Federal Contract Employees Press for New Pay, Labor Standards for Contractors

Employment Law

This week, over 500 employees of federal contractors in the D.C. area struck for one day, demanding an executive order giving preference to government contractors paying a $15 minimum wage and "honoring" collective bargaining rights, as Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) is expected to again offer his HR Policy-opposed amendment to upcoming appropriations bills denying federal contracts for companies that violate the Fair Labor Standards Act.  The strike was the twelfth in the past two years organized by Good Jobs Nation, primarily involving janitors and food service employees in federal office buildings.  Giving a human face to the issue, Washington Post pundit Catherine Rampell this week profiled a diabetic, homeless, minimum wage employee of a company providing cafeteria services in the Senate office buildings, noting that the "single biggest (indirect) creator of low-wage jobs in the country, doesn't require the companies it does business with to pay . . . a living wage."  Meanwhile, the House is expected to take up the first two FY 2016 appropriations bills next week, with amendments adding new restrictions on federal contracts anticipated.  Last year, Rep. Ellison successfully offered his amendment to several bills, but there was little debate over the measure's potential repercussions and the provision was ultimately excluded from the final FY 2015 funding bill.  In addition, President Obama has since co-opted the issue with his Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces (a.k.a. "Blacklisting") Executive Order.