Donald Trump claimed this week that “many” federal workers told him that they don’t mind the government shutdown if it means getting his border wall. But on Wednesday, the president of the nation’s largest federal workers’ union slammed Trump.
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 said on Tuesday that many of the workers who were being furloughed due to the shutdown wanted the shutdown to remain intact until lawmakers agreed to pay for the 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,” Trump said.
Trump did not specify which employees he was referring to or where they worked. But it appears that not “many” workers are happy with the shutdown.
Paul Shearon, who currently serves as the president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers – which represents 80,000 federal employees – also blasted Trump’s claim as “false” in a statement seen by the local newspaper.
“We have not heard from a single member who supports the President’s inaction,” Shearon said. “Most view this as an act of ineptitude.”
RELATED: As Trump Sinks In Quicksand, Senate Republicans Leave Him To Drown
