By Sarah Hoye
Heavy rain is hitting the large air conditioner wedged in Alexis Vasquez’s front window.
Instead of sitting in class at the nearby community college, he’s sitting in his bedroom.
The 18-year-old was the first in his family to graduate from high school. His mind was set on becoming an architect.
But he put his college plans on hold to support his family after his father lost his job this summer.
“It was really hard for me … It was something I didn’t want to do, but I had to in order to get the amount I needed just to be able to support my dad,” Vasquez said. “Now I’m the only one he depends on instead of me depending on him.”
Vasquez took a job at the McDonald’s inside the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. When the busy tourism season ended, his hours were cut back, forcing him to get a second job at Pizza Hut to make ends meet.
Now, the government shutdown, which closed the Smithsonian, has him once again looking for work to support his younger sister and father.
Vasquez is among the private-sector employees locked out of work. And for them, a government restart won’t guarantee their jobs back.
His meager earnings purchased his sister’s supplies for high school and helped pay the rent and utilities on the cramped one-bedroom apartment his family shares. The responsibility is overwhelming, Vasquez said.
“It’s a lot to take care of. And I tell my dad, ‘Help me out a little bit, I can’t do this by myself,’” he said. “I’ve never taken care of that ever.”
“I’m only 18, and I’m not only taking care of myself, I’m taking care of my father and my sister,” he said.
In a statement, McDonald’s said employees would receive pay.
“We are currently reaching out to all of the employees to let them know that at this time, we are continuing to pay them for the hours they were scheduled to work and where they can pick up their paychecks,” Heather Oldani, spokeswoman for McDonald’s USA, said in a statement.
Last week, Congress started negotiations for a potential deal to end the shutdown and address the debt ceiling.
When House Speaker John Boehner was asked by a reporter if he would “re-open the government if the president doesn’t agree to do anything to change Obamacare?” during a Thursday news conference, he fired back.
“If ’ifs’ and ‘buts’ were candy and nuts, every day would be Christmas,” Boehner quipped as the room erupted into laughter.
Fred Turner isn’t laughing.
“I’m upset because I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t really know if I’m going to have a job when this is all over,” he said.
Because of the shutdown, Turner, a grandfather of seven, lost his job at the eateries inside the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.
Turner was forced to take the Smithsonian job after his former employer downsized. He fears his family might not recover this time.
Restaurant Associates, Turner’s company, said employees affected by the shutdown would be reassigned or furloughed.
“We are making every attempt to look for opportunities within our company to temporarily redeploy impacted employees. Where redeployment is not possible, employees are on furlough status,” Gina Zimmer, spokeswoman for Restaurant Associates, said in a statement.
“The government shutdown and I wasn’t ready for it,” Turner said. “Now I’m out of work with no pay.”
And without that income, Turner can’t pay his mortgage. He said Congress needs to end the shutdown.
“Y’all need to come together as one, and make a decision and say ‘look, its time for the American people to go back to work,’” he said. “It’s just not federal people, or federal employees, who are hurting from this, they’re also people who work on federal grounds that are not federal employees. They need to go back to work.”
High-ranking politicians from Nancy Pelosi to Rep. Keith Ellison joined forces with out-of-work employees like Turner for a rally Thursday near the U.S. Capitol.
Ellison said there is disconnect between politicians and the public, and added that the private-sector employees are overlooked.
“This is immoral and wrong to deprive them from the money and the wages,” Ellison said. “In what moral universe is that right to do to him?”
Back in his bedroom, Vasquez stares at the floor and shakes his head. He said he doesn’t see a way out anytime soon.
“Congress needs to know that people like me are facing this trouble,” he said. “They need to think about how we need to be taken care of as well, that we’ve been put out of work, and we need to support our own family. They need to think about how we’re being affected by the government shutdown.”
Original Article: http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/america-tonight/america-tonight-blog/2013/10/14/private-sector-workershurtbyshutdownworryaboutjobprospects.html