Despite low morale, Richmond International Airport's federal employees work without pay as government shutdown continues

One month into the federal government shutdown, Richmond International Airport Transportation Safety Administration workers are experiencing a second zero pay period impacting morale and pocketbook.

During the first pay period, the approximately 300 federal employees at RIC (officials from Customs and Border Patrol, Transportation Safety Administration and air traffic controllers) received partial pay. TSA workers are not receiving payment this pay period, however.

While TSA workers at Richmond International Airport would not speak on record about how the federal government shutdown has impacted them, Mac Johnson, local president for American Federation of Government Employees Local 0449 (a union that represents more than 800,000 federal and D.C. government employees) said TSA workers are feeling discouraged.

“I've never seen morale so low,” said Johnson, a retired federal TSA employee based in Raleigh, North Carolina and represents Virginians. “This current shutdown feels different. It forces TSA to make hard decisions. ‘How am I going to take care of myself and my family when I'm not getting paid?’”

For passengers at RIC, the shutdown has meant minimal delays as staffers have continued to show up for work due to duty, patriotism or the need to maintain security clearance.

During the current government shutdown, active-duty military and law enforcement officers with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security are receiving paychecks due to funding reallocations. However, many other essential workers like TSA and air traffic controllers are working without pay, and the rest of the government workforce is either furloughed or working without pay. 

“The employees are going through a difficult time right now,” Johnson said. “Unfortunately, they will come a point in time when someone who is not getting paid will run out of money or not have money for gas. At some point in time, I think it's going to affect the staffing levels. TSA employees are some of the lowest paid federal employees in the country. They live paycheck-to-paycheck.”

Scott Robinson, a former TSA officer based in Hampton Roads and a former AFGE local official who now runs a labor advocacy consultation firm, said the shutdown puts TSA officers in financial jeopardy.

“They are required to maintain certain financial requirements in order to maintain their security clearance eligibility,” Robinson said. “So in times where perhaps they're not able to make the mortgage, they're not making the rent, they may not be able to put food on the table or pay for diapers or childcare, it becomes very difficult for the officers to make it in, to work every single day.

Robinson said the TSA workforce is professional and dedicated, so employees will make every effort to come to work. But, he said, it has to be acknowledged that it's a tremendous burden both financially and emotionally and psychologically.

Appeals to Congress

“The TSA employees coming to work every day to do their jobs, which is to protect the flying public, we simply ask Congress and the White House to do their job and pass the budget so these employees can not be distracted by not getting paid and focused solely on their sole mission,” said Johnson who advocates to members of Congress.

The Air Traffic Controllers union made a similar appeal to Congress.

Both Jennifer McClellan (D-VA-04) and Rob Wittman (R-VA-01) – the two U.S. Congressional representatives who represent Henrico – used their weekly newsletters to highlight the injustice of federal employees who were not being paid.

McClellan brought attention to the fact that furloughed federal employees have turned to food banks for relief, further straining food assistance groups that don’t have the supply to meet a growing demand.

“In Virginia, where we have the second highest number of federal employees of any state, our friends, loved ones and neighbors now struggle to pay bills and make ends meet,” McClellan’s most recent email newsletter read.

“Republicans’ callous disregard for our public servants, service members and their families now reaches a fever pitch. We’re faced with a question: what will it take for Republicans in Congress to end their shutdown?”

“When the government shuts down, Virginia doesn’t just read about it — we live it," read an email from Wittman's office. "Nearly 150,000 federal employees call Virginia home. We host the Pentagon, Langley Air Force Base, the Navy’s Atlantic fleet, and a dense network of defense contractors and federal agencies. A shutdown means that our active-duty servicemembers are forced to work without pay. It delays veterans’ benefits. It stalls small business loans. It suspends WIC benefits for mothers and children, 127,000 of whom rely on that support here in Virginia. It even halts FEMA’s ability to issue flood insurance policies — an especially dangerous failure during hurricane season.

"These are not abstract policy concerns. They are real-life consequences for real people whom our entire delegation, Democrat and Republican, was elected to represent.”

Help for affected workers

The website myfedbenefitshelp.com maps assistance for federal workers, showing three area restaurant locations offering special discounts as well as a link to Feed More, the Central  Virginia food bank which can direct anyone to nearby resources.

Feed More made a recent special stop at the airport to give food packs to workers who are not getting paid.

“We have been helping to coordinate some private relief efforts,” said Richmond International Airport communications director Troy Bell. “RIC would welcome a return of the Feed More mobile pantry for essential federal workers affected by the shutdown.”

Bell and Robinson said the public can help by reaching out to the airport directly to organize hot meals for the federal workers or organize a food drive.

Have you been impacted locally by the federal government shutdown? Share your story with the Henrico Citizen.

Dina Weinstein is the Citizen’s community vitality reporter and a Report for America corps member, covering housing, health and transportation. Support her work and articles like this one by making a contribution to the Citizen.