‘The stress is just always there,’ as thousands of FAA workers go without paycheck

WCCO

By Alexandra Skores, CNN

Washington (CNN) — For certain workers at the Federal Aviation Administration, the government shutdown hit hardest this week with a $0 paycheck.

It’s “disheartening,” to not be paid by an employer, said Cleverson Schmidt, a radar technician based in Washington, DC.

“I’m trying to stay level, and I’m praying I don’t get a heart attack or stroke,” he said.

His job, which he is required to do even though he is not being paid, includes certifying aircraft systems for controllers to use. The equipment has to be flawless, he said. It’s how controllers make air traffic decisions with planes full of hundreds of passengers.

His family mostly relies on his income, as his wife works part-time and stays home with their son.

It broke Schmidt’s heart as a father to tell his son a month ago that he couldn’t get his allowance due to the family’s financial situation.

“Having to tell your child that you can’t provide for them is a difficult burden,” he said.

Working six days a week and now not getting paid

Many of these critical federal jobs were understaffed, and the people who do them overworked even before the shutdown, making the gap in pay even harder to take.

Corinne Wiseman’s husband – a controller at the Boston TRACON – supports them on his sole income, often working Thursday through Monday and then a sixth day on Tuesday, when he must pick up mandatory overtime.

“He’s not really home,” Wiseman said. “He doesn’t already see his kids hardly at all. Not his fault. It’s his schedule.”

CNN has omitted her husband’s name to maintain his anonymity.

The schedules at the FAA are demanding – oftentimes controllers work long hours through the evenings or overnights, making critical decisions and setting personal life aside to maintain the safety of the flying public.

Wiseman said it is “hard to not get personal about it,” knowing that her husband has missed years with their four children already, and now he’s not getting paid to do his job and support his family. Her husband has built up exhaustion and resentment, she said.

“(Being an air traffic controller) has been my husband’s dream for almost two decades and in the last five years, I have only seen a decline in his mindset,” she said. “He loves the work, he is angry that the federal government could get away treating them the way they have.”

Now, some controllers are calling out sick causing a rippling effect of staffing shortages and delays.

Prior to this shutdown, the family had taken out a loan to complete some much-needed repairs around their home. That included new windows, a new roof and more, she said. Now, they’re left to cut costs elsewhere to ensure bills get paid. She said the family keeps the heat off in the house for as long as possible and mostly uses firewood to keep warm.

“As a spouse, watching your significant other feel the full weight of the financial strain of the family while also being unable to physically be present is painful and stressful,” she said.

Wiseman stays home to take care of their children, but since the shutdown she has been looking for an online job to help their family while still managing their schedules.

“In our family, the stress is just always there, just because the career itself is already extremely stressful and takes a lot of time away,” she said.

No end in sight

For now, Schmidt is calling creditors to figure out what bills must be paid. He takes side jobs to make extra cash, and many of his colleagues are doing the same, he said. Schmidt’s union, the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, represents about 11,000 FAA employees. About 5,000 of them, like Schmidt, are working without pay during the shutdown.

“I’m trying to stay strong and do my job with dignity and with the best of my ability,” Schmidt said. “I don’t think I could handle if I was responsible for a loss of life, a loss of lives.”

Keeping the public safe is something that drives many aviation workers, even when they aren’t getting paid, despite the hardships on their families.

As the holidays approach, Wiseman’s family of six is already making adjustments to pinch pennies where needed. She’s canceled or postponed doctor’s appointments, chiropractic care and vet appointments to avoid co-pays or bills piling up.

All four of Wiseman’s children are in their pre-teen to teenage years, involved in activities and costly sports. One has even started driving, which helps Wiseman keep up with the schedules, but adds another cost given high car insurance rates for a new driver.

“We’ve been just trying to be very frugal, like extra spending at a very bare minimum,” she said, noting the family doesn’t eat out anymore.

Wiseman’s children carpool for sports to avoid additional expenses. The couple is not sending their youngest son to an out-of-state hockey tournament in two weeks because of the financial strain it would cause. He’s a goalie.

The family has been through this before. In January 2019, the decision by 10 air traffic controllers, which didn’t include Wiseman’s husband, to call out sick helped end that 35-day long shutdown. Their absence temporarily shut down travel at New York’s LaGuardia airport and caused delays at other major hubs in New Jersey, Philadelphia and Atlanta, driving President Trump to agree to a temporary government funding measure.

How this shutdown will end is anyone’s guess, but for now these families are struggling to cover their costs as they still report to work.

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