HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah — It’s already been a troubled year for many in the federal workforce, from cuts to deferred resignations.
“We’ve been losing a lot of people that’s had good experience and been out there working for a long time,” said Troy Tingey.
The government shutdown could now mean days, weeks or more without pay – and for some, they still must work.
Tingey is the past president of AFGE Local 1592, a union for workers at Hill Air Force Base.
“Some of the representatives are on furlough, some of them are essential - they’ll go to work without pay, and some of them still go in and perform their duties,” Tingey said.
He says the impact is multifaceted, be it on their base or at federal buildings country wide.
“It’s frustrating going to work not knowing if you’re going to get a paycheck,” said Tingey. “It’s also frustrating if you’re going to work and your co-workers are on furlough and you kind of need them to complete the mission.”
IRS workers in Ogden will have five more business days of funding through the Inflation Reduction Act, carrying them through next Tuesday, according to a union official there. But they say these effects will soon trickle into our communities.
“This last time [in 2018], it was 35 days if I remember right,” Tingey said. “We certainly hope it’s not going to be anywhere near that”
Amid all the uncertainty, one Utah agency is telling us how the help of these federal workers is keeping them funded for months to come.
“At the Department of Environmental Quality, we implement 90% of federal environmental laws in the state of Utah, for what’s known as cooperative federalism,” said the department’s executive director, Tim Davis.
Davis says knowing the shutdown was looming, they coordinated with EPA Region 8 officials in Denver to get a partnership performance grant approved ahead of time.
“We were able to receive over a million dollars of additional funding,” Davis said. “This will allow us to continue to be fully staffed up to protect air quality, water quality…across the whole spectrum.”
Utah’s Office of Tourism similarly announced strategic support to help keep the state’s ‘Mighty Five’ national parks open and Davis says now that sort of collaboration becomes critical, especially now.
“So that when you get in a crisis, you get in a situation like this, you’re able to act quickly and solve problems,” said Davis.
