FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: William R. Dougan, Chairman
Phone: (202) 216-4458
Washington, D.C. – With furloughs for nearly 700,000 Defense employees just around the corner, thousands of federal workers are speaking out to put a stop to them. This week, the Federal Workers Alliance, a coalition of 20 labor unions representing 300,000 federal employees throughout government, launched a national grassroots campaign to end the impending furloughs once and for all.
In just two days the “Furlough Red Zone’ campaign has netted over 2,200 letters, sent to nearly 300 Congressional offices. Letters have poured in from 47 of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, from Alaska to Florida and everywhere in between. The number of citizens joining the cause is growing by the day, and the timing could not be more crucial.
“While Congress is busy vacationing in their districts, federal employees at Defense installations across the country have been speaking out to stop the furloughs,” said FWA Chairman William R. Dougan. “These workers deserve to be heard – there is simply too much at stake for Washington to turn a deaf ear. You can bet the big stack of letters greeting them when they return to Washington will get their attention.”
Said Dougan, continuing:
“No one wants to see these furloughs happen – not the Defense leadership, not the workforce, not even a number of elected officials, but they are still happening. We are less than a week away from intentionally undermining our military readiness and the livelihoods of the employees that maintain it. We are a week away from subverting our nation’s economic recovery by taking the legs out from under small communities across the country. This is an infinitely preventable problem and thousands of dedicated federal workers are calling for a solution. Something can be done to stop it, and it must. We must put an end to these furloughs.”
Link to Coalition Letter: http://afl.salsalabs.com/o/5906/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=6763
Furlough Red Zone Logo: http://federalworkers.org/ht/a/GetImageAction/i/813
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The Federal Workers Alliance is a coalition of 20 labor unions, collectively representing 300,000 federal workers government-wide and more than 9 million workers in all sectors of employment. For more information, go to www.federalworkers.org
