Hawaii federal workers try to cope without paychecks

Just over 2,700 federal employees in Hawaii aren’t getting a paycheck for the first time during the partial government shutdown, which as of today is officially the longest in U.S. history.

Dwayne Bautista’s family, however, is experiencing twice the pain.

Both he and his wife work at the Federal Detention Center in Honolulu, meaning no pay for the couple, who have four children.

Others in Hawaii are in the same boat. Bautista said he knows at least a few other dual-federal-employment couples just at the detention center alone.

They and the other approximately 800,000 now-unpaid federal workers nationwide will be repaid — eventually. But in the short term there’s the shock and realization that the incoming money has stopped flowing while required outgoing payments have not.

“We’re going to get by, but we don’t know — when is this government going to open up?” said Dwayne Bautista, who was speaking as president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1218 Council of Prisons.

“My family personally, or my (Bureau of Prisons) family, it’s just putting a burden on us of uncertainty,” the correctional officer said. “We already know for a fact we don’t have a paycheck. But I know a lot of federal employees live paycheck to paycheck.”

AFGE represents approximately 800 of those on furlough or working unpaid in Hawaii as essential staff. About 500 of them are Transportation Security Administration staff.

The lapse in pay “is pretty scary,” said Lisa Marie Akau, a national organizer for AFGE in Honolulu. “I’m no longer a federal employee. I work for the union. But I can only imagine having bills to pay and going to my bank account and knowing that I don’t have a check.”

A big issue is medical coverage, she said.

“If you are not getting paid, you are not paying your (medical) premium,” Akau said. The union is reaching out to the TSA to find out how long employees will be covered.

“People are just really scrambling,” Akau added, noting that in a place like Kona, where costs are higher, affected federal employees “are on edge there.”

“I think we’re going to see a lot more sick call-outs” at the airports if the shutdown continues, she said.

About 800,000 federal workers are furloughed or are working without pay as essential staff among nine agencies that are unfunded with President Donald Trump holding out for more than $5 billion for a border wall with Mexico.

The Defense Department, which has a lot of civilian employees in Hawaii, is one of the agencies that was previously funded through the fiscal year, which started in October.

Amid the uncertainty of the past three weeks (the partial shutdown started Dec. 22) and that of coming weeks, there has been creativity and aloha.

On Thursday, United Airlines customer service agents at the Honolulu airport gave TSA workers pizza, snacks and veggie platters as a goodwill gesture.

TSA Administrator David Pekoske on Friday sent a letter to employees thanking them for their commitment at a difficult time.

“I understand the amount of stress this situation poses on you and your families and I am truly grateful for the dedication you have demonstrated over the past few weeks,” he said.

Pekoske said he was approving “awards” of $500 for each uniformed screening officer in recognition of their hard work getting through a busy holiday season.

Pacific Historic Parks, meanwhile, a nonprofit that supports the USS Arizona Memorial, has been cobbling together donations to keep one of Hawaii’s most visited tourist attractions open to the public. On Friday it announced it had received pledges of more than $200,000 from Hawaii’s tourism industry that will enable the Arizona Memorial visitor center to remain open through the end of January.

The funds are in addition to the $126,000 the state of Hawaii previously provided and other funding contributed by Pacific Historic Parks and the three museums that operate in the Arizona Memorial’s orbit: the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum and Park, Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum and Battleship Missouri Memorial.

“The tourism industry’s commitment has and will ensure that (the Arizona Memorial), a national cemetery, remains open and accessible for all to honor the heroes of the attack on Pearl Harbor,” said Aileen Utterdyke, president and CEO of Pacific Historic Parks. “With our Pearl Harbor Historic Sites partners, we join in expressing our sincere appreciation to all that have made such generous contributions and their steadfast support.”