David Blum is working without pay.
He’s an air traffic controller at the Casper/Natrona County International Airport and is among the 1.3 million essential federal employees working during the partial federal government shutdown.
The congressional impasse that led to a shutdown over a short-term spending bill on Oct. 1 didn’t force Blum to stay home from work. Instead it required that he continue to work — without pay — until lawmakers in Washington come to an agreement over how to fund the government.
The financial burden couldn’t have come at a worse time for Blum. His wife just gave birth to the couple’s second child. He just put a down payment on a new home.
“I am completely depleted of money,” he said.
The U.S. House passed a bill guaranteeing that all federal workers will receive back pay for the hours they work during the shutdown. The bill is likely to clear the Senate and receive President Barack Obama's signature, but it does little for the morale of federal employees who don’t know when they will deposit their next paychecks.
Right now the eight air traffic controllers and the nine trainees working in the Natrona County tower are being paid in IOUs, said Stu Bernhardt, union representative for the National Air Traffic Controllers Association in Casper.
Bernhardt and other union representatives across the country have encouraged air traffic controllers to call their members of Congress in a national effort to put a stop to the shutdown.
“There’s been significant outreach,” Bernhardt said.
He had to tell the air traffic crew working at the airport they wouldn’t be paid until Congress worked out a deal. Spirits foundered, Bernhardt said.
“We’re stuck in the middle of a tug of war,” he said.
Blum is moving to Florida at the end of the month to work at an air traffic tower in Tallahassee. He gave an advance payment to a moving company. He’s scrounging for travel expenses. He’s telling bill collectors he might not be able to pay on time.
“It’s frustrating because you don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said.
Blum stands alongside security forces, veterans' doctors and active military members who remain on the job while Congress is at a standoff and 800,000 government workers remain out of work.
This year hasn’t been easy for the 17 federal personnel who coordinate the 200 flights that land and take off at the Natrona County airport every day, Bernhardt said.
When the across-the-board-cuts known as sequestration took effect March 1, air traffic controllers were in the spotlight after mandatory furloughs in the Federal Aviation Administration caused delays and triggered a public uproar throughout the nation. Half of the air traffic crew in Natrona County was forced to take furlough days. The furloughs only lasted for five days after angry passengers fussed about being kept waiting on the ground. But with a deadlocked Congress still signaling nothing but uncertainty, air traffic controllers are unsure about what the future holds, Bernhardt said
“Furloughs are still a possibility,” he said. “That means less eyes and increased workloads.”
Despite the low morale among federal workers performing their jobs without pay, it looks like business as usual at airports. No one is screaming more than normal about delays, and thousands of airplanes are flying across the globe.
Transportation Security Agency screeners are still patting down travelers, and air traffic controllers are guiding pilots.
“We’re doing everything we can to make sure the national airspace system isn’t affected by this,” Bernhardt said.
Controllers seldom receive praise for performing one of the most stressful jobs. Passenger safety on the ground and in the air hinges on the work they do, said Glenn Januska, airport manager at Natrona County.
“I feel for them,” he said.
Since the shutdown, nasty weather and other unforeseen events have thrown wrenches in the ordinary day-to-day operations of controllers.
The fall snowstorm that dumped 16 inches of snow on Casper triggered a power outage at the airport on Oct. 5. Operations had to be shifted to another tower. Computers didn't function. Controllers used an antiquated radio system. Bernhardt and a crew of air traffic controllers put in a 16-hour day trying to fix the problem. None of the controllers has hope of being paid overtime for the extra work.
With the government shutdown, no employee can receive any paid time off. Some air traffic controllers in Natrona County had to cancel vacations. Blum planned on spending a few days with his newborn son. But he couldn’t afford to do it.
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