Public Comment

Is Slavery Legal?

Bruce Joffe
Thursday January 17, 2019 - 02:44:00 PM

Is it legal for the Federal government to force employees to work without pay? This looks like slavery, which is constitutionally prohibited. Sure, Congress passed a bill requiring workers' reimbursement after the trump shutdown ends, but that payment date is indefinite. Doesn't this also violate labor laws? 

Putin's puppet President is destabilizing the integrity and security of our government. He forces slavery on shutdown government workers so that the impact of their absence won't be felt by the general public. The true absence of 800,000 government workers, including TSA inspectors, Securities and Exchange regulators, judges, firefighters and IRS accountants, could not be sustained for these long weeks of shutdown. So, instead, the burden of trump's desperate political shutdown piles on the backs of dedicated men and women who chose public service, working for what should be a reliable employer. Meanwhile, how can they pay their bills? 

This just ain't right.