Some airlines are stepping in to help feed air traffic controllers and other unpaid federal aviation workers who missed their first full paycheck on Tuesday, Day 28 of the government shutdown.
United Airlines told CBS News that it is helping support essential workers who are going unpaid during the stalemate in Washington, D.C.
“United is donating meals for air traffic controllers and other federal workers whose pay is delayed. We appreciate the hardworking federal employees who are keeping the air travel system running,” the airline said in a statement.
United said that it’s feeding workers at the airline’s hubs across the country, including in Chicago; Denver; Houston; Los Angeles; Newark, N.J.; San Francisco; and Washington, D.C.
Delta Air Lines also confirmed to CBS News that it has “arranged for a limited number of meals for transportation sector workers,” while noting that it is operating “within the strict rules established for employees of federal government agencies.”
Additionally, JetBlue said it is working with its federal partners, including local aviation officials, “to offer meals at our airports as a gesture of support.” The airline said it’s working with the Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Federal Aviation Administration to coordinate those efforts.
At a press conference on Tuesday at LaGuardia Airport in New York, U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy highlighted air traffic controllers’ financial struggles as they go without pay.
“This is day one,” he said of controllers missing their first full paychecks. “Day two gets harder, [and] day three is harder after that, as expenses continue to roll [in].”
Duffy also noted that controllers are calling in sick in larger numbers than usual, as some look for side gigs with companies like Uber or DoorDash to pay the bills during the shutdown.
Speaking at the same event, National Air Traffic Controllers Association President Nick Daniels also emphasized the financial pressure on his members.
“Air traffic controllers have to have 100% of focus 100% of the time,” he said. “And I’m watching air traffic controllers going to work. I’m getting the stories. They’re worried about paying for medicine for their daughter. I got a message from a controller that said, ‘I’m running out of money. And if she doesn’t get the medicine she needs, she dies. That’s the end.’”
On average this year, 5% of flight delays were attributed to air traffic controller shortages, Duffy said. The personnel shortages at some airports were responsible for roughly 44% of the 8,700 flight delays on Sunday, while accounting for 24% of Monday’s delays, according to Duffy.
Controllers were planning to gather outside at least 17 airports nationwide on Tuesday to hand out leaflets urging an end to the shutdown, according to The Associated Press.
“The pressure is real,” air traffic controller Joe Segretto, who works at a regional radar facility that directs planes at airports in the New York area, said at the press conference at LaGuardia. “We have people trying to keep these airplanes safe. We have trainees that are trying to learn a new job that is very fast-paced, very stressful, very complex now having to worry about how they’re going to pay bills.”
Edited by
The Associated Press
contributed to this report.
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