this post was submitted on 08 Nov 2025
853 points (99.7% liked)

politics

26660 readers
2866 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

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.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world 325 points 1 month ago (5 children)

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

[–] digredior@lemmynsfw.com 75 points 1 month ago (17 children)

They should propose a bill that makes a lapse in appropriations trigger a CR so there’s no need for a shutdown.

load more comments (17 replies)
[–] madcaesar@lemmy.world 44 points 1 month ago (3 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.

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] BigMacHole@sopuli.xyz 129 points 1 month 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?

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] DagwoodIII@piefed.social 100 points 1 month ago (6 children)

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

Thanks, Obama!

[–] snooggums@piefed.world 81 points 1 month ago (3 children)

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

[–] Tm12@lemmy.ca 63 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] Assassassin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 37 points 1 month 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 24 points 1 month 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.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] DagwoodIII@piefed.social 31 points 1 month 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 31 points 1 month ago (3 children)

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

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (5 replies)
[–] vegeta@lemmy.world 76 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month 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 month ago (4 children)

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

load more comments (4 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] BetaBlake@lemmy.world 67 points 1 month ago (5 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 50 points 1 month ago (2 children)

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

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (4 replies)
[–] SARGE@startrek.website 55 points 1 month ago

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

[–] aramis87@fedia.io 53 points 1 month 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 38 points 1 month ago

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

[–] stringere@sh.itjust.works 53 points 1 month 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.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 48 points 1 month 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 22 points 1 month ago (3 children)

We all know the real reason is DEI! /s

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (4 replies)
[–] ThatGuy46475@lemmy.world 47 points 1 month ago (16 children)

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

load more comments (16 replies)
[–] 4grams@awful.systems 42 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month 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 22 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Espero que hayas estudiado tu español.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] discosnails@lemmy.wtf 36 points 1 month ago (2 children)

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

[–] PlantJam@lemmy.world 33 points 1 month ago

New worst use case for AI just dropped.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Formfiller@lemmy.world 29 points 1 month ago (1 children)

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

[–] ToastedRavioli@midwest.social 22 points 1 month 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 29 points 1 month 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.

load more comments (11 replies)
[–] Wispy2891@lemmy.world 25 points 1 month 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 37 points 1 month ago

🤣 Sweet summer child

[–] AlecSadler@lemmy.blahaj.zone 29 points 1 month ago (2 children)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] quick_snail@feddit.nl 25 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month 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 month 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.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] LoafedBurrito@lemmy.world 23 points 1 month 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.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] boonhet@sopuli.xyz 22 points 1 month 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?

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] UnrepententProcrastinator@lemmy.ca 21 points 1 month ago (3 children)

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

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›