this post was submitted on 08 Nov 2025
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Overtaxed and unpaid air traffic controllers are resigning “every day” due to stress from the government shutdown.

“Controllers are resigning every day now because of the prolonged nature of the shutdown,” Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, told CNN.

“We hadn’t seen that before. And we’re also 400 controllers short—shorter than we were in the 2019 shutdown.”

Air traffic controllers are federal workers, which means they are part of the approximately 730,000 federal employees working without pay since the shutdown began on Oct. 1.

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[–] BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world 311 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Democrats proposed a bill that all Federal employees get paid during the shutdown. GOP said no.

[–] madcaesar@lemmy.world 40 points 1 week ago (2 children)

The first time I'm reading about this. If the situation were reversed Republicans would be on every show everywhere repeating this taking point.

Democrats need to fucking hammer the Republicans on this 24/7 on every outlet possible.

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[–] BigMacHole@sopuli.xyz 123 points 1 week ago (1 children)

WHY can't these GREEDY Air Traffic Controllers just BUCKLE DOWN so until we can CONFIRM that STARVING CHILDREN WILL NOT BE GETTING FOOD and that HEALTH CARE INSURANCE WILL BECOME UNAFFORDABLE FOR AMERICANS?

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[–] DagwoodIII@piefed.social 96 points 1 week ago (6 children)

So we can expect massive problems going into the busiest travel time of the year?

Thanks, Obama!

[–] snooggums@piefed.world 77 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Also next year and the year after since this is a permanent reduction in the workforce.

[–] Tm12@lemmy.ca 60 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] Assassassin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 35 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Ahh Reagan, he may not be the only one that caused us to get to where we are, but he did a phenomenal job teaching the next generation how to fuck up everything for everyone.

[–] can_you_change_your_username@fedia.io 23 points 1 week ago (1 children)

He's pretty much directly responsible for the atc problems. Their union went on strike during his presidency and he did mass firings and union busting. It takes years to fully train and qualify an atc and the job has an incredible amount of stress. They aren't easy to recruit and train. We've had a national shortage of atc since his firings. If he had negotiated with them in good faith we wouldn't have had a sudden shortage that we couldn't catch up from then and their working conditions would have improved making them easier to recruit and train.

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[–] DagwoodIII@piefed.social 30 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The very last thing you want on a job is old timers who have been through terrible situations and know shortcuts and tricks to get through it.

Institutional memory? Bah! We have MBA's!

[–] zqwzzle@lemmy.ca 30 points 1 week ago (3 children)

They’re gonna stick AI in there and then the body count is gonna skyrocket.

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[–] vegeta@lemmy.world 73 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

He's planning on using the military to take over the airports, like they did in the Revolutionary War .

[–] Shadow@lemmy.ca 36 points 1 week ago (4 children)

He's not paying the military either, not sure how well that'll work for him.

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[–] BetaBlake@lemmy.world 68 points 1 week ago (3 children)

I'm sure this is Bidens fault somehow right? Isn't that usually how this goes, blame Biden for some shit that has nothing to do with him?

[–] NABDad@lemmy.world 47 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Well...if he had gotten the justice department to actually nail Trump, then we might have avoided this.

[–] FlyingCircus@lemmy.world 18 points 1 week ago

If Kamala had declined to support genocide… If Obama had prosecuted the 08 banking criminals… If Gore had contested the 2000 election…

As awful as the Republicans are, we must remember that the Democrats have always succeeded at making sure their colleagues across the aisle never face too severe consequences. After all, that would make dinner on Thursday quite awkward.

[–] madcaesar@lemmy.world 22 points 1 week ago (2 children)

It's clearly Obama's fault!

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[–] 100_kg_90_de_belin@feddit.it 20 points 1 week ago

As long aa you can squeeze a "DEMS" in there you're good to go

[–] SARGE@startrek.website 55 points 1 week ago

I fully expect the regime to announce they're arresting ATC personnel who quit.

[–] aramis87@fedia.io 51 points 1 week ago (1 children)

”Controllers are resigning every day now because of the prolonged nature of the shutdown [...] We hadn’t seen that before."

Well, none of the other shutdowns have gone on this long. I'm also struggling to remember any shutdown that's gone on for any length in an economy this clearly bad and heading further downhill. Nor has there ever been a shutdown where the head of the government has said they won't be paid in the end for time worked. It makes perfect sense for the ATC's to prioritize themselves, their families and their finances over a system that consistently and chronically under-values them, over-works and over-stresses them, and has explicitly declared it has no loyalty or concern for the people who work there.

[–] phdepressed@sh.itjust.works 37 points 1 week ago

Cause this is the longest shutdown in history. The now second longest was during Trump's first term...

[–] stringere@sh.itjust.works 49 points 1 week ago (3 children)

I hope we can all agree that people should not be furloughed or working without pay during this shutdown but something I haven't seen reported on is the effect this will have on economies locally and nationally.

