US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy threatened to fire air traffic controllers who are calling in sick while working without pay during the government shutdown.
In an interview with Fox Business News on Thursday, Duffy called the absent employees “problem children” and said they are accounting for more than half the country’s flight delays as the shutdown continues with no signs of lawmakers coming to a deal.
He praised controllers who are still showing up to work and said only about 10% are “lashing out” by not coming to work while the government goes unfunded and is unable to pay them.
“If we have some of our staff that aren’t dedicated like we need, we’re going to let them go,” he said.
Duffy said the “small subset of controllers” were creating “this massive disruption” of flight delays and cancellations.
He also addressed backpay, which President Donald Trump suggested might not be paid to some federal workers.
Last week, the president said some employees who are not at work might not receive retroactive pay once the government reopens. Air traffic controllers, though, are considered “essential workers” and are still required to carry out their duites.
“When you come to work you get paid,” Duffy said. “If you don’t come to work, you don’t get paid. That’s the way we’re going to do it.”
With the shutdown now in its second week, the consequences of Congress failing to agree a budget are growing more severe.
The Smithsonian Institution, a revered collection of public museums that includes the National Zoo, has said it will begin closing locations on Sunday, when funds it is currently using to remain open will run out.
Meanwhile, members of the military could miss pay checks expected next week if the government doesn’t reopen.
The Senate failed again on Thursday to pass a resolution to reopen the government, and political parties continued to trade blame for the shutdown. Democrats are demanding that any resolution must address healthcare subsidies for lower-income Americans and reversing the Trump administration’s cuts to the Medicaid health programme, while Republicans, who control both houses of Congress, will only support a “clean” bill that extends the government’s current budget.
The most immediate effects have been felt at the nation’s airports, with the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) rising absenteeism forcing them to cancel and delay flights, and in some instances, rely on controllers from neighbouring airports to manage their traffic.
On Thursday night, flights at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, which was at the center of traffic safety concerns earlier this year, were delayed an average of 87 minutes, according to the FAA.
Nick Daniels, the president of a union for controllers, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, has given multiple news interviews this week where he has repeated that the absences are not being coordinated by workers to put pressure on the government to reopen.
As the impact continues to be felt in air travel, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem recorded a video blaming Democrats for the shutdown. The video is reportedly playing in major US airports, greeting travellers while they wade through security.
“Democrats in Congress refuse to fund the federal government and because of this, many of our operations are impacted,” she says in the recorded video.
By BBC News
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