Federal prison guards in Wisconsin report to work without pay

OXFORD (WITI) -- Federal prison guards in Oxford are still reporting to work, but they're not being paid -- at least not until the government opens again, and workers are worried about how they'll make ends meet during the shutdown.

More than 800,000 federal employees have been furloughed at national agencies like the IRS, the National Institutes of Health, the park service and the museums,  but not 300 employees at Wisconsin's only federal prison.  Those guards have been told to report for duty without knowing when their next paycheck will come.

"A lot of us are concerned about how we're going to get to work next week.  Just because we're federal employees, we still live paycheck to paycheck," Dave Dauman said.

Dauman is president of the union that represents 300 federal prison guards in Oxford, located 150 miles northwest of Milwaukee.

"We are exempted from furloughs, so we have to come to work and we are not getting paid until the government passes a budget," Dauman said.

In a strange side-effect of the government shutdown, the guards aren't being paid, but the prisoners are.

"We supervise inmates who perform duties within the institution, and those inmates are getting paid.  They do get paid out of a little different funding.  It still falls under the Bureau of Prison's budget," Dauman said.

Representing one of the largest groups in the state affected by the shutdown, Dauman has a message for Washington.

"I blame Congress.  I think there's a simple solution -- even a continued resolution for 90 days -- then they could talk about Affordable Healthcare and whatever else," Dauman said.

In 1995, the government shutdown lasted 21 days.  Dauman is hoping for a much faster resolution this time, saying there are guards who simply can't go three weeks without a paycheck.