Offutt's (US Air Base) civilian workers have little luck fighting furloughs

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Omaha World Herald

By Steve Liewer

Dozens of Offutt Air Force Base workers have joined a nationwide effort to challenge the unpaid furlough days they will be forced to take beginning next week.

Of the 2,550 civilian Defense Department workers at Offutt facing furlough, 88 have filed “requests for reconsideration,” arguing that the furloughs would cause them financial hardship or cause their workplace to suffer.

“I am a single mom with two boys I support with my income,” said one of the requests. “I will have to go on government aid to get by.”

So far, 84 of the requests have been denied, said Mark Cummings, Offutt's chief of labor-employee management relations. The other four were still under consideration. He said simply showing financial hardship isn't reason enough to grant a request.

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://www.omaha.com/article/20130705/NEWS/707059949/1707#offutt-s-civilian-workers-have-little-luck-fighting-furloughs

[Zorro]

1. The government is treating the workers quite harshly

and I think it's to create such howls of outrage that Republican obstructionists will be forced to eliminate the sequester and take a more sane approach to addressing the budget deficit.

Good luck with that, though.

[Duckwraps]

3. Oh, but these folks are part of the MIC,

so they don't count for much!

[BlueToTheBone]

2. File for aid,

my dear. If they won't pay you one way, get paid another.

[shanti]

5. Unemployment

I know a DOD worker in SD who is being furloughed too. He said he's been told (by higher ups too) to file for unemployment, and is planning to do so.

[BlueToTheBone]

6. She has children and should file for SNAP

in addition to unemployment what ever else is available.

Stupid sequestration will cost us so much more than they bargained for. I guess the pukes thought that people could just sit on a shelf until they were ready for them again.

[PuffedMica]

4. They need to complain to the Republicans that gave them the sequester

And they need to vote for the Democratic candidate in 2014.

[xtraxritical]

7. “I am a single mom with two boys I support with my income,” said one of the requests.

“I will have to go on government aid to get by.” I think you're already on "government aid" and should seek productive employment. Anything that diminishes the MIC is welcome news.

[Hugin]

8. Typical.

What the furloughs are accomplishing is to make the MIC even MORE under the control of private special interests.

[xtraxritical]

9. ?

[Hugin]

10. The people being furloughed are public employees.

Contractors are not being furloughed or even cut much. This is what the Right-Wing of Congress desires.

The public employees who are being furloughed represent the last vestige of a Military controlled by the people... Not a privatized corporate military for profit.

[xtraxritical]

13. I don't care I want them doing something else.

[TheMadMonk]

11. And here's the other shoe on the ever increasing use of civilian contractors.

On top of less accountability and making sure the money goes to the more "deserving", they can also pull the plug when the money spigot runs dry. Something which is not possible when it comes to enlisted members of the armed forces.

And history teaches us very well what generally happens if a country stops paying its soldiers.

[4dsc]

12. So what happens when we cut the defense budget by 30%?

While some may feel sorry for these folks I have to wonder if they don't see the writing on the wall. Lets face it here folks, many of us want the military budget cut and that would result no in seeing a few furloughs but rather massive layoffs.

And filling for unemployment would only replace a small portion of your weekly wage. Usually your first week of unemployment is not paid and you then get a fraction of your normal wage after that.