Napkin math so someone correct me if needed:

  • 4.5 million furloughed or working without pay.
  • Average salary I found was $68,000 but let's use 50,000 to account for the top paying jobs probably still getting paid.
  • That gives us $4,166 monthly.
  • For each month of shutdown that comes to $18,747,000,000 that isn't being spent

While I'm sure most of us Americans could do with less consumption, I can't help but wonder how many small businesses are going to suffer from this. This is especially true for areas with large amounts of federal employment.

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[–] ThatGuy46475@lemmy.world 47 points 1 week ago (5 children)

So, how good is ChatGPT at doing air traffic control?

[–] YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today 19 points 1 week ago (5 children)

I had an Uber rider yesterday that brought up a fairly profound prediction about AI. It's clear it is poisoning the Internet, but he said "what if this gets people to get off social media and start being social IRL?" I'm paraphrasing and he was much more verbose, but it's a pleasant thought I've been holding onto.

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[–] SoloCritical@lemmy.world 19 points 1 week ago (1 children)

“Uh… attention all aircraft in the vicinity of JFK… ChatGPT Tower’s got this under control… mostly… just, uh, maintain separation and good vibes.” 😅

[–] ToastedRavioli@midwest.social 26 points 1 week ago (2 children)

“Flight 4131 to tower, do I have clearance to land safely?”

“That’s a great question!”

[–] jballs@sh.itjust.works 21 points 1 week ago (1 children)

"That's a great question! You are definitely clear to land with no other planes in sight!"

"Uh are you sure? I can see another plane on the runway."

"You're totally right! I did not account for the other plane on the runway. You are clear to land now."

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[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 46 points 1 week ago (5 children)

A plane is gonna crash because of overworked atc and then they'll declare it terrorism and invoke martial law.

Mark my words.

[–] PrincessLeiasCat@sh.itjust.works 21 points 1 week ago (3 children)

We all know the real reason is DEI! /s

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[–] 4grams@awful.systems 40 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I just got off my flight to Mexico. I have no idea if I’m getting home. It wasn’t a dealbreaker for the trip..

[–] discosnails@lemmy.wtf 34 points 1 week ago (2 children)

They want to privatize this mark my words. AIATC incoming...

[–] PlantJam@lemmy.world 32 points 1 week ago

New worst use case for AI just dropped.

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[–] MourningDove@lemmy.zip 33 points 1 week ago

Good. I hope America grinds to a fucking standstill. And that as a result of it, traitorous cowards like Fueher Shitshimself never see the light of day, let alone any position of authority.

[–] Formfiller@lemmy.world 28 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Pedo Antoinette might just get the ending he deserves sooner rather than later

[–] ToastedRavioli@midwest.social 21 points 1 week ago

The minute that the controller shortage fucks the wrong wealthy person’s private jet trip suddenly everything will magically be fixed.

He picked a terrible time to frontload this issue by giving rich people extra tax writeoffs on private jets. Theyre gonna be pissed if their new private jets become useless

[–] SabinStargem@lemmy.today 28 points 1 week ago (11 children)

The retired controllers should unionize, and put forth an option for future non-Turdpublican administrations to rehire them for fair wages, compensation, and benefits. It would be cheaper and easier than hiring fresh faces and hoping for the best.

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[–] quick_snail@feddit.nl 26 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

No government: good for the people oppressed by the State

No planes: good for the climate.

[–] BenLeMan@lemmy.world 24 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Unfortunately, the "people" benefiting most from less state "oppression" are corporations.

The rest of the people are still being plenty oppressed e.g. by masked goons claiming to work for the government. Shutdown or no shutdown.

Meanwhile, the government is literally letting people starve for political reasons.

As for the planes, I agree.

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[–] Wispy2891@lemmy.world 24 points 1 week ago (2 children)

At least I'm guessing those unpaid federal workers won't vote republican for the rest of their lives

[–] madcaesar@lemmy.world 36 points 1 week ago

🤣 Sweet summer child

[–] AlecSadler@lemmy.blahaj.zone 28 points 1 week ago (2 children)
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[–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 22 points 1 week ago (1 children)

shorter than we were in the 2019 shutdown.

Ah, so there was a shutdown in 2019 as well. Anyone know if there was anything in common between 2019 and 2025? In, idk the American government or something? Any important people in common between 2019 and 2025?

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[–] UnrepententProcrastinator@lemmy.ca 21 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Just replace them with AI, that should go well /s

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[–] LoafedBurrito@lemmy.world 21 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Get out now, the government is never reopening and this will be our new future.

This is the small government the GOP base wanted.

[–] frog_brawler@lemmy.world 20 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Kinda hope THIS government never reopens but I’m not going to leave, I want to help establish the “something better” that’s going to come after this shit is gone.

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