Hundreds of TSA screeners, working without pay, calling out sick at major airports

[WildaBeast]

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/04/polit...ing/index.html

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.

I can't really blame them. I wouldn't want to go to work if I wasn't getting paid, either.

[dfresh]

Yeah, I am pretty sure I would get sick of it after going in for two weeks without pay. Darn those Democrats, having control of the House, Senate and Presidency 10 years ago and not fixing this!

[Esprise Me]

Welp, just booked another trip to Mexico next month. For their sake and mine I hope this gets sorted out soon.

[Psihala]

Originally Posted by WildaBeast

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/04/polit...ing/index.html


I can't really blame them. I wouldn't want to go to work if I wasn't getting paid, either.

But... but... Dear Leader insisted Government workers were on his side! They want not to be paid until The Wall™ is funded!

I'm so confused!

~Psihala

[thorny locust]

He seems to have insisted both that people going without paychecks back him, and that they're mostly Democrats.

What's a little contradiction between, ah, selves?

[crocoduck_hunter]

The truth as he sees it is whatever is needed to fit his narrative at this precise moment. Regardless of what was needed in a previous moment. Even if that previous moment was two minutes ago.

[UEL]

https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pm...-border-agents

Not quite the same as the OP title, but I did not think this deserved its own thread...

In order to assist Canadian citizens and businesses move people and goods across the border, several provincial governments are contemplating picking up the tab for US border agents to work specific crossings.

Needless to say, it is drawing fire here in Canada because Canadian and Provincial tax dollars would be paying for US public servants, but the counter point is that Canadian businesses are being harmed by the US shutdown, and this is a response that Provincial governments can take to ease the situation.

I heard it on the radio, and the NS article was the first one I found.

I hope the shutdown ends soon. I fly through the US with my daughters next week (twice) and don't want any disruptions.

[Gutter Monkey]

A friend of mine works for GeoScience Australia developing data from Sentinel-2 satellites to monitor water levels across Australia but the data pipeline has been broken for weeks because ..... you guessed it! .... one of the datasets was being supplied by the US Department of Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration which is currently closed down. They're working on putting together an alternate dataset and "lessen [their] reliance on US government data."

The shutdown is screwing up people's lives all over the world.

[Esprise Me]

Yikes. Is this what it feels like to be a parent of a toddler having a meltdown in public?

[dfresh]

Esprise Me, I always knew that (a) if it got bad enough, I could just carry the toddler away, (b) a lot of others had been there and sympathized, and wouldn't hold it against me or my kids for long, and (c) most importantly, I knew that both of mine would outgrow it, and they usually were well behaved.

So no, this is a LOT worse, because (a) I can't just carry the government away and take away its dessert, (b) no one else (except maybe failed states like Somalia) have stuff like this, others countries WILL remember and not trust USA in the future, and (c) I fear it will only get worse in the future.

[erwins]

The largest number of people I've ever worried about my kid bothering was an airplane full. The president and Senate Republicans are hurting 800,000 federal workers, plus the public who rely on government services -- many for critical things like food and housing, and it's going to cost us an enormous amount,* all over something that anyone with basic knowledge or reasoning knows is silly.

Granted, having a toddler melt down in public feels more personal, but it's not nearly as bad as the shutdown.

* i was going to do a separate post, but I'll just put it here. Not paying workers who are working for you is against the law, and subject to damages above and beyond the backpay owed. Federal workers have already filed suit, and will likely get their backpay doubled as a result of the violation. Appropriations issues are no excuse if the workers are doing work. (Furloughed salaried workers have some special rules, and furloughed hourly workers are generally out of luck, as I understand it). Federal workers were awarded backpay x2 after one of the recent previous shutdowns (2013, I think).

[dfresh]

Interesting that they might get paid double. This whole governmental failure is already VERY expensive, since people are going to be paid to not work, the National Parks are getting damaged, and on-going projects have had to stop, and will be much more expensive to restart. I would be surprised if the total cost ends up less than the 5.7 billion ransom that Trump demanded.

[crocoduck_hunter]

Yeah, seems likely.

[erwins]

I read that the hit to GDP alone will exceed the $5.7 billion.

[E. Q. Taft]

Originally Posted by UEL

In order to assist Canadian citizens and businesses move people and goods across the border, several provincial governments are contemplating picking up the tab for US border agents to work specific crossings.

Needless to say, it is drawing fire here in Canada because Canadian and Provincial tax dollars would be paying for US public servants, but the counter point is that Canadian businesses are being harmed by the US shutdown, and this is a response that Provincial governments can take to ease the situation.

I wonder if they could work out something where the provincial governments advanced the money to keep the border agents working, and then get paid back once the shutdown ends? Seems like it would be a win for everyone - the agents keep getting paid instead of having to wait for back pay, and things keep moving. But I'm not sure who you'd make the deal with...

[thorny locust]

Originally Posted by erwins

I read that the hit to GDP alone will exceed the $5.7 billion.

The economy's about the one thing Trump's got going for him now (not that I think he deserves much credit for it.)

Wonder how long it'll take to sink in to him that it's one of the things he's screwing up.

ETA: if it ever does, that is.

[erwins]

He's already been hurting it with the trade wars he's started, and it could get a lot worse. He's a narcissist, though. He will never see any of it as his fault.

[Don Enrico]

Out of dough? Canada air traffic controllers buy pizzas for unpaid US colleagues
The Guardian

Mark Sheehy, an air traffic controller in New Hampshire, tweeted pictures of the pizzas and his thanks for “our brothers from the north sending love and solidarity.”

[GenYus234]

Passenger carries firearm through TSA screening at Atlanta onto Delta flight

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/13/us/ts...ght/index.html

A traveler carrying a firearm boarded a Delta Air Lines flight from Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and flew to Tokyo Narita International Airport on January 3, according to a statement from the Transportation Security Administration.

According to the TSA, this is not related to the shutdown because the staffing was at normal levels. But they don't say if those on duty are working longer hours or having to do unfamiliar tasks due to the shutdown and sick-out.

[UEL]

Originally Posted by Don Enrico

Out of dough? Canada air traffic controllers buy pizzas for unpaid US colleagues
The Guardian

And the important question...

Was there pineapple on that pizza?