Brian Bryant, International President of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM Union), has called on Congress to reach a bipartisan agreement to fund the federal government and prevent a shutdown. The union represents 600,000 members, including tens of thousands of federal employees and contract workers.
In a statement issued September 29, Bryant said: “The IAM Union strongly urges Congress to fund the federal government and avoid a shutdown, which would affect tens of thousands of IAM federal employees and federal contract workers, as well as countless others across our nation.”
He added: “The IAM strongly urges a bipartisan funding solution, which should be negotiated in good faith to reach a solution between both Democrats and Republicans to offer a temporary funding measure and avoid a shutdown.”
Bryant also criticized the White House for threatening mass firings in connection with a potential shutdown. He stated: “The IAM also strongly condemns the White House’s threat to use a shutdown as a means to justify illegally firing scores of federal workers. Threats of such an action are unjust and cruel to civil servants, many of whom are Veterans who have already sacrificed and given so much to our great nation.”
He continued: “Federal workers should not be treated as political pawns in such a fight. These civil servants are so crucial for our nation, from our food inspectors, to social security, air traffic controllers and TSA agents, and even to the military personnel we depend on every day to keep our nation moving forward.”
Bryant noted that the IAM Union is diverse and includes representation through its affiliate National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE-IAM), which covers about 110,000 federal workers nationwide.
He emphasized that private sector contract workers are particularly vulnerable during government shutdowns because they often do not receive back pay after work resumes. “Government shutdowns are even more destructive for our private sector federal contract worker membership, who work alongside federal employees and perform equally essential work for our nation and often do not get any backpay at all after a shutdown ends,” Bryant said.
