Arizona federal workers launch food bank amid government shutdown

With no end to the government shutdown in sight, Arizona federal workers are launching a food bank to assist those impacted by the loss of pay. 

Most federal workers missed their first paycheck in the ongoing government shutdown this week, and with no end to the shutdown in sight, a group of furloughed workers in Arizona are taking action to ensure their peers and families don’t go hungry. 

Omar Algeciras, a federal employee at the US Department of Labor (DOL), was furloughed at the start of the shutdown earlier this month. To help fellow federal workers impacted by the shutdown, Algeciras is launching a community-led food bank. 

“Just because our checks stopped doesn’t mean our bills did,” Algeciras said.

Nonessential government workers, like Algeciras, are furloughed—without pay—until the government reopens. Essential employees, such as Transportation Security Administration agents, are expected to work, but do not receive pay until the end of the shutdown. 

That means some federal workers could go weeks, or possibly months, without seeing a paycheck. But Algeciras, and other impacted workers, still have bills to pay.

Algeciras is tapping into his savings to pay for his mortgage, home insurance, utilities, groceries, gas, and other expenses.

He knows he isn’t the only one facing adversity now that the checks have stopped—and he knows not all workers are fortunate enough to have savings, like he does. 

That’s why Algeciras, who serves as the vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 2391, enlisted the help of other local unions—including the Arizona AFL-CIO and the Pima Area Labor Federation—to set up a food bank for affected federal workers.

“I want to make sure that we’re able to do the right thing for them, and that we are able to find ways to get them food,” Algeciras said. “If they have children, we can figure out how we can get them diapers, formula. My concern right now is making sure that they have what they need.”

The food bank is set to launch later this month.

Bills piling up

Algeciras planned on purchasing a new air conditioning unit as the one he currently owns is “not efficient at all.” In a state with extreme heat, access to air conditioning can be lifesaving.

But now that he’s furloughed, his home repairs are on pause, and he worries about the impacts of a prolonged shutdown for himself and other federal workers.

That fear is what prompted Local 2391 to begin drafting contingency plans if the shutdown drags on or if other consequences arise, such as a lack of backpay. Last week, President Donald Trump floated the idea, telling reporters that backpay “depends on who we’re talking about” and that some workers “don’t deserve to be taken care of.”

Algeciras says all federal workers deserve better than that.

“What this administration is doing is bullying and harassing federal employees,” he said. “I wish this administration would stop targeting the workforce, federal employees who uphold the law and serve the public. We should not be used as leverage and political standoffs, and we just want to do our job. We just want to help our community.”

Algeciras is passionate about his work. He handles minimum wage enforcement at the DOL. When workers are not paid the federal minimum wage, his role is to step in and investigate to ensure workers receive assistance and fair pay.

It’s been difficult to sit still when he knows the answering machine is piling up with concerned workers in need of help, he said. He knows that whenever the government reopens, he will have a backlog of complaints to work through. In the meanwhile, those workers’ complaints are going unheard. 

“It’s hard knowing that we have to sit at home and the public is losing services that we train to provide,” he said. “We just want to make sure that we’re able to do our job and that we’re able to provide services to the local community.” 

What keeps him going is the sense of purpose he finds with his union and community.

“We’re going to get through it and continue to help each other out,” he said. “Something that may come of this is community, [reminding] ourselves that we’re all here together and that we’re in this together.”