Back pay for contractors at NASA's Johnson Space Center not included in budget deal

People protest outside of NASA's Johnson Space Center against the government shutdown Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019, in Houston. People protest outside of NASA's Johnson Space Center against the government shutdown Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019, in Houston. Photo: Melissa Phillip, Houston Chronicle / Staff Photographer Photo: Melissa Phillip, Houston Chronicle / Staff Photographer Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Back pay for contractors at NASA's Johnson Space Center not included in budget deal 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

Contract workers at NASA's Johnson Space Center were denied back pay for the 35-day federal government shutdown in a budget deal signed by President Donald Trump on Friday.

“The rejection of federal contract worker back pay by the GOP leadership in this funding deal is outrageous and unfair,” Robert Martinez Jr., president of the Machinists Union International, said in a statement. “It was a 35-day disaster that created extreme stress for federal contract workers and continues to put their financial well-being at risk. We need Congress to act now.”

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The shutdown — which started Dec. 22 over a political battle for funding a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico — left thousands of Johnson employees out of work until the budgetary impasse ended Jan. 25. Trump signed a budget deal Friday, averting another shutdown and funding the government through September.

Included in the legislation is 55 miles of border fencing, according to the Chicago Tribune, but Trump wanted more than 200.

During the 35-day shutdown, about 94 percent of Johnson’s 3,055 federal employees were out of work, but quickly received back pay after the shutdown ended. The four postdoctoral fellows working at the Houston site also received back pay.

RELIEF: NASA postdocs receive back pay after shutdown

But there wasn’t much NASA could do about the contractors who work on site, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in January. Contractor back pay was on a case-by-case basis, depending on the contract, he added.

About 7,500 contractors work at the site, according to a fiscal year 2017 report released by the Houston center last year, though its not clear how many were out of work during the shutdown. Many were able to continue working — with pay — through all or part of the shutdown.

Bills were filed in Congress to provide as much as $1,400 per week to contractors affected by the shutdown and those have not yet been approved. But language to pay contractors for their time without work was left out of the budget deal reached this week.

NASA ADMINISTRATOR: Longer shutdown could have cost agency a lot of employees

So contractors, for the most part, are out of luck.

“We urge Republican and Democratic leadership to quickly pass legislation to secure back pay for the federal contract workers,” Martinez said. “This shutdown created hardship for more than 1 million hardworking, dedicated federal contract workers through no fault of their own.”

Bridenstine said in January that he hopes to standardize this process more over time, and asked that federal employees be sensitive and understanding.

“Every contract is different and so we’re working through that right now,” he said. “In the future, we’d like to standardize that more, but we’re working with what we have right now.”

Alex Stuckey writes about NASA and the environment for the Houston Chronicle. You can reach her alex.stuckey@chron.com or Twitter.com/alexdstuckey.