NASA workers and contractors in the Houston area, along with proprietors of businesses they patronize, greeted the prospect of an end to the government shutdown Wednesday with a mixture of relief and apprehension.

Employees welcomed the opportunity to return to work but said they were worried they might be furloughed again because the budget agreement only runs until Jan. 15.

It's bittersweet, said Bridget Broussard-Guidry, president of the local union representing workers at the Johnson Space Center. In the short term it's OK; in the long term there is still the possibility that on Jan. 15 we will be facing the same thing all over again.

The agreement includes back pay for furloughed federal workers but contains no assurances of payment to workers furloughed by federal contractors.

I'm a contractor, said Liz Lawler, 58, of Clear Lake. I have no idea if I will get paid for this time off.

Lawler was furloughed from her job as a personnel troubleshooter for REDE Critique NSS, a contractor for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, after Congress was unable to reach an agreement to fund the government two weeks ago.

The Johnson Space Center furloughed 3,200 workers and NASA contractors furloughed an undetermined number of their 12,000 employees in the Houston area.

NASA furloughed 97 percent of its 18,250 employees nationwide Oct. 1, a fraction of the 800,000 federal workers sent home.

Merchants near the Johnson Space Center said the return of federal employees would make a dramatic difference.

Of course I'm happy, Nidal Ayoub, owner of the Mediterranean Chef on NASA 1 Boulevard, said about the likelihood of NASA workers returning to their jobs. NASA workers made up about 80 percent of his lunch business.

Originally posted here:

NASA workers wary about future