U.S. Chamber of Commerce Joins United Way-Led Coalition

Alexandria, Va. (Jan. 25, 2019) – The world’s largest business organization joined J.P. Morgan Chase and Walmart as the newest members of United for U.S., a United Way-led coalition of corporations, labor unions and nonprofits that are assisting federal workers and others who are struggling financially in the wake of the longest government shutdown in United States history.

On federal worker’s second missed payday, Mary Sellers, U.S. President, United Way Worldwide, delivered remarks Friday at a program hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to explore the far-reaching implications of this historic and extended government shutdown on every segment of the economy. The Chamber and other groups signed on to the Coalition during the two-hour event, which drew global corporate leaders, economists, labor experts and others. 

Later on Friday, President Donald Trump announced an agreement to reopen the government for three weeks while lawmakers negotiate immigration funding. Despite the agreement, federal employees still won’t receive pay for another two weeks, and there is no guarantee that any of the roughly three million federal contractors will receive any back pay. 

"When we launched the United for U.S. Coalition a few weeks ago, we knew that we had an obligation to leverage our unique position to convene and mobilize our corporate partners, organized labor, community organizations and our United Way network to distribute resources at the scale that would be needed to reach the millions of federal workers, contractors and others across our country who would be impacted by the shutdown,” she told event attendees. "United Way will be there today and every day to ensure that these households are able to recover and these workers can begin to rebuild their lives."

Since the United for U.S. Fund’s launch earlier this week, more than $1 million has been pledged from corporate and individual supporters to offset missed wages for government workers, contractors and other impacted individuals.