Monday was a holiday for workers at the Philadelphia Social Security Administration office. One employee, who works as a benefit authorizer, used part of the day to apply for SNAP benefits and put a hold on their mortgage.
The employee has been working but doesn’t know when their next paycheck will come because of the government shutdown. It’s “depressing,” they said. “It feels like this is going to last a long time.”
This Social Security worker is among numerous federal employees in the Philadelphia region who have continued to work through the government shutdown, which started Oct. 1, not knowing when they’ll get paid for those hours. The Inquirer agreed to withhold some of their names due to their fear of retaliation for speaking out.
For months, federal workers have weathered layoffs, the stripping of their collective bargaining rights, and efforts to oust them from the workforce. Now as some work without pay, morale is hitting a new low.
They include Social Security employees at the Third and Spring Garden location and TSA agents and air traffic controllers at the Philadelphia International Airport. They also include some at the Department of Veterans Affairs, one of the biggest federal employers in the Philly region — though the vast majority of VA workers continue to work and will be paid, according to the department, thanks to separate funding.
Those working without pay — “excepted” employees whose work may involve “the safety of human life or the protection of property” — are expected to be paid once the shutdown ends. Furloughed workers are also expected to get back pay, though a recent White House memo suggests that could be in jeopardy.
“It’s scary because there’s still bills to pay, whether I get paid or not,” said one Philadelphia Veterans Benefits Administration employee of more than 20 years. “And it’s really unsettling.”
Since the shutdown began, government workers received one partial paycheck. That is their last paycheck until the lapse in government funding ends.
Meanwhile, there is a noticeable “animosity” between Democrats and Republicans, as the 20-year Philadelphia VBA employee described it, in comparison to previous shutdowns.
Some Trump-administration agency leaders continue to blame the lapse in funding on the “radical left” or the “Democrat-led shutdown.” At a protest in Philadelphia last week, some elected officials countered that language, calling it a “Republican shutdown.”
“But we have a job to do,” the 20-year VBA employee said during the first week of the shutdown, “and have to do it, regardless of what’s going on in the political theater.”
At the VA Medical Center, one employee of 13 years said stress has been mounting as the Trump administration has overhauled the federal workforce, and it is sometimes too much to bear.
“People don’t want to be feeling like … they’re being played like a pawn in a game of chess because nobody knows what the outcome of this chess game is going to be,” the 13-year employee said.
With pay uncertain, federal workers are delaying payments
One of the biggest concerns for workers is when they will next get paid as the shutdown continues into its second full week with no resolution in sight.
In some ways, federal employees are the “first responder and victim at the same time,” said Max Stier, founding president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit focused on federal government management, during a media event Sept. 29.
Working during the shutdown is “awful; it’s kind of depressing” said a 15-year Social Security Administration employee in Philadelphia. The majority of workers at the agency have been directed to continue working through the shutdown.
“No employer in the U.S. could do that. Nobody could lock you in and make you work and say, ‘We might pay you someday. We don’t know when we’re going to pay you.’ It’s amazing the federal government can do that,” said the employee, who focuses on disability claim decisions and is a veteran.
Another Social Security employee, at the agency’s Philly office for 10 years, said it’s been a struggle to stay motivated during the shutdown. To cope financially, this worker put their mortgage in forbearance for three months, made arrangements with their utility companies, and is trying to pay the minimum balance on their credit card.
Amid the threat of layoffs during the shutdown, they said, “It’s hard to focus on doing your job.” The worker noted that “many of us [are] living paycheck to paycheck.”
Reflecting on the current situation, the 10-year Social Security worker said the “best phrase to identify everything is psychological warfare because over the last six months, it’s been hell being a federal employee.”
At least one of those workplace changes in the past year — the revocation of telework — was temporarily reversed. Old City Social Security workers were approved to work remotely this week, according to a union steward with AFGE Local 2006. That cuts down on commuting costs.
Several Social Security workers told The Inquirer they are looking for new jobs so they can leave their federal positions.
During the last government shutdown, which spanned 35 days during Trump’s first term, SEPTA, Philabundance, and the Port Authority stepped in to help TSA officers at Philadelphia International Airport get to work and feed their families, said LaShanda Palmer, president of AFGE Local 333, which represents employees at PHL and Wilmington Airport. Earlier this month, Palmer said the union would likely ask for those resources again.
“People want to eat; people need gas. How do we get to work and we have no money?” Palmer said.
For the 13-year employee of the VA Medical Center, the shutdown has meant cutting out entertainment for their family, deciphering which bills can be paid over time, and searching for the best deals on food. Their family is also being more conscious of their gas usage as they travel from Delaware into Philadelphia for work.
The shutdown has taken a toll on morale, they said. “The Philadelphia VA is a hell hole.”
Charles Jacques, local president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, representing about 135 Philadelphia and Newark air traffic controllers, noted Tuesday that the job is already a high-pressure one, requiring them to “assess things in a quick and rapid environment.”
“This shutdown is just adding stress into the environment,” he said. Now, these workers are left “having to think about how they’re gonna pay their bills and how they’re gonna get through day to day life and not just being able to think and focus on the job at hand.”