Agreed. Government workers affected by the shutdown - around 800,000 of the more than 2 million nationwide - are working for the promise of eventually being paid. Historically, that has included backpay and interest even for those who didn't actually work. So its actually a pretty sweet gig.

Also, if you are a government worker and you aren't aware of the potential for your job to be laid off or shutdown at the whim of an elected official, you really should. I don't give them a pass on the sob story train. Unless it's Amtrak - then they deserve what they get.

Me dino is trying to write a novel. I enjoy that and messing around on this board, though I don't come here quite as much as I used to.
And I'm always reading a book about something.
And I watch at least two Netflix DVDs a week. .

great logic...it is a shame that govt is not logical...

No one is being forced to work. They are free people and can find another job if they wish.

What they are being told is if they wish to remain in their current job they will have to do it for deferred pay.

They will not only be paid even those who are considered non-essential and not working will be paid (wait, if they are non-essential why do we need them when the government isn't shut down??) The requirement to work for someone else is a requirement of the government everyday for every person when tax dollars support welfare recipients.

Some of them are working as "essential" and others are not. All of them will be paid.

Are they actually working without pay, or just working so they will get same pay when government reopens. I have yet to see the ones who get this as a vacation, not be paid in full as if they had worked when the gov reopens. The newspaper I onc worked for, used to pay interns a couple weeks late all the time, as they were in financial difficulty. Life is not fair, but it is not eally slavery.

Such is the life of people who work for thieves (the government). They deserve what they get and should quit if they want a more honest employment.

The ones who are not working will be paid, too. They will all be paid and in the end it will cost us even more than if the government had not "shut down" -- except for the damage they could not do by not working.

I think the question has been answered well by others here, so I won't repeat the response. I will note, however, that John Stossel has a very good YouTube video that points out that the shutdown implies that private services would be better, and he has some good examples. Of course he's a Libertarian, favoring a much smaller government.

I specifically referred to people WHO ARE WORKING. Many of them are not getting paid (yet) and they do have to report to work. They will be paid.

Perhaps you could address what I mentioned, instead of telling us what we already know.

Maybe some government workers WILL quit, and thats fine with me.

They are NOT working, so they shouldnt get paid for the time they didnt work. If they want retroactive pay, they should work during the shutdown, not just sit around and have vacation

A government shutdown should be a shutdown. No work and no pay for the time you didnt work. The government is like any other employer and should plan better so as to be fair to employees.

IMO, as others have stated, no for government employees.

I haven't read all comments, but most of those "essential" employees really aren't essential at all to valid State functions. My heart does not bleed for them.

Plus, the foolproof Pelosi contraindicator tells me if she's "fighting" for them, they're not worth it. There is no there, there.

The only at least partial "slaves" at the mercy of the State are the taxpayers.

Sense of humor is required in life, especially if ya work for the government.
I, too, worked for a state entity and my sense of humor allowed me to last as long as I did.
Until I bought myself out of the system due to military service and other factors. It was costly, in my opinion, but worth it.
Still working at 77, at civilian job, just to keep me from rotting away. Luv it.

The 13th amendment prohibits involuntary servitude. That is not "regulation". "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted..." Of course prisons are legal. Conviction for a crime is not slavery.

The government has evaded the prohibition by redefining "involuntary servitude" as in military conscription accepted as constitutional.

But government workers are not forced to work without pay even in the partial shut-down. They can resign at any time.

They won’t quit. Most government employees are unemployable anywhere else. They have very limited skills and high expectations. Who would hire them?

First the 14 doesn't "outlaw" slavery it only regulates it--thus prisons are legal!!! Second they are not working without pay that pay is only being held until money comes to the coffers of the govt. Your employer doesn't pay you hour by hour or minute by minute but every two weeks or month. Our pay (yes I am one of them) is only delayed!!!

As usual, it’s all about politics...

Why doesn’t the government shut down the EPA and the Department of Education? Less impact and more savings...

In a government that is bloated to the point of explosion, it can only be a good thing if many people quit and join the productive workforce.

Calling these people slaves is akin to calling conservatives Nazis....

A slave does not have the opportunity to quit his slavery.

Very simply, they are not working without pay. They will be paid. So, the question is moot from the beginning. Now I don't agree with all the grandstanding - and that really is all it is, but the fact is, the people who work will be paid.