Federal employees who guard the skies are losing their first paycheck amid the government shutdown
As the government shutdown continues, federal employees who support the nation’s airports, such as air traffic controllers and workers at the Transportation Security Administration, say they still don’t know when they will next be paid.
On Tuesday, workers received their first $0 paycheck, reflecting two weeks of unpaid work amid the ongoing government shutdown. During the nearly month-long lockdown, these individuals, whose roles are considered essential, were asked to report to work without the promise of a paycheck at the end of the standard pay period.
Their last payment was a partial salary that included money for the time they worked in September before the shutdown that began on October 1.
Also on Tuesday, observers took matters into their own hands, stepping back from the work the government demands of them Distributing leaflets She describes the impact of the shutdown on aviation workers and how people can contact their members of Congress to demand an end to the shutdown. These procedures were scheduled to take place at about 20 airports nationwide.
“We’re here to make sure travelers are safe every time they get on a plane,” Pete Lefevre, an air traffic controller at Washington’s Dulles International Airport, said in an interview with NBC News. “We have to be 100 percent focused, all the time.” “We’re just looking to get out of the financial uncertainty that comes with a government shutdown, and we’d like to get our paychecks as soon as possible.”
While these federal employees will eventually receive their back pay when the government shutdown ends, thanks to A.J Law 2018The uncertainty of when that will happen has forced air traffic controllers to take on side jobs to stay afloat.
Some of these workers now drive for DoorDash or Uber after grueling work schedules, prompting some to call in sick due to job stress and off-the-clock overtime. The air traffic control industry is understaffed, and current controllers were already working six-days-a-week, 10-hour shifts, before the shutdown.
“They should never work a side job, they should never leave a night shift and then go wait tables,” Nick Daniels, president of the National Association of Air Traffic Controllers, said at a news conference Tuesday at New York’s LaGuardia Airport.
Transport Minister Sean Duffy said at Tuesday’s news conference that he was encouraging observers to go to work and “do work that’s really important for our country,” while acknowledging the discomfort of working without guaranteed pay.
“They can’t make it without two paychecks,” Duffy said of the probationers, later adding, “The probationers and other important employees need our government to be open and they need to get paid.”
He admitted that there were “less problems” in the airspace this time compared to previous closures, due to his request for controllers to go to work.
Lefebvre added that the lack of pay adds another layer of stress to an already stressful situation.
“It’s uncomfortable,” he said. “We do our best to leave all our stress and anxiety at the door, but financial pressures are challenging and they are unique and different and permeate.”
The air traffic controller explained that flying is still safe, and that his colleagues are working to ensure safety in the sky, which Duffy also indicated during the press conference. Duffy previously said that if there were not enough controllers to handle the workload on any given day, flights would be delayed and canceled to mitigate risk.
In the United States, 2,109 flights were delayed as of 1 p.m., according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. At least 118 flights were cancelled. It was not immediately clear whether these delays and cancellations were a direct result of monitors being down due to the closure.
But the lack of immediate pay also has a noticeable impact on real people in their lives outside the office.
LaShanda Palmer, a TSA worker and president of Local 333, which represents TSA employees at Philadelphia and Wilmington Airport, said this is the “most difficult” shutdown she has experienced in her 23 years in the industry.
“We’re all one step closer to being out on the street now,” Palmer told NBC News. “I have officers calling me outright. They don’t have money for gas, they don’t have money for childcare, they don’t have food. It’s very difficult. It’s hard to get help.”
She said she’s in a similar situation, with a mortgage payment due Saturday, and she’s not sure how to pay it — her bank account is in the negative, and her bank keeps hitting her with overdraft fees.
“The oath that I took, nothing registered before us, and I don’t think people think about that,” Palmer said. “We’re doing what we’re supposed to do, we should get our check.”