*

Shutdown affects paychecks for 13,000 air traffic

controllers

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Controllers face financial strain, may seek side jobs,

employee

union warns

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Risk for air travel could rise as shutdown stalemate drags

on,

Daniels says

By David Shepardson and Doyinsola Oladipo

ARLINGTON, Virginia/NEWARK, Oct 14 (Reuters) - More than

13,000 U.S. air traffic controllers face rising stress and

financial insecurity after Tuesday's disbursement of what will

be their last paycheck during the government shutdown, posing

potential risks for air travel, the head of an employee union

said.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said last week that

staffing issues among air traffic controllers were to blame for

53% of flight delays since the shutdown, now in its 14th day,

compared with 5% in normal times.

And as the political stalemate over government funding drags

on, the potential toll on air traffic could worsen, said Nick

Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers

Association.

"(The shutdown) introduces a whole new risk in the air

traffic control system, when their focus is now moved from the

safety and moving 45,000 planes, 3 million passengers, tons of

cargo a day into, 'Do I have to get another job? Do I have to

start driving Uber on the side?'" he said in an interview at

Reagan Washington National Airport Tuesday.

Controllers, working in one of the government's most

high-stress professions with responsibility for the smooth and

safe flow of air travel, also fear getting caught in the middle

as both political parties point fingers at each other over the

budget impasse.

"We're used as the political pawn during the process,"

Daniels said.

"We are the rope in this tug of war game that we shouldn't

be the rope. This has nothing to do with us ... The real story

is that America's air traffic control system is falling further

behind because of this shutdown."

Daniels met on Tuesday with Duffy at Baltimore/Washington

International Airport in Maryland to talk to controllers.

Tens of thousands of federal workers have been sent home and

thousands more laid off, as more and more government business

grinds to a halt each day without a budget deal in Congress.

Like many who work in government, controllers are missing

two days of pay in the check they receive Tuesday and will not

get any paycheck on October 28 if the budget standoff is not

concluded.

More than 50,000 Transportation Security Administration

officers are also working without pay.

Air traffic has already slowed at times in some cities, as

many air traffic controllers called in sick, roiling air

travelers.

"On top of the stress they're already dealing with, in the

towers, or in the security lines, they're now wondering how

they're going to pay their rent and mortgage," Democratic

Representative Josh Gottheimer told reporters at Newark

International Airport on Tuesday. "Yet, like so many other

government workers are still showing up to keep our country and

our economy running."

The Federal Aviation Administration has been facing an air

traffic controller staffing shortage for more than a decade, and

many had been working mandatory overtime and six-day weeks even

before the shutdown. The FAA is about 3,500 air traffic

controllers short of targeted staffing levels.

In 2019, during a 35-day shutdown, the number of absences by

controllers and TSA officers rose as workers missed paychecks,

extending checkpoint wait times at some airports. Authorities

were forced to slow air traffic in New York, which put pressure

on lawmakers to quickly end the standoff.

Daniels said the Transportation Department clarified

controllers will get paid for sick time for which they are

legally entitled during the shutdown, once it ends.

Duffy has urged controllers to keep working. Officials said

staffing issues did not pose a significant issue over a

three-day U.S. holiday weekend that just ended.