Name: Furloughed federal workers seek help from World Central Kitchen
Uploaded: 2025-10-28T00:09:17.175Z
Duration: 3 min 42 s
Description: The nonprofit group World Central Kitchen set up a distribution site in Washington, D.C., on Monday for furloughed federal workers as the government shutdown hit Day 27.

The nonprofit group World Central Kitchen set up a distribution site in Washington, D.C., on Monday for furloughed federal workers as the government shutdown hit Day 27.

Washington

Federal workers in the United States are facing significant hardship due to an ongoing government shutdown, which has resulted in widespread furloughs and missed paychecks. In response, World Central Kitchen, founded by chef José Andrés, has begun serving thousands of meals to affected workers in Washington, DC, continuing efforts similar to those made during previous shutdowns.

Many furloughed employees are struggling to pay essential bills such as mortgages and childcare, with some turning to food banks and community services for help. The American Federation of Government Employees has called for an immediate end to the shutdown and the assurance of back pay for all impacted workers.

Furloughed federal workers seek help from World Central Kitchen

Welcome back, air traffic controllers, staffing shortages are spiking as the government shutdown rolls on and it's causing major disruptions at airports across the United States. According to FlightAware, since Sunday more than 10,000 flights have been delayed. More than 300 have been canceled altogether. Since the shutdown began on October 1st, tens of thousands of federal workers have been furloughed or laid off. Those still on the job have started missing paychecks and we're now just days away from federal food aid running out. Joining us now CBS is Natalie Brandt who saw firsthand earlier today the effects this shutdown is having on furloughed federal employees specifically. Natalie, you went to an area here in Washington called the Navy Yard near a lot of federal offices where of all groups it was Jose Andres's World Central Kitchen which is usually serving meals to people in the Middle East or preparing to do so down in Jamaica with this hurricane and natural disasters in this country but they're now serving food once again to federal workers. Tell us more. Yeah, that's right and I just learned that they served up to 2,000 meals today. They are going to continue this effort for as long or until there is some sort of breakthrough on Capitol Hill. World Central Kitchen, as you noted, founded by celebrity chef Jose Andres, they did this as well in 2019 during what was the record shutdown back then and we could just sense the deep frustration and anxiety of these furloughed workers who are without a paycheck but the bills have not stopped. They are just exasperated, exhausted. We spoke to an electrical engineer. He works with or for the Department of Defense but is at home without a paycheck. Here is what he is experiencing. Take a listen. Probably two weeks. You can't hold federal government workers hostage, you know, pass the clean, pass the clean CR and then negotiate it and you know if we can't, if we can't, if you can't trust the other side to do the right thing then this all falls apart. I would like to tell Congress right now to think about the people who it is affecting. We are human beings with families with lives and we have bills that just will not stop. At what point is the breaking point? I think the breaking point is now. So you heard her, she says the breaking point is now many of these workers I spoke to have now missed two paychecks. They still have mortgages, child care payments, car payments, the list goes on and on. Now, notably, one of the biggest unions representing federal employees, that's the American Federation of Government Employees, put out a new statement essentially saying end the shutdown now, saying in part reopen the government immediately under a clean continuing resolution that allows continued debate on the larger issues, a reference to health care which the Democrats have been pushing for. The union also wants to ensure back pay for every single employees who are now having to find creative budgeting or try to get loans or you know again show up rely on food banks or this service. I remember back during the 2018-2019 one around 35 days to see federal employees who are on the taxpayer dime who are at no fault in this situation have to take these kinds of steps is really just infuriating to some extent that they have to do so and hopefully with that union statement too might get these two sides to come together. Natalie Brand, thank you so much, glad you were there and thanks to those workers for speaking with us as well.

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