U.S. Employees Stage Protest

In the idiom of big government, they’ve been “furloughed,” but workers protested at federal office buildings Wednesday to show that being out of work for nearly three weeks is no holiday.

Told they are “nonessential” during the ongoing government shutdown, about 200 workers picketed the federal building in Westwood.

And in what might be called an anti-strike, about 30 employees showed up at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Olympic Boulevard to demand that they be let into their offices to work. After they were turned away, they headed to Westwood to join the protest at the federal building.

The government workers said the stubbornly fought budget battle between President Clinton and the Republican congressional leadership has forced them into their own budget crisis.

“If we miss another paycheck we won’t be able to make our mortgage payment, all because of their stupid little childish games,” said Juanita Gutierrez, 39, a HUD worker who lives in Whittier.

Gutierrez and her husband, John, 46, also a HUD employee, said their last paychecks were only about a third of their usual pay. They were paid for just one week of their last two-week pay period (which began before the shutdown), but payroll deductions were taken based on two weeks’ pay.

The couple had to use their savings to buy presents for their two young children, making this, she said, their “worst Christmas ever.”

The Gutierrezes said they may apply for jobs with a temporary placement agency if not called back to work soon.

Jose Ortega, a Fontana resident who is a janitor at the Veterans Administration hospital in Loma Linda, showed his paycheck, slashed to just $1.75, to fellow workers at the Westwood demonstration.

“It won’t even buy a loaf of bread,” Ortega said. “It’s embarrassing. I’m disappointed in our system.”

Ortega, who usually is paid $533 every two weeks, had to dip into money he had saved for Christmas to make his mortgage payment. He has received extensions on his other bills, but says he has little money left to buy essentials.

To cope with the problems of its staff, the West Los Angeles Veterans Medical Center has established an employee resource center offering information on unemployment benefits, interest-free loans and counseling.

A grocery section stocked with soup, canned vegetables, coffee, bread, peanut butter and other staples has been set up in the hospital’s canteen, which is selling the food at cost.

Employees can pay the canteen with postdated checks. Should the shutdown persist, the canteen will extend credit to the hospital workers, said spokeswoman Harriet Bordenave.

Bordenave said that some of those who are required to come to work because their jobs are deemed vital--but must do so without pay during the shutdown--have been calling in sick.

Those still working say the government closure is not yet a crisis for employees dependent on federal services, but it may soon become one.

With 87,000 plots and no maintenance workers on duty, the National Veterans Cemetery in Riverside has relied on volunteers to remove dead flowers from its grounds. About 100 people joined the cleanup, including 85 recovering drug addicts from Teen Challenge of Southern California.

Cemetery officials said 29 workers remain on duty and burials still average 27 a day.

Times staff writers Tom Gorman in Riverside County and James Bornemeier in Washington contributed to this story. Hong and Moore reported from Los Angeles.