In May, The Verge reported that the US aviation system was so fragile that “the smallest disruption can throw the entire system into chaos.” That disruption arrived on October 1st, when the federal government shut down over a budget dispute. Chaos has indeed ensued.
More than 6,000 flights are being delayed every day, nearly twice the historical average for October according to Department of Transportation statistics. The TSA has warned of longer security lines at airports and has stopped updating real-time checkpoint information on its MyTSA app. Some major airports have even been forced to operate without air traffic control for hours at a time.
The TSA has stopped updating real-time checkpoint information in its app. Image: MyTSA
Pay, or lack thereof, is the reason behind the disruption. When the federal budget ran out on October 1st, more than half a million employees were immediately furloughed. But the nation’s 75,000 air traffic controllers and frontline TSA officers are “excepted” employees who must come into work regardless of the circumstances.
In a statement posted on X, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy attempted to reassure his employees.
“Controllers who show up to work will get paid,” he said, “Just not on time.”
That won’t work for many furloughed employees who can’t afford to work on an indefinite IOU, said Johnny Jones. He’s been with the TSA since 2002 and represents TSA employees within the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal employee union in the country.
“Our number one problem is the uncertainty surrounding how long this is going to go on, and how long you’re going to have to come to work without pay,” he told The Verge. “You’re living off of what you’ve been able to save. And you had maybe a week, two weeks’ notice.”
There’s little that federal workers can do to openly advocate for the pay they’re owed. Air traffic controllers know this lesson particularly well. In 1981, 13,000 of them went on strike to ask for better pay, adequate staffing, and general safety improvements. Citing a 1966 law that forbids federal employees from going on strike, President Ronald Reagan not only fired the striking workers — he also barred them from holding another federal job for life. That one action stopped the strike, but also created the air traffic control crisis that persists to this day.
Sick leave is one of the only levers that essential workers can pull. Per their contracts, air traffic controllers and TSA employees can use their banked sick leave with few restrictions as long as they don’t call out for more than three days in a row.
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