Shatdaun airports and air travel in the United States may become more dangerous

According to two high-ranking officials of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and three employees of the TSA workers' union, this week hundreds of employees of the department, who have to work without salary because of the shutdown, asked for work from at least four major airports.

Фото: Depositphotos

This situation may mean that air travel has become less secure, especially since, judging by the political situation, the government’s closure will not end soon, writes CNN.

“This will definitely impact airline passengers, who we need to protect,” said Heidrick Thomas, president of the national TSA union.

According to him, at the New York International Airport John F. Kennedy 170 TSA employees asked for leave from work every day this week. The officers from the morning shift had to work overtime in order to fill in the gaps due to the second shift employees who did not go to work.

Absenteeism calls have increased 200-300% at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

Union officials stress that job passes are not part of an organized employee rally, but they predict that the number of such passes will increase in the next week or two when employees do not receive their salaries for the first time after shatdaun.

According to Mack Johnson, the president of the local union, the airports in North Carolina, including Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham, received more calls for absenteeism from TSA employees by 10%.

Johnson said the calls "create vulnerability" at airports and force screeners to do more, which affects the quality of their work.

Two of the sources, who are federal officials, described the omissions as workers ’protests over salary delays.

A trade union official, however, said that although some workers were upset about their paychecks, they asked for leave from work for more practical reasons. Single parents who have not received a salary can no longer pay for child care or find temporary paid work outside government bodies to pay rent and other bills.

About a quarter of the government, including the TSA and the Department of Homeland Security, have not been funded since December 22. Approximately 55 000 TSA employees, who check around 800 millions of passengers a year, are forced to go to work without receiving a salary. They will pay the debt only after the shutter is completed.

Reducing the number of TSA employees will lead to less thorough passenger checks, as well as a reduction in the number of in-depth inspections, which reduces the level of safety during flights.

Shatdown in the USA began on December 22 due to disagreements Republicans and Democrats on the budget for next year. The cause of the conflict was the financing of the construction of the wall on the border with Mexico. The Donald Trump administration, which is supported by most Republicans, demands that more than $ 5 billion be allocated for this purpose, the Democrats are against allocating additional funds to the wall.

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