The ITF Civil Aviation Section, representing aviation workers across the globe, stands in full solidarity with our affiliates in the United States and the millions of federal workers impacted by the government shutdown that began at 12:01am on October 1.
This lockout is hitting aviation especially hard: safety-critical workers like air traffic controllers and aviation security staff are being forced to report for duty without pay while others are on furlough without pay and locked out of doing their jobs. Such conditions are unacceptable in an industry where the highest levels of concentration and professionalism are required at all times.
This Republican-led lockout will have a drastic impact on working people across the country. Services that communities, including thousands of aviation workers, rely on – from healthcare to retirement, from affordable housing to essential government programmes – are being dismantled. Millions of federal employees are placed on furlough without pay, with growing threats of mass layoffs in an effort to move functions of government to privatisation. Millions more working under government contracts are being thrown out of work without warning and without pay while infrastructure projects get put on indefinite hold.
Some workers, however, are legally required to continue reporting for duty even though they are not being paid. This includes some of aviation’s most safety-critical workers – air traffic controllers and airport security screeners. Aviation is a sector where safety depends on every system, every role, and every person working without distraction. What could be more distracting – and more dangerous – than forcing workers to do their jobs without being paid?
Workers should never be used as pawns in political conflict. The ITF echoes the voices of our aviation affiliates in calling for a bipartisan agreement that immediately ends this shutdown and maintains affordable healthcare for tens of millions of working people.
The US Congress must act now to restore services, guarantee workers are paid and end this reckless shutdown. The safety of the world’s aviation system cannot wait.
Image credit: Reuters
