After missing their first paychecks on Friday, TSA employees are still working without pay at Maine’s airports.
TSA workers are deemed “essential,” so they’re continuing to work during the shutdown — and the union that represents them says that’s becoming more and more of a hardship.
“The average TSA officer earns $35,000. That’s not a lot of money, and many of these officers have families to support, and they can’t even afford the gasoline it takes to drive to the airport,” says Gabriel Pedreira with the American Federation of Government Employees district office for New York and New England.
Air travelers at some of the nation’s busiest airports are reporting long waits due to TSA screeners failing to show up for work, but Portland International Jetport Director Paul Bradbury says that’s not the case at his facility, where there are no operational deficits.
“I know it must be a burden on all the staff, but they are continuing to show up and we’re continuing to process passengers,” he says.
Bradbury cautions that the airport will face more issues the longer the shutdown continues. He says decisions about summer construction projects can’t be made and training for new air traffic controllers is on hold.
Pedreira says the legislation requiring the federal government to give workers back pay after the shutdown doesn’t provide much relief for workers who have bills to pay now.
“That doesn’t do anything right now. If you have to pay your rent and you give your landlord a letter saying you’ll get back pay sometime in the future, the landlord is going to laugh at you. Real life doesn’t work like that,” he says.
They can also apply for unemployment during the shutdown, but may have to pay it back if and when they receive back pay.
Pedreira says upwards of about 50 TSA employees work in Maine — and some have said they may look for work elsewhere.
“In some ways I can completely understand that, because if you’re going to a job every day and you’re not sure if you’re going to get paid, and we’re not sure when this is going to end, and you’ve got someone in the White House saying this could go on for months and months, what would you do?” he says.
