Air traffic controllers miss first full paycheck, as flight delays loom and government shutdown nears a month

Air traffic controllers missed their first full paycheck Tuesday and gathered at LaGuardia Airport, calling for Congress to end the government shutdown.

Union officials with the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, or NATCA, stood with U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, urging congressional representatives to find a way to pay controllers.

"I've been clear to our air traffic controllers, they need to show up for work. They do really important work for our country, and they need to show up. But I'm not going to lie to anybody to not say that they're not feeling the stress," Duffy said Tuesday at LaGuardia.

Duffy and union officials said some air traffic controllers have had to take second jobs or decide whether they should abandon their careers while airports nationwide are facing a shortage of up to 3,000 air traffic controllers.

Duffy said there is no contingency funding available in the FAA budget to pay controllers and blamed Democrats for not passing a funding bill to pay workers or end the shutdown.

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement to Newsday: "Democrats have been calling on Republican leaders to sit down with us and negotiate and address this crisis since the summer. Duffy knows that ... We are just days away from a health care crisis unlike any we’ve ever seen, and Republicans from the Senate to the House to the White House are dithering about it."

Air traffic controllers are slated to receive back pay without interest to the hours missed, while the pay for furloughed workers is unclear, Duffy said.

The shutdown has also led to stopped pay for nearly 300 air traffic controllers on Long Island who work in Westbury and Ronkonkoma.

Joe Segretto, a controller and NATCA'S Long Island union president who works at the TRACON air traffic facility in Westbury, said the staff of about 119 controllers and 90 trainees are struggling to cover costs.

"We're not getting paid. It's a tough conversation to have with your children. Hopefully we could still put food on the table and get a paycheck eventually," Segretto said. "Those men and women show up every day and the morale is diminishing. You're working the most complex, congested airspace in the National Airspace System, and it's starting to diminish."

On average, about 5% of flight delays this year were attributed to staffing shortages, Duffy said. The delays have fluctuated daily, with 44% of delays Sunday due to staffing shortages nationwide. Staffing shortages caused 24% of delays Monday, he said.

"What that means for the American people is ... more delays, or that means more cancellations. We want you to travel on time. We want your flight to depart when scheduled and land and schedule," Duffy said. "And so if we have issues, we will slow it down. We will stop it. And so I don't want anyone to think that it's not safe, it's just that you may not be traveling on the schedule that you anticipated because of this government shutdown."

Air traffic controllers with the union have said they have not taken a political stance in the shutdown. They handed out pamphlets to passengers arriving at the LaGuardia terminal parking garage Tuesday, urging them to contact their congressional representatives and end the shutdown.

Jason Felser, 49, of Miller Place, works at the New York Air Route Traffic Control Center in Ronkonkoma, which employs about 190 certified air traffic controllers. He said air traffic controllers have been working 10-hour days, six days per week, since Oct. 1 and have not been paid. Controllers received a partial check Oct. 14.

"Morale is definitely low right now due to the staffing situation we're in. The shutdown feels like there's no end in sight," Felser said. He said he is eligible for retirement but wants to continue working to support his two daughters, ages 16 and 18.

"It felt like I got punched in the stomach. It's not the American way to not get paid for work performed," Felser said. "Staffing is challenging, but it's been challenging for the past 10 years. Most people coming into work want to do the job they signed up for."

Some trainees have spent life savings to move to New York, a premier transportation center, to work as air traffic controllers and are not getting paid, officials said. The Department of Transportation offered a stipend to some trainees going to school at the Federal Aviation Academy in Oklahoma City, but that funding is running out, Duffy said.

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.