On Day One of shutdown, Philly’s federal workers faced chaos, uncertainty, and looming layoffs

At Philadelphia International Airport, 800 TSA officers continue to staff security checkpoints and screen luggage, but they don’t know when they will get their next paycheck.

At the visitor center at Independence National Historical Park, rangers were told to finish whatever work they could and leave, abandoning the center’s information desk.

And at the Internal Revenue Service at 30th and Market Streets, workers will report to the office for at least a few more days, as additional funds not appropriated by lawmakers keep the agency operating despite the shutdown. What happens after that is unclear.

Philly-area workers woke up Wednesday to the first federal government shutdown in seven years.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill failed to reach a deal Tuesday night that would have kept federal services and programs open. Democrats wanted healthcare subsidies included in the plan to fund the government, but Republicans said that was a nonstarter.

Nationwide, hundreds of thousands of federal workers are expected to be furloughed, halting some government services. And workers and union leaders are also bracing themselves as President Donald Trump’s administration threatens to lay off workers during the shutdown.

“The level of frustration is — from one to 10 — it’s 10,” said Karen Ford-Woods, president of AFGE Local 1793, which represents employees at the VA Medical Center in West Philadelphia. “Because who’s looking out for us?”

Federal agencies posted their contingency plans online ahead of the shutdown, and emailed guidance to workers using highly political language.

Emails from several federal agencies to workers Tuesday blamed Democrats for the lapse in government funding and proclaimed that “President Trump opposes a government shutdown.”

It’s a “sad reality” that lapses in government funding have become routine, said a Philadelphia Veteran Benefits Administration union leader, who asked to speak anonymously out of fear of workplace retaliation.

“The only one requirement that Congress has is to pass a budget that keeps the government operational, and they can’t seem to do it,” the union leader said. “And while I understand the stances from both sides, this is ridiculous.”

At Philadelphia International Airport, TSA officers who monitor for “bombs and weapons” are now also thinking about how they can get to work or feed their families, said Joe Shuker, Region 7 vice president for AFGE Council 100, which oversees Pennsylvania.

Some officers held onto their latest paycheck in anticipation of the shutdown, said LaShanda Palmer, president of AFGE Local 333, which represents employees at PHL and Wilmington Airport. She’s heard some say, “‘I’m not paying my car note and I didn’t pay my insurance, because that’s the money I’ve been holding on to because I don’t know how long this is going to last,’” Palmer said.

A similar anxiety has taken hold at the VA Medical Center and VBA in Philly, where employees are still required to work, but are unsure they will get their paycheck on Oct. 10.

About 3,000 employees at the West Philly medical center are still working because they provide direct patient care. At the VBA on Wissahickon Avenue, the roughly 1,200 employees were not expected to be furloughed, after previous guidance suggested some quality review specialists would be.

“Just imagine every day you’re going to work and not know when you’re going to get paid,” Ford-Woods said.

While the possibility of a government shutdown has been looming for weeks, some union leaders across multiple agencies described unclear communications and general confusion about how federal workers would be affected Wednesday.

At the Social Security Administration’s office on Third and Spring Garden Streets, the majority of workers are considered “frontline workers” and usually continue to process claims and carry out related work during shutdowns, said Beverly Parks, president of AFGE Local 2006. Workers there were starting to get notice of their status on Wednesday.

Throughout the country, Social Security has already lost workers to the deferred resignation program and retirement incentives offered by the Trump administration, Parks said. “After DOGE came through, we’re pretty much as lean as we could possibly be and still meet our mission,” she said.

Some National Park Service employees in the Northeast region, which includes Philadelphia, were told they could only access their government laptops or phones twice before being locked out, said Mark Cochran, president of AFGE Council 270, which represents these workers.

At the Environmental Protection Agency, a Center City-based employee who works with Superfund sites said employees received a “kind of vague and confusing” email on Tuesday evening noting that workers would be expected to continue working through a government shutdown until the agency’s carryover funds ran out. She asked to remain anonymous out of fear of workplace retaliation.

The agency sometimes has residual funds that allow it to function normally for some period of time during a shutdown, said local EPA union leader Brad Starnes, who as of Wednesday morning was trying to figure out how much money the agency had to continue operating.

The Center City EPA worker said colleagues reported to work on Wednesday, but she said the shutdown has been confusing. Senior management hasn’t been able to answer many questions, and it’s unclear how long the funds will last before the agency runs out of money, she said.

“Everything is very uncertain. It’s a very kind of uncomfortable situation,” said the EPA employee. “Everything is kind of day by day, hour by hour, so it’s hard to feel productive. It’s hard to feel motivated and supported, because there’s so much chaos happening.”

Meanwhile, the threat of permanent layoffs remained Wednesday. These layoffs are facing a legal challenge by unions before they’ve even begun — the American Federation of Government Employees and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees filed a lawsuit Tuesday.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that federal worker layoffs “are imminent.”

Staff photographer Tom Gralish contributed reporting to this article.