The shutdown of the United State’s federal government has been going strong for a week now and there seems to be no end in sight, at least not as of the moment that this article was published. A lot of people have been affected and not in a good way. For the most part, I am unscathed at the moment.
So far, the only negative effect on my life has been a postponement of a job interview for a position within the federal government system. Because that particular office in Albany (New York’s capitol, also known as Smallbany) is closed, that interview will have to wait until the government becomes operational again. But I’m still one of the lucky ones and I know it.
Apparently, federal workers will not be paid on Friday as they normally would. I don’t entirely believe that will happen, and I discussed the whole issue in this article.
Another way that the country is being impacted is air travel. The safety of pilots and passengers alike depends on air traffic controllers. They are the ones responsible for ensuring that planes are flying safely and that they descend and ascend in a safe manner.
Now, these controllers are not legally allowed to call out of work, and yet here we are. In some areas of the nation, so many controllers have called out that some major airports are having ground stops of several hours. This is causing chaos, delays and cancellations. The controllers’ union has called for its members to go to work as usual. But here’s the catch: they’re not being paid, so they are being expected to work for no pay whatsoever.
Yes, yes, there’s back pay, and under the Under the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019, they would have been guaranteed that back pay, but here’s the funny thing: that clause has been deleted from the act, meaning that there is now no promise of back pay. Perhaps that’s why President Donald Trump has threatened to make it so that no federal employee would receive back pay. I knew there was a reason that he’s the finest president in our nation’s history!
If Trump can make it happen so that no one gets back pay, I would love to read about the misery and complaining that will happen as a result. Federal workers are paid more than they should be, so I support knocking them down a peg or five.
I hope federal employees have healthy savings accounts, because if you’re stupid enough to play stupid games by working without pay, then you deserve stupid prizes. No sympathy from me!
So as for back pay, if I were a controller, I wouldn’t count that particular chicken until my full paycheck hatched in my bank account, especially given the removal of the back pay guarantee clause. What is known for sure right now is that these people are working without pay and you’d have to be a welcome mat to work under those conditions. I feel no sympathy for them. They should simply walk and find employment where they would actually be paid in full and on time.
ABC News is reporting that controllers will get a partial paycheck next week, but their next paycheck will be non-existent if this shutdown isn’t resolved very soon. That’s of little to no help for controllers who are living paycheck to paycheck. Make no mistake, they are very well paid, but there are still some of them who are close to the edge and this shutdown might push a few of them over.
Given all of that, surely you can see why I don’t blame them for calling out. I would feel that way even if I were impacted as a passenger. I sure as hell wouldn’t go to work for free. If my paycheck were to not show up in my bank account on payday, I would pack my desk, leave my badge on my desk and piss off proper. I would never accept a “oh, we’ll give you back pay soon!”
I fully support our country’ air traffic controllers calling in sick, even if they’re only sick of not being paid properly. If I were a controller, I would be “sick” until the government reopened, damn the consequences.
In some cases, all is not lost. In some situations, air traffic control duties are handled by various Terminal Radar Approach Control facilities, but that means that the affected airports are being managed by controllers who are not physically there and thus can rely only on radar and that’s not the best option.
What I do know is this: there is no way in hell that anyone’s going to get me on a plane during this shutdown. The controllers who do show up for work are apparently being asked to work ten-hour shifts over a six-day work week. That means that there will be burnout and there will be exhaustion.
There will be controllers who are distracted by thoughts of how they’re going to put food on their tables and that could wind up causing some serious issues. In my opinion, it’s just not safe to board an airplane right now. I am fairly confident that we’re going to hear about an air disaster that came about because some controller is so exhausted that he or she will miss a key detail and a major disaster will occur as a result.
Given everything that’s going on, I have no problem with controllers calling out, even if it means reaching a point where almost every airport is shut down. And again, I would still be saying that even if I had a flight scheduled.
Unfortunately, if this shutdown doesn’t end soon, we are, I predict, going to get breaking news alerts on our phones that report a mid-air collision occurred. Will it reach that point? While such a thing would in theory be amusing to watch, I don’t actually want it to happen. But it almost certainly will happen if something doesn’t happen in the very near future.