CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Federal contractors in the aerospace industry hope to send a message during the State of the Union tonight about the need to make sure they get backpay after a shutdown too.
- 1 million federal contract workers can't get backpay
- Bipartisan bill would change that
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Former aerospace worker Kevin DiMeco says being a federal contractor is very different from what it was like when he started in 1985.
DiMeco was an aerospace technician for United Launch Alliance until 2014. Then he started working full time for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers as a business representative for Florida District 166.
Unlike today, DiMeco says back then, being a federal contractor meant job security and financial stability. There wasn't really any talk about a government shutdown or being furloughed.
“It really wasn't thought about. It seems like the last 12 years it's been more of an issue. and in the last couple of years it's been worse. Last year we went through three of them,” he said.
To prevent federal contractors from losing wages, U.S. Rep. Donald Norcross, D-New Jersey, along with Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, co-sponsored the Bipartisan Fairness for Federal Contractors Act.
The bill has the support of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the Communications Workers of America, and the AFL-CIO.
The head of the machinist union will join Norcross as his guest to the State of the Union tonight.
Out of 35,000 federal contractors represented by the machinist union, about 5,000 lost wages during the longest partial government shutdown in history. The bill was introduced on January 28 to retroactively pay more than 1 million federal contractors who were impacted by the 35-day long shutdown.
“Up to $1,400 a week in backpay. Right now it's still in committee. We are hoping it has the right stuff for the contractors to get reimbursed,” DiMeco said.