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WASHINGTON, Oct. 9, 2025 – The 600,000-member IAM Union (International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers), the nation’s largest aerospace, defense and Service Contract Act labor union, is calling on members of Congress to pass the bipartisan Fair Pay for Federal Contractors Act (S. 2963 / H.R. 5657). The legislation would ensure federal contract workers receive back pay for lost wages during the current government shutdown.
Following the federal government shutdown, U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.), along with Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), and Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), and Rep. Donald Norcross (D-N.J.), Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), introduced the legislation to secure back pay for the thousands of federal contract workers who face furloughs and missed paychecks when the federal government is shutdown.
“Through no fault of their own, many of these families faced the reality of missing payments on their mortgages, student loans, school tuition, car loans, health care premiums, daycare, interest fees, and so many other expenses,” IAM Union International President Brian Bryant wrote to lawmakers in the House and Senate. “Today, they are looking down the barrel of a similar fate. Contract workers and their families should not suffer the consequences of a shutdown they had no hand in creating. Dedicated federal contract workers maintain the aircraft, vehicles and systems that keep our military mission-ready and our nation secure. Many live paycheck to paycheck and are among the first to feel the devastating impact of a government shutdown.”
In addition to urging swift passage of the Fair Pay for Federal Contractors Act, the IAM Union is also condemning the unlawful threat from the Trump administration to withhold back pay from federal workers impacted by the shutdown.
The IAM stands in solidarity with all federal and contract workers and calls on lawmakers in both chambers to move swiftly to end the shutdown and pass the bipartisan Fair Pay for Federal Contractors Act, ensuring that working families are not left behind.
The IAM Union (International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers) is one of North America’s largest and most diverse industrial trade unions, representing approximately 600,000 active and retired members in the aerospace, defense, airlines, shipbuilding, railroad, transit, healthcare, automotive, the federal sector, and other industries across the United States and Canada.
