President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to “dock” the pay of air traffic controllers who are calling in sick during the government shutdown, telling them in a social media post they “must get back to work, NOW!!!”
Lawmakers in Congress are getting close to reaching a funding deal amid the longest shutdown on record, with a group of moderate Senate Democrats prepared to fold to Trump and the GOP. But the timeline for reopening the government is not clear, and air traffic controllers and other exempt workers continue to clock in without pay.
Trump said in a post on his Truth Social site that controllers who “didn’t take ANY TIME OFF” during the shutdown were “GREAT PATRIOTS” worthy of a $10,000 bonus. But those who had to call out, he said, should pay a price for it.
“For those that did nothing but complain, and took time off, even though everyone knew they would be paid, IN FULL, shortly into the future, I AM NOT HAPPY WITH YOU,” Trump wrote. “You didn’t step up to help the U.S.A.”
Anyone not showing up would be “substantially docked,” he claimed — even though it’s not at all clear how a president would go about clawing back wages from individual workers’ paychecks.
The Federal Aviation Administration began restricting air travel at 40 airports last week due to low staffing at air traffic control towers. The plan is likely to increase flight cancellations the longer the shutdown, which has now stretched 40 days, drags on.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association, a labor union representing controllers at the FAA, has said the loss of paychecks has left many workers scrambling to pay for food, child care and other basic expenses. The union has denied workers are calling out sick in any organized way, insisting the stress has simply left many unfit for duty.
Nick Daniels, the union’s president, said Friday that some members were resigning due to the shutdown.
“We didn’t see that in 2019,” Daniels told CNN, referencing the shutdown during Trump’s first presidency. “We are 400 less controllers today than we were in the 2019 shutdown. And now they’ve been stretched so thin for so long, with so much going on, so much pressure on their backs, that they’re actually resigning from the profession.”
Trump said he would welcome the resignation of anyone who didn’t show up every day of the shutdown, even though his transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, has warned the FAA will be short controllers after the shutdown due to people quitting.
“If you want to leave service in the near future, please do not hesitate to do so, with NO payment or severance of any kind!” Trump urged. “You will be quickly replaced by true Patriots, who will do a better job on the Brand New State of the Art Equipment, the best in the World, that we are in the process of ordering.”
Duffy said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that 15 to 20 controllers were typically resigning each day during the shutdown, compared to four a day before the lapse in appropriations.
“It’s going to be harder for me to come back after the shutdown and have more controllers controlling the airspace,” Duffy said. “So this is going to live on in air travel, well beyond the time frame that this government opens back up.”
