By Kathy McCarty and Natalie De La Garza
Staff Writers
LIMESTONE — An email on Tuesday afternoon provided some relief to the approximately 500 employees at DFAS in Limestone that were preparing to be furloughed at the end of the week; according to President of the local chapter 294 of the union AFGE (American Federation of Governmental Employees) Holli Landrey, DFAS employees in Limestone and beyond were notified that funding was in place to stave furloughs through Oct. 17, and officials were working hard to secure the means to extend operations through the end of the month.
“For DFAS, that means we can continue to work,” Landrey simplified.
As union president, Landrey had seen morale drop considerably since workers were first notified on Oct. 2 that working capital funds would be exausted by the end of this week.
“I feel excited because we thought we had enough funds to get us through the end of the week, and now we’ll be extended through the debt ceiling date and possibly through the end of the month,” she said, speaking maybe ten minutes after receiving the email.
Before the 2 p.m. email, Landrey was concerned about the affect the shutdown would have on her co-workers —single mothers, husband and wife couples, and spouses of federally employed significant others who have been without a paycheck since the government shut down at the start of the month.
“We’re still not out of the woods because the budget hasn’t been signed,” Landrey said cautiously. “We’re feeling more confident that we have some funds to get us through the end of the month, and hopefully something will be resolved by then.”
“The sense of worry and anxiety created by this government shutdown is unacceptable,” said Senator Susan Collins on Monday. “The shutdown represents a failure to govern and must be brought to an end. That is why I have introduced a compromise proposal that would fund the government and give federal agencies the flexibility they need to manage cuts in their budgets caused by sequestration. The hardworking men and women at DFAS Limestone clearly support the members of our Armed Forces and their jobs should not be threatened as a result of dysfunction in Washington.”
While DFAS employees will be spared from furloughs for now, other federal employees have not.
For example, staff with the USDA office in Presque Isle are on furlough; a call to the Presque Isle office of Thomas Stevens, USDA area director, went directly to his voicemail on Monday, indicating he was “on furlough due to the lapse in federal funding” and advising callers to leave a message or send him an e-mail. The message indicated, however, that he would not have access to either e-mail or phone messages due to the furlough, but that “messages will be returned once funding has been restored.”
Even those seeking current weather conditions at www.noaa.gov will find the site down due to the shutdown, and are met with the statement “Due to the federal government shutdown, noaa.gov and most associated websites are unavailable.” Not even the monthly Second Saturday series of events at the Aroostook National Wildlife Refuge in Limestone has been permitted to continue since the government shut down on Oct. 1.
