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Hundreds of Transportation Security Administration officers, who are required to work without paychecks through the partial government shutdown, have called out from work this week from at least four major airports, according to two senior agency officials and three TSA employee union officials.
The mass call outs could inevitably mean air travel is less secure, especially as the shutdown enters its second week with no clear end to the political stalemate in sight. "This will definitely affect the flying public who we (are) sworn to protect," Hydrick Thomas, president of the national TSA employee union, told CNN.
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Hundreds of TSA Screeners, Working Without Pay, Calling Out Sick at Airports
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Either I'm dead or my watch has stopped.
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(Score: 0, Troll) by Username on Monday January 07 2019, @01:43PM (8 children)
They'll get paid, saying they wont is fake news. Congress can pass the budget themselves, but they wont. Have to make orange man bad.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday January 07 2019, @02:33PM (6 children)
No matter how hard I try, I can't find any tears to shed for TSA employees who don't get paid. Neither can I bring myself to cry for anyone in the federal government, outside troops in the military, who don't get paid. They live large on our backs. Let them suffer. In fact, they should all suffer much, much more, so that they will at least have some sense what it is to walk a mile in our shoes, thanks to policies born of their corruption and incompetence.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Oakenshield on Monday January 07 2019, @04:37PM (3 children)
While I'd not put it quite as hatefully as you, I'd have to agree in part. We've all been in positions where we did not get paid in a timely fashion. The difference is that the TSA agents know with absolute certainty that they will receive their pay in full, eventually. There are far too many of us that have been screwed out of our pay and left to hold an empty bag forever. At worst case, it is an inconvenience for them. It is all part and parcel of the risk working for the Federal government. It's a pretty sweet job 99% of the time as long as you are prepared for the 1% it is not.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 07 2019, @05:55PM
Knowing you'll eventually be paid does not help pay the bills that are due. I've been through a number of government shutdowns and the added stress does not help.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 07 2019, @07:31PM (1 child)
What I'm having trouble with is an employer expecting staff to work for free, and then compounding that by the staff thinking that they need to squander sick days to refuse to work without pay. Fark that noise. If the employer expects staff to accept effective slavery, there should be no surprise when nobody shows up for their shift.
WTH? No, we absolutely haven't. What kind of person is willing to work for no compensation because "oops, we can't pay you", in hopes that the employer will eventually come up with some money to pay them? We're not slaves.
So you're saying that the government shutdown is just more theatre? What's the point bothering with the shutdown, then?
A lot of those people don't have the necessary savings to last through their employer withholding pay. When the whiny turd at the top is telling everyone that he's prepared to maintain the shutdown for months or years, only an idiot wouldn't seek employment elsewhere.
(Score: 2) by Oakenshield on Monday January 07 2019, @09:51PM
You've been a very lucky guy then. My mother got screwed out of her last paycheck at one employer when the S&L crisis of the 80s caused the bank that her employer used to shut their doors. She had a paper paycheck that nobody would cash. The business ended up closed and bankrupt because they couldn't get access to their money and pay creditors while waiting months for the regulators to sort through the mess. I've had friends miss out on timely pay. I myself had my employer at the time miss payroll due to a clerical problem and the direct deposit was delayed by two days. It wasn't an issue for me, but I had colleagues and friends that were sweating. They had written checks they couldn't cover and already mailed them. I carried enough balance to pay my mortgage and bills on time, so I was safe. This was a state agency too.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 07 2019, @06:13PM
You are a microencephlic ninnyhammer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 08 2019, @01:54AM
Why do you give "troops in the military" a free pass? For one, these are the federal employees who are _most_ likely to be getting free food and lodging, so are less likely to be evicted, starve etc if they don't get paid. Secondly, this isn't the Vietnam war - they are not conscripts. They signed up willingly, and presumably they understood when they signed up that in the military, far worse things can happen than "not getting paid for a while." Whereas other government employees (eg NASA, NOAA) probably didn't make the same choices when they applied. There are ways to serve your country that _don't_ involve killing.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 07 2019, @06:10PM
Contractors won't be paid, but Trump is okay with that as usual.