#contract workers

Her debt was mounting: $156 for the gas bill, $300 for electricity, $2,000 for the mortgage.  She could no longer afford her blood pressure pills.  But what stung Audrey Murray-Wright most was rationing the groceries.

“I never, ever want to tell my son, ‘Don’t drink all that milk so you can save your brother some,' ” she said, choking up.

Murray-Wright, a cleaning supervisor at the National Portrait Gallery, is one of more than a million federal contract workers nationwide whose income halted when the government partly shuttered for 35 days.

Unlike the 800,000 career public servants who are slated to receive full back pay over the next week or so, the contractors who clean, guard, cook and shoulder other jobs at federal workplaces aren’t legally guaranteed a single penny.

They’re also among the lowest-paid laborers in the government economy, generally earning between $450 and $650 weekly, union leaders say.

And even as they began returning to work Monday, they were bracing for more pain.  President Trump’s new deadline for Congress to earmark funding for his proposed border wall is Feb. 15.  Agencies could close again if no deal is reached.

[Federal contractors who lost health insurance during the shutdown remain in limbo]

Murray-Wright, who lives in Maryland and has worked at Smithsonian properties for 15 years, said seeing her name back on the schedule has brought little relief.

She clocks in again Tuesday but doesn’t expect a paycheck for at least another week.  After her husband died last year of a heart attack, she has struggled to support her sons, ages 12 and 15.

“I did have a little money in the bank — now that’s all gone,” she said, crying.  “I don’t have any help.  My electricity might be turned off any day now.”

Héctor Figueroa, president of 32BJ SEIU, a labor union that represents 170,000 service workers on the East Coast, said reopening the government is a temporary fix for people on such shaky ground.

“Contracted workers are still in limbo,” he said in an email.  “The men and women who clean and secure federal buildings have been living on the edge of disaster for five weeks.  Many of these workers are facing eviction, power shut-offs, hunger and even going without lifesaving medications.  And unlike direct federal employees, they may never be made whole.”

After the 16-day shutdown in 2013, approximately 850,000 federal workers collected compensation.  About 1,200 cleaners, security guards and food-service workers in the Washington area, however, received no makeup pay.

A group of Democratic senators introduced a bill last month aimed at changing that. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) have proposed legislation that would repay contractors up to $965 per week with public money and restore sick days used during the shutdown.  (It’s unclear whether the bill will advance.)

The push for compensation comes at a time when only 4 in 10 Americans say they could cobble together $400 when faced with an emergency expense, according to the latest Federal Reserve data.

Julia Quintanilla, 55, who has worked for the past 27 years as a janitor at the Agriculture Department and other federal agencies, said she cashed in the last of her sick days during the shutdown to keep some income flowing.

Now she’s worried she won’t be able to care for her elderly mother with dementia without risking her job security.

“Her mental abilities are failing,” she said.  “She needs my help.”

Quintanilla lost about $1,000 in savings during the shutdown, tumbled into a similar amount of debt and relied on churches for free meals.  Her boss told her she’s not eligible for back pay, she said.

“They said, “Since you are contract workers, when the government shuts down, you’re going to stay home,' ” she said.  “There is no work.”

[Skilled workers face a critical shutdown choice: Stay or quit?]

Such was also the case for De’von Russell, 30, a security guard at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.  He applied for unemployment checks in early January, which fell a couple hundred dollars short of his usual wages — about $600 weekly — and did not arrive until last week.

He’s thrilled to return to work Wednesday, he said, but it’s hard to celebrate with a month’s worth of income gone.  Russell, who has a 3-year-old daughter, estimates he’s down $2,000.

“I was living paycheck to paycheck,” he said.  “When all the funds stopped coming in, it just was like: ‘What do I do now?’ ”

Loniece Hamilton, 25, another Smithsonian guard, said she watched about $1,000 disappear from her bank account during the budget stalemate.  She’d started her job in May, figuring a government-tied position would be more stable.

“I thought it’d be better,” she said.

She borrowed money from her grandfather and cousin.  She didn’t drive unless she was taking her 5-year-old son to school.  And when he asked for his favorite cookies and juice at the store, she said: Next month.

“I’m late on all of my bills,” she said.  “Every single last one of them.”

Catching up, she estimates, could take two months.

Danielle Paquette is a reporter focusing on national labor issues. Before joining The Washington Post in 2014, she covered crime for the Tampa Bay Times in St. Petersburg, Fla.

“Unionization in the gig economy might sound like an oxymoron, but for those who feel mistreated by the platforms they work for, independence is beside the point. While many professionals are choosing to work as freelancers and contract workers, gig economy workers are just as likely to be working independently out of necessity.”

“‘There are people who do this because the lifestyle appeals to them, but there are also people doing this because they don’t have better choices, and would prefer a more stable and less precarious working situation,’ says Mr. Kurth, who is also an organizer with Foodsters United, a group of Toronto-based couriers seeking unionization. ... Mr. Kurth says the relationship between Foodora and its workers has deteriorated since he began making deliveries 3½ years ago; that’s what inspired him to help establish Foodsters United, joining a number of organizations globally that are looking to change working conditions for gig economy workers through unionization.”

“Foodsters United is seeking to have its members reclassified as ‘dependant contractors’ under the Ontario Employment Standards Act on the basis that they don’t actually have the freedom and autonomy that most associate with the job. Unlike many gig economy platforms, Foodora couriers can’t begin working whenever they choose. Instead, individual shifts of two to six hours are assigned weekly on a first-come, first-serve basis, with priority given to top performers.”

The Globe and Mail, August 8, 2019: “Why some gig workers are pushing to unionize,” by Jared Lindzon

Global News, August 9, 2019: “Push to unionize Foodora could be ‘watershed moment’ for Canadian gig economy: employment lawyer,” by Abigail Bimman

The Globe and Mail, August 7, 2019: “Foodora couriers in Toronto preparing to vote on union certification”

CBC News, August 7, 2019: “Foodora couriers could create Canada's 1st unionized workforce of app-based workers”

Times Colonist, August 13, 2019: “Foodora union voting ends but battle to unionize far from resolved”

Foodsters United

Foodora launches vote 'no' campaign against union certification

PressProgress, August 8, 2019: “Foodora is Pushing Anti-Union Propaganda to Gig Economy Workers Through Its Mobile App, Labour Board Told”

CBC News, August 12, 2019: “Foodora launches vote 'no' campaign against union certification,” by Tiffany Lam

Will other states follow? Republican controlled states, NEVER.

The city's Taxi and Limousine Commission voted Tuesday to establish a per-minute and per-mile payment formula for Uber, Lyft, Via, Juno and Gett that is supposed to result in drivers earning $17.22 an hour. Regulators say it will raise drivers' annual earnings by $10,000 a year.

The city's minimum wage is set to increase to $15 an hour at the end of this year. The equivalent wage for drivers, who are considered independent contractors and have to cover their own expenses, is $17.22.

The rules are based on a proposal developed by economist James Parrott, fiscal policy director of the Center for New York City Affairs at The New School, that adjusts how much drivers are paid based on how much work they're getting each hour. A report Parrott co-authored this summer found that most ride-hail drivers earn less than $17.22 an hour.

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