Could air traffic controllers help end the government shutdown?
Absences among air traffic controller could "really matter," one expert says.
The government shutdown has shown little sign of resolution as many lawmakers exchange barbs and dig into their positions. But some quiet absences among air traffic controllers and the resulting travel disturbances could ultimately help end the impasse, some experts told ABC News.
Air traffic controllers, who are required to work without pay during the shutdown, are credited with helping end the most recent shutdown in 2019, when a series of absences snarled flights and heightened pressure on members of Congress.
That history could repeat itself this time around, since a small concentration of absences could profoundly derail travel, in part because the occupation already suffered a worker shortage before this shutdown began, experts said.
"Even just a small uptick in sick-outs and no-shows really, really matters. It causes real economic pain and is a disruption for everyone flying in our skies," Jake Rosenfeld, a professor of sociology at Washington University in St. Louis, who studies labor in the aviation industry, told ABC News. "This is something that could reach almost anyone."
The government shutdown, which entered its ninth day on Thursday, has already caused some travel disruptions due to absences among air traffic controllers.
On Oct. 6, the Federal Aviation Administration delayed flights into Burbank, California, and closed down the facility for a few hours in the evening to an ATC staffing shortage. A day later, a similar problem impeded flights to Nashville and the following day delays hit other airports, including Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, Boston and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in the Washington, D.C., area.
For now, staff shortages and travel interruptions remain relatively limited, Michael McCormick, professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and a former air traffic controller, told ABC News.
"It's just individual controllers making decisions, saying, 'I don't feel well enough to come to work today,'" McCormick said. "That means the impact is scattered across the facilities. It's more easily mitigated that way."
Still, the Trump administration has voiced concern about travel delays.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Thursday suggested air traffic controllers who call out sick in protest of the shutdown not be paid and could even be removed from their positions.
"When you come to work, you get paid," Duffy told Fox Business. "If you don't come to work, you don't get paid."
Referring to the impact on air travel, Duffy said, "It's a small fraction of people who don't come to work that can create this massive disruption and that's what you're seeing rippling through our skies today."
He added, "If we have some on our staff that aren't dedicated, we're going to let them go."
On Monday, Duffy told reporters that sick calls from controllers had been spread out and not from one specific airport or air traffic controller facility, but he acknowledged that staffing levels at certain facilities were down as much as 50%.
Controllers are considered essential workers and are exempt from being furloughed during a government shutdown. An estimated 13,294 controllers will continue to work without pay during the shutdown, according to the Department of Transportation's shutdown plan.
In 2019, after a 35-day shutdown, it took sick-outs from only 10 air traffic controllers to stoke the travel disruptions that helped trigger a resolution. The absence of those workers temporarily halted travel at La Guardia Airport, in New York City, as other major airports in Atlanta and Philadelphia, CNN reported.
"This occupation is hidden from the public for most of the year, but it's critical for safe air travel," Harley Shaiken, a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, who studies labor, told ABC News. "This situation will be a factor that hastens a settlement of the government shutdown."
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), the union that represents air traffic controllers, has called on its members to work during the shutdown while urging lawmakers to reopen the government.
"Many of these essential aviation professionals work 10 hours a day, 6 days a week to make sure each of these flights and their precious passengers and cargo arrives safely. A government shutdown adds unnecessary distraction to their work, adding strain on a workforce that is already stretched thin working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, operating the most complex airspace in the world," NATCA says on its website.
Rosenfeld, of Washington University, said he expects sick-outs to escalate as the shutdown continues and financial strain mounts.
"I haven't seen mass absenteeism yet," Rosenfeld said. "Once that ticks up a bit and this spreads further, I think we could have some real problems."
ABC News' Ayesha Ali and Sam Sweeney contributed to this report.
Related Topics
Popular Reads
ABC News Live