If you’ve traveled through airports such as New Orleans’ Louis Armstrong or Houston’s Hobby recently, you may have seen something unusual.
Security lines stretching farther than you, or anyone, would expect. In you flew out of New Orleans on Sunday, you may have seen those security lines stretch out into the parking garage. They also stretched outside at least one terminal in Houston. Maybe you were worried about missing your flight. Maybe you were frustrated and stood there wondering what was going on.
Across the country, TSA officers are once again being asked to report to work without a paycheck.
Let me tell you what was going on.
Those lines were not a fluke. They were a warning about what happens when the people responsible for keeping our aviation system safe are forced to choose between performing a public service that keeps us all safe for no pay, or flipping burgers with pay.
Across the country, Transportation and Security Agency officers are once again being asked to report to work without a paycheck. In the most recent pay period, many officers received only a fraction of their normal pay. Some members of the American Federation of Government Employees took home as little as $5.
Now, the checks have stopped entirely.
Think about that for a moment. These are the officers with what ought to be a steady government job protecting our nation’s airports. They have families, mortgages and bills like everyone else. Yet they are being told to come to work every day without knowing when they will be paid. For the third time in just a few months.
We have already seen what this does to people. During the last government shutdown, the longest in American history, TSA officers went through 3.5 pay periods without a paycheck. Even after the shutdown ended, it took another week or two for back pay to arrive. Many workers spent nearly two months without income.
Some were evicted. Some had their cars repossessed. Some had to send their children to live with relatives because they could no longer afford childcare.
Some were evicted. Some had their cars repossessed. Some could no longer afford childcare.
Now, politicians are putting them through it again, and the long lines travelers are starting to see are a direct result.
These officers are facing the same reality any American worker would face if they suddenly stopped getting paid. And when they see that they can start work at a fast-food restaurant and get paid soon, if not immediately, then it becomes hard to justify reporting to an airport checkpoint for free.
That is not a moral failing. It’s not a coordinated activity. It’s basic economics.
The chaos we saw in Houston and New Orleans Sunday will spread. TSA officers protect 435 airports across the country. As the financial pressure grows, more workers will be forced into impossible choices. The lines will get longer. The delays will get worse. The officers who haven’t left for more reliable employment will carry the burden of a system that treats them as expendable. Let me be clear about something else. From the perspective of the officer standing at that checkpoint, this is not about Democrats or Republicans. It does not matter which party controls the House, the Senate or the White House. When essential workers are ordered to work without pay, the system has failed them. There is another reality the public should understand. When private sector employers fail to pay their workers on time, the law imposes penalties. Workers receive compensation for the harm. Federal employees get none of that. When their paychecks stop, they still pay the late fees, the interest and the credit damage that follows. When the government finally makes them whole, they receive no more than their late pay. Instead, we have partisan gridlock once again. It’s long past time for Congress to get together and pay the folks keeping American air travelers safe. So, if you are frustrated standing in that long security line, I understand. But I hope you will also think about the officer at the end of that checkpoint lane. They showed up for work without knowing when they will be paid. They showed up because they take their mission seriously. They showed up because protecting the traveling public matters to them. A long airport line is an inconvenience. What politicians are doing to these workers is far worse.
Everett Kelley is the national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union representing federal and D.C. government employees. 
