John, I’m the president of the American Federation of Government Employees, and I’m angry.

I need to be absolutely clear: The frivolous argument that federal employees are not guaranteed backpay under the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act is an obvious misinterpretation of the law. Donald Trump should know that―he’s the one who signed that law in the first place!

It is also inconsistent with the Trump administration’s own guidance from mere days ago, which clearly and correctly states that furloughed employees will receive retroactive pay for the time they were out of work as quickly as possible once the shutdown is over.

If Donald Trump wants to break the law to punish my members, he’ll see me in court. Can you split a donation with Democracy for America Advocacy Fund and the Federal Workers Defense Fund to cover our legal bills and help us fight back?

Here’s why we’re asking: For decades, AFGE was able to collect dues from our members through paycheck deduction, just like most other unions. But in March, Donald Trump issued an executive order that barred agencies from cooperating in these standard dues deductions. Because of Trump’s war on workers, we have had to dip into our reserves as we’re facing the biggest crisis in our union’s history.

The Trump administration clearly sees the 820,000 workers that I represent as nothing more than bargaining chips. They want to inflict pain on our members and hope that Democrats flinch. It’s outrageous.

If this administration tries to deny backpay to workers, we will take them to court and they will lose.

But it seems like this administration would rather us be fighting in court than fighting to keep the agencies where we work running. They don’t want us making sure the water is safe to drink. They don’t want us making sure it’s safe to fly. They want us too busy fighting them to do the work of our country.

As we’ve said before, the livelihoods of the patriotic Americans serving their country in the federal government are not bargaining chips in a political game. It’s long past time for these attacks on federal employees to stop and for Congress to come together, resolve their differences, and end this shutdown.

My members just missed their first paycheck. But that doesn’t seem to be enough suffering for this administration. If Trump doesn’t back down, we’ll take him to court. Can you split a donation with the Federal Workers Defense Fund to cover our legal bills and help us fight back?

I am grateful to Democracy for America Advocacy Fund for making sure you see this message.

In solidarity,