Another government shutdown averted, but NASA contractors still hurting from the last one

Congress averted yet another partial government shutdown this week with President Trump's agreement to sign a bipartisan funding bill Friday morning, but some 750 miles away on the Space Coast, hardship still looms over the financial well-being of many.

Absent from Congress' deal to fund the government through September: A provision that would have ensured back pay from the last shutdown for thousands of contractors attached to, but not directly employed by, NASA and Kennedy Space Center – and a million more across the country.

"The pain is still going to come," said Ed Grabowski, a contractor at KSC and president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers' Lodge 2061. "If we don't get our back pay, the pain will come locally in the economy throughout Central Florida because that's money we will not be able to spend." 

Grabowski personally knows the feeling of financial loss: He, along with his union's 600 members and about 4,000 other KSC-related contractors, were impacted by the 35-day shutdown from Dec. 22 to Jan. 25 – the longest in history. KSC has 38 contracts for on-site work, including 4,642 contractors and 1,991 civil servants, according to the center's public affairs office.

More than 800,000 civil servants across the country who were affected by the shutdown were guaranteed back pay whether or not they worked, but many contractors attached to federal agencies – fulfilling countless needs from security to maintenance to construction – will now have to absorb the losses.

Contractors are at the mercy of contracting officers, Grabowski said, so some received back pay if the provision was included in their original agreements. Many, however, will end up with no back pay for those 35 days.

Some contractors took out zero-interest loans from banks and credit unions, some dipped into savings, and some curtailed spending. Without the back pay, those cutbacks and loan repayments are now long-term fixtures of their personal budgets.

"The crisis hasn't even hit yet," Grabowski said. "They're going to have to adjust because they lost potentially up to 10 percent of their income."

IAMAW President Robert Martinez Jr. issued a statement Thursday, calling a lack of back pay provisions for contractors "outrageous and unfair."

"This shutdown created hardship for more than 1 million hardworking, dedicated federal contract workers through no fault of their own," he said. "It was a 35-day disaster that created extreme stress for federal contract workers and continues to put their financial well-being at risk."

Democratic Senator Tina Smith of Minnesota has been a vocal supporter of securing back pay for federal contract workers since early January, when she proposed the Fair Compensation for Low-Wage Contractor Employees Act of 2019. Her proposal, which was not included in the final budget deal, would have included up to $965 per week in missed pay.

"Thousands of Americans who work shoulder-to-shoulder with federal employees who lost 35 days worth of wages and they're left out in the cold," Smith said on MSNBC Friday. "I just think that is fundamentally wrong and we should fix it."

Contact Emre Kelly at aekelly@floridatoday.com or 321-242-3715. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @EmreKelly.

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