National News
Senate takes first step toward ending shutdown as FAA cuts to air traffic enter fourth day
NATCA president says ‘actual penalties’ of shutdown are ‘erosion’ of public security, not politics
The results of the continued authorities shutdown will not be about politics or budgets, in response to Nick Daniels, president of the Nationwide Air Visitors Controllers Affiliation (NATCA), who says the “actual penalties” contain a possible deterioration in public security as air site visitors controllers should now deal with surviving with out pay moderately than on their jobs.
Daniels spoke to reporters Monday at a information convention, marking the primary time in historical past that air site visitors controllers and different aviation security professionals acquired their second zero-dollar wage as the federal government shutdown entered its forty first day.
“If you wish to know what the true penalties of this shutdown are, it is not a price range line,” he stated. “It is the smallest and most harmful shift of all. When essentially the most disciplined public security personnel in America are compelled to consider survival as an alternative of public security. That is the price.”
Daniels stated many air site visitors controllers proceed to point out up for work — and in some instances even work extra time — regardless of not being paid. He defined how staff now face extra stress on prime of their already demanding jobs as a result of they don’t seem to be getting paid.
“However now they must deal with little one care as an alternative of site visitors stream. Meals for his or her households as an alternative of runway separation,” Daniels stated. “This isn’t politics. This isn’t ideology. That is the erosion of the margin of security.”
Daniels known as on Congress to “act instantly” to reopen the federal government, saying “sufficient is sufficient.”
“Now historical past will bear in mind who’s liable for the shutdown,” he stated. “The general public and media will debate who received. However everyone knows who bore the brunt of it and who should choose up the items when it lastly ends.”
“We, the federal workforce, have been the guiding gentle on this tug-of-war,” he continued, calling on Congress to ensure compensation for all those that haven’t been paid throughout the extended shutdown.