Flights to LAX were temporarily halted Sunday as the FAA cited a shortage of air traffic controllers linked to the ongoing federal government shutdown.
The Federal Aviation Administration said flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted Sunday morning due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility.
The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed and canceled in the coming days as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown.
During an appearance on the Fox News program “Sunday Morning Futures,” Duffy said more controllers were calling in sick as money worries compound the stress of an already challenging job.
🎼 O’ Say Can You See 🎵
🎵 Still waitin’ for the flight 🎵And the pilots red glare; planes colliding mid-air,
Gave proof through the night that the paychecks arent there
Oh say is that plane really
falling from the sky?
O’er the land of the free
Fuckin’ poke in the eye
Finally, Donald Trump doing something good by protecting Americans from the hell that is LAX!
The Epstein shutdown continues to grind America to a halt
What did these morons think was going to happen? That people working for free was going to be sustainable?
I’m amazed that they didn’t all put down their mics the moment they didn’t get paid.
And keep in mind: The orange turd already promised people would not get any back pays.
The orange turd already promised people would not get any back pays.
Well no he didn’t. He stated that about furloughed employees. The ones not going to work. The ones working are entitled to backpay paycheck.
Additionally, and as always, he’s talking about things he doesn’t really understand. Federal backpay for furloughed workers was codified into law. Meaning they’d have to pass a budget with a line specifying that furloughed federal works won’t get paid and nullifying the previous law. That would be quite a bad move for most congressional representatives. Almost a garuntee to lose a lot of votes.
Even better. It was codified into law BY HIM and repubs.
It would also be the first time in history since the budget is done this way (since the 70s).
A few different reasons from what I’ve gathered lurking around various communities. Full disclosure: I’m not in the aviation industry, just someone with an interest.
- Controllers are extremely professional almost to a fault. If they walk that puts more strain on an already strained system which endangers the public
- Related to this, the public is still generally on their side or at least sympathetic to the situation. If they strike and there’s an incident, they will be blamed. the admin would love for this to happen. They’re already trying to turn public sentiment against them (see comments by the transportation secretary about starting salaries which are demonstrably false).
- Their current union is not in favor of any work action
- They are already being threatened with firing if they strike under the guise of sick leave
- For most of them, this isn’t their first shutdown
- The controllers that’ll feel the pinch first are those working at smaller, less busy facilities. One or more of these shutting down completely won’t impact much.
Again this is just my observation. Anyone with more insider knowledge feel free to correct me.
I believe they’re legally forbidden from striking and have to be careful it isn’t seen as such.
If you’re not getting paid, it is not striking.
It’s not a strike if your employer stops paying you.
It is if you’re essential.
If they’re essential, then it’s essential they get paid for their work.
Not in America! Freedom!
Some laws were meant to be broken.
Ruling class: Come on, they’re peasants! It’s not like they make money anyways.
Holy crap Americans are so complacent.
They are so against union action or workers banding together to do anything meaningful for their workplace or themselves that it takes another outside circumstance to cause them to stop working.
Unionize and work together to force all levels of government to do something about this problem!
Air traffic controllers once did have a union, they went on strike, and then Reagan fired everyone. The union was decertified by the government and dissolved.
Might happen again at Thanksgiving.
That would be such a hilariously sad type of self harm. I don’t think the staffing has even fully recovered from the Reagan layoffs.
The FAA also never fully recovered and has been short-staffed since Reagan.
Which means they can’t ever do that again, which should have given the power back to the ATCs to simply ignore the law and strike anyway.
Even Trump can’t make new ATCs appear out of thin air.
Well that’s the thing, just like Reagan, he can use the military to temporarily replace them.
Military airfields have the same procedures
They still do have a union. It’s just illegal for them to strike.
Nah they still have the union, but it’s illegal for them to strike so it’s pretty toothless.
“Illegal”
That’s what they thought last time they striked. Reagan fired them all even knowing the chaos it would cause.
I doubt Donny could pull it off though.
like, what i don’t get, is how you’re imagining this.
people form a union, then strike, then what? simple, the company fires everyone who is on strike for “not fulfilling their work contract”. simple as that, the company hires new people. these can strike too and lose their jobs too. new people get hired. repeat until the people left working at the company are those who don’t strike in general.
what do you mean, “just strike”?
simple as that, the company hires new people.
From where? The large pool of unemployed skilled air traffic controllers?
Military (who can’t refuse orders), retiree scabs (presumably lucratively paid), and those who can’t afford to go without a paycheck to support the strike (was ~10% of the controllers in 1981).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1981_Professional_Air_Traffic_Controllers_Organization_strike
On Monday, August 3rd, 1981, over 13,000 ATCs went on strike. By the morning, the strike had stopped over 50% of flights; this number rose to 70% later in that day… ATC towers were staffed by non-striking ATCs, along with military personnel and retired ATCs who agreed to return to work. Ultimately, the government action was effective at defeating the union. Only 1,300 of the striking workers were able to retain their jobs, and none of them attained their demands.
And staffing still hasn’t recovered since that.
The full FTE to serve the country is ~14,600 and there are 10,600 employed currently.
the reason why companies are chronically understaffed is so companies save money. why pay more employees when the existing employees can handle the workload?
This isn’t some night stocking retail job they can pull people off the streets for.
Vetting and training ATC takes actual years.
Reagan pulled off mass firings last time they tried striking by pulling in military ATC to do the job.
But yeah if it’s a skilled industry and the strike is big enough it can and does force the company’s hand.
I mean, it works everywhere else. If there was an unlimited pot of ATCs then flights wouldn’t have been cancelled today.
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Bring back the ATC union!
With the way things are going, I’m glad I don’t need to fly anywhere. The holiday travel season this year is going to be a disaster.
Republicans: “WhY dOeS nO oNe vISiT uS? BuT oUr toUrISm!?!”
