The leader of the largest federal workers’ union criticized President Donald Trump for claiming that many of them wanted the partial government shutdown.
On Wednesday, Jeffrey David Cox Sr., the president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), said the members of the union strongly oppose the shutdown.
“They are eager to get back to work. They unequivocally oppose using shutdowns as a means of resolving policy disputes. This is not about a wall, this is about 800,000 real people with real families and real bills to pay,” said Cox as quoted by New York Daily News.
Cox statement was contrary to Trump’s claim on Tuesday that many furloughed federal workers want the government to remain close. The president said, “Many of those workers have said to me, communicated, stay out until you get the funding for the wall. These federal workers want the wall.”
The AFGE represents 700,000 workers in the federal government and employees in the government of the District of Columbia (D.C).
