Jason Ambrosi (00:00):
A-M-B-R-O-S-I, I'm the President of the Air Line Pilots Association International.
Nick (00:05):
And good morning. I wanted to first address the fact that today marks the first day that air traffic controllers have a completely different focus today, their first loss of pay. Air traffic controllers are out moving over 45,000 flights today, 3 million passengers, tons of cargo that keeps America moving, and their focus is now on when they'll receive pay again. We ask these controllers to do heroic efforts. They're unsung heroes, and yet every single day that they show up to work now, they don't know when they'll get paid again until the shutdown's over. And so many can say, "Well, you'll get paid eventually." Well, that doesn't pay the bills today. They can't plan for it. And this introduces a new risk to aviation. Air traffic controllers are supposed to mitigate risk. Air traffic controllers ensure that risk is out of the system so that those who fly and those who we serve, that they are safe.
(01:00)
And this brings a risk where their focus is now on, when I get off my shift today, do I have to go and drive Uber tonight so that way I can put gas in the car or food on the table for my family? They have to go out and now their focus is on how do I defer a mortgage? We have so many young air traffic controllers just entering this system. The lowest paid air traffic controllers making approximately $45,000 a year and the highest cost of living in the United States trying to learn this job. But now when they're learning this job, they have to go pick up a second job before ensuring they're saving people's lives at work day in and day out. It is completely unacceptable that this risk is a part of the system.
(01:40)
So our message is simple. Our message is clear. This job's hard enough five days a week, but they have to do it six days a week. 10,800 certified controllers where there should be 14,633. They work six days a week, 10 hours a day, and they usually only have four days off in an entire month. Those are already heroic efforts. And now to say, well, just don't worry about the stress, the fatigue, the unnecessary distraction, and yes, keep your focus somehow on your primary job of saving lives while figuring out where you're going to pick up some income to take care of the most important thing to you, which is your families. So with that being said, we're calling on the elected officials to end this shutdown. Air traffic controllers are not responsible for starting a shutdown, and we're not responsible for ending shutdowns. Only our elected officials are, and our elected officials need to end this shutdown today. Jason.
Jason Ambrosi (02:34):
Thank you, Nick. As the president of the world's largest pilot union, we have over 40 airlines and 80,000 members. We are here to stand in solidarity with Nick and the air traffic controllers. It's hard to believe that those that keep us safe and secure, whether it's the air traffic controllers, the TSA agents, the security, the safety inspectors, these folks are working without a paycheck and they're expected to keep us safe and secure every day in the traveling and shipping public. This is crazy. We send lawmakers to D.C. to do their jobs, fund the government and the shutdown, and get folks back to work, get these folks paid. Could you imagine doing such a stressful job and wondering if you're going to be able to make your next mortgage payment while you're doing that job, or wondering what the next trip to the grocery store is going to look like for those folks that are missing a paycheck with a promise to get paid later? It's just not acceptable. End the shutdown now and reopen the government and get these folks back paid and properly funded.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Are you seeing any specific issues at any specific airports that you can talk about since the shutdown started?
Nick (03:44):
No. The issues we're seeing at the airports existed before the shutdown, and they're going to exist during the shutdown and they'll exist after the shutdown. But the problem is the shutdown prolongs the very issues we're having. When you only have 10,800 controllers, there's nothing in this system that has any giveaway. What we do is air traffic is ensure that there's redundancies in the system. Right now there's not. When you're 3,800 certified controllers short, working six days a week, any level of risk added to the system when it's already stretched to as thin as it is and as fragile it is, we're going to continue to see problems and issues, and our job is to mitigate those issues, make sure that we identify the risks for the American flying public and say, end it so that way we can do our best job day in and day out. So no, any specific problems, absolutely not because we have to deal with them all day every day already.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
But is it slowing down training? Is it slowing down the upgrades to the system in general that we've been hearing about for the last several months? I mean, is this shutdown impacting that part of it as well?
Nick (04:41):
Well, I commend Secretary Duffy and Administrator Bedford, and the fact that we have been able to keep training going for the first time ever in a government shutdown, but that's only going to last for approximately 17 more days. Every day that this drags on, we're not focused on progress. We're focused on how do we get out of a shutdown? How long can air traffic controllers last? If somebody needs to figure out the end of the story, the American worker that lives paycheck to paycheck result, which is almost every air traffic controller, cannot last without pay. It's that simple. And so stop waiting for us to be the ones that break in order to somehow fix the government.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
This question's for both of you. If this shutdown continues any longer, are you worried about seeing any further increased staffing shortages from the controllers? And that could possibly lead to fly delays if you'll have to slow down your traffic as controllers might have to drive Ubers or take on other jobs?
Nick (05:30):
Air traffic controllers are going to show up and do their primary job, but what I'm worried about is how much fatigue and stress is on them. When they start having to worry about the $0 paychecks and then they're doing a waiter's job or doing Uber or DoorDash on the side. I already have married couples calling me, they have zero income, have young children and saying, "We don't know how long we can last on neither parent being able to control aircraft." So one of them having to take some time off or again, do it on alternating shifts and not get to see their kids. And then who watches their kids in the meantime? Because they cannot pay for child care anymore either. All these problems are going to be real, and something that the FAA is going to have to address is how do we take care of these controllers that aren't receiving any pay because the problems are going to mount up quickly.
Jason Ambrosi (06:17):
Yeah, I agree. We're here to support our brothers and sisters in air traffic control and the system is safe and they're working tirelessly to keep it that way. But the problem is these folks are caught in the middle. I mean, the workers, the employees are the ones caught in the middle of this kind of political gamesmanship here in D.C. So they're the experts and we're with them a hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Thank you very much.
Jason Ambrosi (06:41):
No, thank you all. Appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
And we were asking to, is there a traffic controller… I know you guys are [inaudible 00:06:50] spot here, but is there an actual controller who is not being paid who can talk to us? We can identify or not identify. It's up to you.
Nick (06:58):
I'll talk to… I'll make sure-
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Just for that person to decide.
Nick (06:59):
Yeah, I'll talk to Caitlyn and see if we can get you somebody in a second.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Okay, thank you.
Nick (07:01):
I'll, I'll make sure we, that personal side. Yeah, I'll talk to Gail and see if I can give you somebody in a second. Okay, thank you.
Speaker 5 (07:05):
Does anyone else have any questions for anybody or are we good? We're good? Thank you.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
Thank you.