PORTLAND, Ore. — As of Thursday, an ongoing partial government shutdown had reached its 48th day. Though some received backpay this week, thousands of federal workers continue reporting to work without any promise of pay going forward — and for some, the damage was done weeks ago.
“It’s a big hit in your gut, because we came through the last shutdown in October, and so we were barely kind of making everything through and trying to catch up to everything and recover,” said Robert Echeverria.
For nine years, Echeverria was a lead transportation security officer with TSA, working at Salt Lake City International Airport. Workers there are represented by the same union as those at Portland International Airport, AFGE Local 1127…