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 292 points 22 hours ago (4 children)

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

[–] madcaesar@lemmy.world 37 points 17 hours ago (1 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 113 points 22 hours 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 87 points 22 hours ago (5 children)

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

Thanks, Obama!

[–] snooggums@piefed.world 69 points 21 hours ago (3 children)

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

[–] Tm12@lemmy.ca 54 points 21 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Assassassin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 31 points 20 hours 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 21 points 16 hours 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 29 points 21 hours 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 27 points 21 hours ago (3 children)

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

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[–] BetaBlake@lemmy.world 66 points 19 hours 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 42 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

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

[–] FlyingCircus@lemmy.world 16 points 11 hours 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 17 hours ago (2 children)

It's clearly Obama's fault!

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[–] 100_kg_90_de_belin@feddit.it 20 points 19 hours ago

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

[–] vegeta@lemmy.world 65 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours 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 32 points 20 hours ago (3 children)

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

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[–] SARGE@startrek.website 51 points 20 hours ago

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

[–] stringere@sh.itjust.works 48 points 13 hours 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.

[–] BanMe@lemmy.world 18 points 12 hours ago

There are actually projections for the economic downturn to come that do and don't factor in the government shutdown reaching thanksgiving, then Christmas. So it is being considered in terms of consumer spending as a whole, but you mentioned small businesses specifically, and they are the ones that will be hurt more than anyone in what's to come. Although, I'm seeing more and more local-only-economies pop up, where you all try to keep money within the network of the community.

The projections I saw were for the economy to level off by 1Q 2026, but if the shutdown reaches Christmas, it'll actually shrink an entire point.

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[–] aramis87@fedia.io 47 points 21 hours 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 34 points 20 hours ago

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

[–] ThatGuy46475@lemmy.world 45 points 19 hours ago (5 children)

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

[–] SoloCritical@lemmy.world 18 points 19 hours 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 24 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

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

“That’s a great question!”

[–] jballs@sh.itjust.works 19 points 10 hours 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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[–] YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today 15 points 16 hours 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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[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 43 points 15 hours 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 18 points 12 hours ago (3 children)

We all know the real reason is DEI! /s

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[–] 4grams@awful.systems 37 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (1 children)

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..

[–] bdonvr@thelemmy.club 18 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Espero que hayas estudiado tu español.

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[–] discosnails@lemmy.wtf 32 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

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

[–] PlantJam@lemmy.world 28 points 22 hours ago

New worst use case for AI just dropped.

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[–] MourningDove@lemmy.zip 30 points 14 hours 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 27 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

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

[–] ToastedRavioli@midwest.social 20 points 16 hours 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 25 points 14 hours ago (8 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 23 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (2 children)

No government: good for the people oppressed by the State

No planes: good for the climate.

[–] BenLeMan@lemmy.world 19 points 3 hours 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 23 points 11 hours 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 33 points 5 hours ago

🤣 Sweet summer child

[–] AlecSadler@lemmy.blahaj.zone 26 points 10 hours ago (2 children)
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[–] UnrepententProcrastinator@lemmy.ca 19 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

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

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[–] CriticalMiss@lemmy.world 16 points 10 hours ago

inb4 he says “what’s the usecase for air traffic controllers anyway? just land wherever you see a free runaway”

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