The president of the nation's largest federal workers’ union slammed
President Trump on Wednesday for claiming that “many” federal workers who were impacted by the partial government shutdown wanted the shutdown.
The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents over 700,000 federal employees, said in a statement seen by the
New York Daily News that there “should be no confusion” about whether members of the union want to return to their workplaces.9
“They are eager to get back to work,” AFGE President Jeffrey David Cox Sr. said in the statement. “They unequivocally oppose using shutdowns as a means of resolving policy disputes. This is not about a wall, this is about 800,000 real people with real families and real bills to pay.”
Trump argued on Tuesday that thousands of workers being furloughed due to the shutdown wanted the government to remain closed until lawmakers are able approve funding his long-desired wall.
“Many of those workers have said to me, communicated, stay out until you get the funding for the wall. These federal workers want the wall,” the president said.
Trump did not specify who the employees were or what offices they worked for.
