Originally published at: '500' ATC Trainees Lost During Shutdown
Agency chief tells senators lapse in pay drove departures of ATC trainees despite academy remaining open.
Sickening.
Who voted for the game-playing gummint jerks?
More importantly, Keith, why is it that those same jokers that shut down the government continued to draw full salary and benefits while the controllers got screwed? If they think a shutdown is a good idea, let them go without pay like the rest of the employees. And, no back pay when it’s over either!
Folks, I could not agree more! Elections must have consequences…So too, bad decisions!
Did trainees at the academy get paid during the shutdown? This article and statements from the FAA chief make it sound like they were paid. I thought the academy stayed open, but any FAA employees (including trainees) were not paid.
Doesn’t make any difference if the trainees were paid or not. They all have eyes! They saw that certified controllers were not getting paid during the shutdown. They probably decided this job was not worth the headache when they could find another job paying as much with nowhere near the responsibility. My father ran his own business and he told me two things you are never late paying, taxes and payroll! Too bad we can’t withhold payroll of elected representatives during such nonsense!
Keith, it is the same clowns spouting “this is what we voted for” and supporting an administration that fires fully-qualified, essential controllers over the DEI hiring BS, when we are ALREADY short by 1800.
Couple that with fears over getting paid and i can see why it will scare off ATC candidates. Who wants to endure three years of intense training for an increasingly more intense job to endure such casual disregard for their value.
Air traffic controllers aren’t grocery clerks. They don’t grow on trees.
I only hope certain dictator’s minions feel safer now that all the blind, deaf, crippled, lesbian, trans, midget, black, Hispanic and unqualified women DEI hires are gone.
I really don’t believe this story. It’s very difficult to get hired as a controller yet 500 who did quit because of a couple of missed paychecks? They knew they would receive back pay as soon as the shutdown ended but they decided to quit anyway and give up the chance to be making around 100k in a few years? And after quitting then what, they instantly found new jobs and instantly started working and instantly started drawing a paycheck? If any were dumb enough to do that I think I’m glad they quit.
We heard this statistic at the tower a few weeks ago and debated the source and validity. The academy can only handle about 250-300 students at a time with about 30-60 new students coming in every other week in overlapping cycles. Losing 500 students in a span of the 7-week shutdown is simply impossible. Even if they lost 100% of trainees (which is definitely not true because THAT would be the headline) it would only be half of the reported figure. Surely any large percentage would have certainly been included in the stats as noteworthy, right? Additionally, the FAA is really bad about pre-planning, so the vast majority of applicants aren’t even made aware of their selection until 2 weeks prior to when they are expected to drop everything and go to Oklahoma, so you can only add 30–60 people to the 100% of 250-300 already attending the academy. The whole thing is highly suspicious. The only thing I can think is that they’re pulling a number out of thin air by imagining how many people in the country might have been considering the occupation and now aren’t. This administration (not unlike other administrations) is really good at feeding BS to each other and the public. I just wonder what the end game is in doing so.
Post-PATCO’s retired between 2006-2011. The Fed/FAA knew there was a huge shortage happening even back then. There were rumblings in Congress back then regarding this. Petty hiring initiatives prevailed and Congress failed to act before sh*t was about to hit the fan. Hell, I couldn’t even apply as I was just past age 31 (even though I was already in the FERS Special Retirement system; same as ATC). What kind of standard is that? If you’re 32 years old you are pure crap for the job? WTH? Well HERE WE ARE. FAA had to not only reduce candidate hiring standards, they went out of their way to hire people that have “developmental disabilities including mental retardation”. Yes, this is a fact. As a (former) Federal HR Specialist and current pilot since I was 16, this is absolute atrocious and terrifying. The fact that we had to take time away from seeking competent candidates in order to host “mentally retarded” et al candidates for assessments was mind blowing. Then he came back (#47) with fists up. Glad we are passed the HR hiring theatre but now we have to deal with pure incompetence in the towers and artcc’s, albeit being a small percentage who slipped thru some of the most difficult training on earth. Too little too late - thanks a lot Congress. I worked ten years part-time as a Firefighter/Paramedic. Let me tell you, without naming anytime specific, cities being so proud to sport an entire shift of “DEI” firefighters scares the living daylights out if me and some of my former colleagues who fit into that category. Jobs that require absolute strength over brains absolutely suffer when a bunch of 90-130lb types are the ones struggling to pickup a 55lb Jaws of Life spreader or can’t even pull on a charged water hose to save their own life (or the people in the burning house). I hope a reality check will ensue but I don’t have my hopes up.
They also knew this administration would continue to view them as serfs, unworthy of the cost of retention.
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