About 90 percent of Homeland Security’s 260,000 employees are working without pay due to the ongoing shutdown, including employees at the Transportation Security Administration, Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
It’s the third shutdown facing DHS workers since the fiscal year began Oct. 1. While the rest of the government is operating with full-year appropriations, DHS has been unfunded since Feb. 14 when a continuing resolution expired.
TSA officers are frustrated by the situation and are blaming both political parties for failing to reach a compromise and for allowing workers to go unpaid while negotiations stall, AFGE Council 100 Secretary-Treasurer Johnny Jones told CNN on March 16.
“The workforce is sick and tired of being political pawns in the middle of these games, and unfortunately we are the chess pieces – not just the TSA officers but our colleagues at the Coast Guard and FEMA and other agencies that are not being paid and are struggling,” Jones said.
On March 19, AFGE President Everett Kelley issued a second demand for lawmakers to take immediate action to reopen DHS and pay its workers.
“AFGE strongly believes that the time has come for Congressional and White House negotiators to recognize that the stalemate and apparent absence of meaningful dialogue since DHS funding lapsed more than one month ago are not advancing the respective policy goals of the two sides and yet are inflicting real harm on DHS employees,” Kelley wrote in letters to members of the House and Senate. “AFGE is also deeply disappointed that Congress has not, by all appearances, treated the spending impasse as an urgent matter.”
Congress can prevent federal workers from going without pay during this and future budget disputes by passing the Shutdown Fairness Act (H.R. 7137, S. 3168), which would ensure that civilian, military, and certain contractor employees are paid during government shutdowns.
Most TSA officers work paycheck to paycheck, earning just $35,000 a year on average.
“They don’t have money for daycare, childcare, gas, food, and many other things as they’ve almost went a full month without a full paycheck, because the last paycheck they received was so small it was almost inconsequential,” Jones said.
Large numbers of TSA officers are calling out sick at various airports because they can’t afford to work without being paid, while hundreds have been forced to quit their jobs altogether. Some officers are sleeping at airports or in their cars because they can’t afford the commute to and from work, while others can’t afford to pay their rent.
“TSA workers are working without pay. Many are coping with eviction notices, vehicle repossession, empty refrigerators, and overdrawn bank accounts,” AFGE Local 554 President Aaron Barker said during a press conference held outside Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on March 16.
AFGE locals are working with many airports and community partners to organize donation drives for TSA employees who are working without pay. Items being accepted at various airports include nonperishable food, toiletries and other personal care items, household supplies, and gift cards.
AFGE Local 556 First Vice President Joseph Groover has been spending his days off delivering groceries to TSA officers across the Tampa Bay area — from Tampa International to St. Pete-Clearwater and Lakeland. The food is paid for through union dues and distributed to officers who need it most — helping ease the burden for dozens of families.
“We’re supposed to be doing national security work and not worrying about bills, food, how am I going to get gas?” Groover told CBS Tampa Bay affiliate WTSP.
At Miami International Airport, Feeding South Florida is distributing free boxes of food to unpaid DHS workers weekly as the shutdown drags on.
The animal rights organization PETA announced it would be delivering suitcases full of vegan food and other supplies to TSA officers across the country, including in Cleveland, Denver, Fort Lauderdale, Seattle, Fort Lauderdale, and Las Vegas.
In addition to local food and donation drives, World Central Kitchen’s Relief Team has been serving meals to TSA officers who are working without pay due to the shutdown. Working closely with local restaurant partners, the D.C.-based non-profit founded by chef Jose Andres currently is serving hot meals to employees working at airports in the Washington-Baltimore region as well as Houston.
Here’s a partial list of airports that have announced donation drives, with links for details:
About 90 percent of Homeland Security’s 260,000 employees are working without pay due to the ongoing shutdown, including employees at the Transportation Security Administration, Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
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