If you’ve watched, read or perused news headlines the past month and a half, you’ll have seen it: thousands of delays, thousands of flight cancellations and millions of travelers impacted by the government shutdown.
Even worse: tens of thousands of unpaid TSA and air traffic controllers while party politics gets in the way of sound governance and smooth skies.
My take?
We need new legislation protecting air traffic controllers’ and TSA officers’ pay so they—who everyone would agree are essential workers—can continue ensuring safe, secure air travel even while politics heats up.
Because let’s be honest: if you’re working without getting paid, that’s slavery. Not employment.
It doesn’t matter if you’ll see a paycheck in a month or two: that won’t pay the week’s bills, your child’s hospital stay, daycare for your infant, or your mortgage now.
A federal employee donation bin at the airport, where travelers can donate items for TSA and ATC workers. (Photo Credit: Lacey Pfalz)
And why would anyone support a system that takes money away from thousands of such critical parts of our airspace and our travel system—not to mention all the work they do for other sectors, like cargo and mail shipping, too—when the government could easily protect it, the way they’ve continued funding other less popular projects?
Not to mention, the industry has lost $6 billion since the government shutdown began.
Travel industry: now is the time to start advocating for a change to protect our sky and the people to protect it for us every single day. Step up and start advocating to ensure that TSA workers and air traffic controllers can be paid, even through the next government shutdown.
Let’s put an end to political games threatening our airspace, our industry and the dedicated, hardworking people that protect it.
Even better: let’s ensure TSA and air traffic control workers are paid during government shutdowns, and ensure that those in charge of creating government shutdowns—the legislators and senators themselves—feel the full effects of a shutdown by stopping their paychecks until the government shutdown they created ends.
Doesn’t that sound like a more fitting practice than what we have currently?
In fact, on October 29, Representative John James of Michigan introduced the Keep America Flying Act to the U.S. House of Representatives, aimed at ensuring TSA workers and air traffic controllers get their pay as soon as possible—but without any protections for pay for future government shutdowns. The Senate bill introduced by Senator Ted Cruz of Texas with the same name doesn’t change anything, either.
A more promising bipartisan bill, the Aviation Funding Solvency Act, is more promising, but the newly released bill only aims at continuing FAA funding during government shutdowns, which includes air traffic controllers, but leaves TSA workers out.
We can do better here. I believe it.
Travel industry, let’s step up and get to work ensuring what happened recently during the nation’s longest government shutdown in our nearly 250-year history does not happen again, for any political purpose.
Let’s support our industry by supporting the backbone of it: those who keep us safe in the skies.
Let’s protect our industry by advocating for laws that prevent its risk of becoming a political chess piece during government shutdowns.
Let’s protect our people by ensuring they’ll be paid, no matter what.
Let’s get it done.
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