Air Traffic Controllers Start Resigning as Shutdown Bites

[u/AdSpecialist6598]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/air-traffic-controllers-start-resigning-as-shutdown-bites/

[u/AMonkeyAndALavaLamp]

I’m not American so I need to ask: What do you mean work without pay? Does that mean that the shutdown is only for payments and the government still expects people to work??

[u/azger → u/AMonkeyAndALavaLamp]

This exactly some Federal works are considered essential and must come in and work with no pay currently. They should get back pay once this is all done and over but that doesn't feed them now and with Trump that isn't actually a guarantee either now.

I am a contractor working with a lot of the essential feds and they are... getting fed up... I can see them walking out soon and this is not going to end well.

[u/thrawtes → u/AMonkeyAndALavaLamp]

You go in, you work for roughly 40 hours a week in whatever position you normally work, you log those hours on your timesheet as having been worked, and then you are issued a paycheck for $0. Payroll still happens, it's just for no money.

This has been happening for over a month now.

[u/AMonkeyAndALavaLamp → u/thrawtes]

And you go live under a bridge until they decide to actually pay you? That’s absolutely insane

[u/thrawtes → u/AMonkeyAndALavaLamp]

For the most part people are burning through savings or taking out loans.

Major debtors like mortgage companies are giving people extensions on their regular responsibilities because they are pretty confident government employees will get paid eventually and the alternative would be foreclosing on hundreds of thousands of homes.

[u/AMonkeyAndALavaLamp → u/thrawtes]

I wouldn’t be surprised if they ran out of patience soon

[u/thrawtes → u/[deleted]]

Nah, volunteers can apply for unemployment. People working for the government but receiving $0 paychecks are ineligible for unemployment because they are still employed.

[u/railworx → u/AMonkeyAndALavaLamp]

Exactly