE's headquarters closely and would defer any final judgment on the CR to the union.

"This is the kind of thing where the devil's absolutely in the details when it comes to the CR," said Bauder. "What's going to be best for federal workers is going to be where I would fall on this."

He also expressed disappointment in the system that has gotten the federal government to the brink of a shutdown yet again.

"It's disgraceful that this is how our government functions," he said. "That we're forced to, ad nauseam, do these CRs every six months."