TSA Workers Vent Anger At Shutdown As They Work Without Pay

Although Trump has said that federal workers want him to hold out in shutdown negotiations until he gets his way,
the TSA employees who talked with HuffPost had a very different message.

“While Congress and Mr. Trump get to stay home, enjoy their personal time with their families, and still get paid, we have to struggle and suffer,” a Transportation Security Officer told HuffPost in an email. The officer, a single mother, now worries how she’ll take care of her kids if the shutdown drags on. “Most of us live paycheck to paycheck and cannot afford to be unpaid and still go to work for long. It is not fair,” she said.

A prolonged shutdown could mean missed rent or mortgage payments, no gas money to get to airports and pressure to look for a new job or take on extra work, TSA employees said. The fact this is the third shutdown in under a year adds to the frustration. Several workers criticized the government for playing politics with people’s lives. “To say morale is low is an understatement. People on both sides of the political argument are infuriated at this,” another TSA officer said. “We feel completely and utterly unappreciated.”

Several employees brought up the possibility that a long shutdown would lead to departures, either out of necessity or from growing discontent at the job. “The turnover rate of employees is very high in this agency and for good reason, as it is easy to lose our sense of purpose when we are being shit on from all sides,” one officer said.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tsa-officers-government-shutdown_us_5c2a47aee4b05c88b7029f3c