Furloughed EPA staffers in Seattle rally against ongoing shutdown

UPDATE (Jan. 18, 2019) — Dozens of furloughed Environmental Protection Agency employees and their supporters rallied Thursday outside the shuttered offices of the agency’s regional headquarters in downtown Seattle, demanding an end to the shutdown so they can get back to work protecting our clean air and water. Larry Brown, President of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, joined the informational picketers to express solidarity with the EPA employees.

“I’ve personally participated in several strikes,” Brown told members of AFGE Local 1110 at the event (pictured at right). “This isn’t a strike. It isn’t even a lockout. It’s worse that that. In a strike or lockout, you can find temporary work to try to sustain your families. That’s not possible in this shutdown, when a growing list of federal employees are being forced to work for free. It’s putting a horrible and inexcusable strain on more than 800,000 American families and it’s placing the public at risk because the people who protect our health and safety aren’t able to do their jobs. This has to end — now.”

TAKE A STAND — Keep calling your U.S. Senators at 1-866-803-8830 — or by clicking here — and urge them to reopen the government NOW by demanding an immediate vote in the Senate.

SEATTLE (Jan. 16, 2019) — Federal employees at the Environmental Protection Agency, who have been furloughed amid the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history, will rally with their supporters on Thursday, Jan. 17 from noon to 1 p.m. outside the offices of the EPA Region 10 office at Park Place Building, 1200 6th Ave. in Seattle. The message: Stop the Shutdown!

The EPA, the federal agency tasked to keep us healthy and ensure our air and water clean, has been shuttered as “non-essential” during the government shutdown that’s now in its 26th day, with no end in sight. And the EPA’s dedicated staff and their families are suffering without pay amid what is essentially an employer lockout from their jobs. This is unacceptable!

All union members, community supporters and others concerned about the affect this shutdown is having on our environment and public safety and health are urged to join EPA employees, represented by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 1110, at Thursday’s noontime rally. Download and share the rally flier.