TSA agents resign, flights canceled, talk of labor strikes––Shutdown updates
Posted by Josh Taylor / January 25, 2019
As the government shutdown continues, the nation is beginning to feel the hurt. Of course, before now, tens of thousands of individuals have been effected by the shutdown in one way or another. Now, however, the effects are spreading. It’s beginning with the airline industry.
In Hawaii, TSA agents are beginning to resign:
Earlier in the week, U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono was in Hawaii meeting with some of the affected workers.
“When I met with the TSA people the other day they told us their stories and they’re crying because it’s so traumatic,” said Hirono, D-Hawaii. “They’re facing eviction, moving back with their parents, having to take out personal loans.”
It’s unsurprising that TSA agents in Hawaii should be first to collapse under the pressure: Hawaii has an extremely high cost of living.
Flights into New York have also been canceled:
“In our risk averse industry, we cannot even calculate the level of risk currently at play, nor predict the point at which the entire system will break,” Air traffic, pilot and flight attendant union leaders said in a statement.
In total about 800,000 employees have been working without pay, or have been temporarily laid off, since areas of the federal government shut down due to lack of funding 35 days ago.
The president of the Flight Attendants Union has suggested a sympathy strike:
Federal sector unions have their hands full caring for the 800,000 federal workers who are at the tip of the spear. Some would say the answer is for them to walk off the job. I say, “what are you willing to do? Their destiny IS tied up with our destiny – and they don’t even have time to ask us for help. Don’t wait for an invitation. Get engaged, join or plan a rally, get on a picket line, organize sit-ins at lawmakers’ offices.
Almost a million workers are locked out or being forced to work without pay. Others are going to work when our workspace is increasingly unsafe. What is the Labor Movement waiting for?
More news.
The effects are spreading