As it happens, I was listening to a radio piece about contract workers on the way to work this morning, before tulc posted. Apparently, it's become common in the private sector, as well, to use contractors for the jobs that aren't part of a company's main mission -- cleaning staff, food service, etc. It makes a kind of sense to specialize that way: We're a widget manufacturer, not a cleaning company, so instead of hiring cleaning staff directly, we'll focus on making widgets, and we'll hire a cleaning company to do our cleaning. But it makes it hard for the cleaning workers to unionize, and the workers are more vulnerable than they used to be.
I don't have a link, alas (I was driving down the road, after all), but the conversation was similar to this NPR series:
The Rise Of The Contract Workers
I hadn't even thought of how many contract workers would be affected by the government shutdown, and that they might not get their back pay.
Next time there's a government shutdown, I propose that the president and all the members of Congress be issued a toilet plunger and a mop, and be required to do all their own janitorial work until they come to a settlement.