Why scores of TSA workers are calling in sick during government shutdown
As many as 170 TSA officers are calling in sick each day at JFK Airport rather than work without a paycheck during the partial government shutdown, raising serious security concerns.
Mass sickouts among the officers who screen baggage and passengers are affecting at least three other major airports, CNN reported, citing senior agency officials and union honchos at the Transportation Security Administration.
“It sucks not being paid,” one TSA officer at JFK told The Post Friday night. “People are frustrated.”
So far, he said, his colleagues are only calling out sick “here and there.”
But he added, ominously, “Wait until this weekend.”
Two TSA sources told CNN that the sickouts are protests over not being paid as the shutdown begins its third week — with one calling it the “blue flu,” referring to the uniforms worn by screeners.
But union officials insisted that many of those calling out sick are just taking backup jobs so they can pay their bills; others can no longer afford child care and are forced to stay home with the kids.
Whatever the motive, the sickouts will make flying more dangerous.
“This will definitely affect the flying public who we [are] sworn to protect,” Hydrick Thomas, president of the national TSA employee union, told CNN.
Thomas’ union represents some 55,000 TSA employees, who screen approximately 800 million fliers a year; he is based at JFK.
Morning-shift officers at the airport are being forced to work extra hours to cover the gaps, he told CNN.
Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport typically has only 25 to 30 TSA employees call out sick each day; now, those call-outs are up 200 to 300 percent, a local TSA official told CNN.
In North Carolina, Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham’s airports are seeing call-outs jump by 10 percent, local union president Mac Johnson told the news network.
“Performance standards will not change,” spokesman Michael Bilello told The Post Friday night, insisting that “call-outs” are far lower than reported, and are causing only “minimal impact.”
“To date, screening wait times remain well within TSA standards,” he added.
But call-outs are expected to only increase the longer the shutdown continues, causing the agency to bridge the gap through either long lines or less screening.
Officers could even be forced to loosen standards for checked baggage, experts told CNN.
https://nypost.com/2019/01/04/why-sc...ment-shutdown/
Originally Posted by shakey1
Reply With Quote
Connect With Us