“I used to have about four controllers retire a day before the shutdown. I’m now up to 15 to 20 a day are retiring,” Duffy told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.” “So, it’s going to be harder for me to come back after the shutdown and have more controllers controlling the airspace.”

“So, this is going to live on in air travel, well beyond the time frame that this government opens back up.”

Air traffic controllers are set to miss their second consecutive paycheck on Tuesday, with many missing work and taking second jobs. Duffy added that 81 controller staffing shortages were reported at facilities across the country on Saturday, an increase of 20 such instances relative to Oct. 31.

  • dhork@lemmy.world
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    14 hours ago

    Hmm, I think even 4 retiring every day seems to be a lot…

    I guess there are over 14,000 controllers normally, so if 20 retire a week that’s a turnover of about 1000 per year, or about 7%, just through retirement. That seems high.

    But at 20 a day, we might have run through that number just during the shutdown.

    • Deacon@lemmy.world
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      11 hours ago

      Given how long it takes to train them, this is going to take a bit to recover from.

    • deegeese@sopuli.xyz
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      14 hours ago

      It is high for a normal workforce, but the ATC pool has been greying for a long time because of a mix of neglect and mismanagement like we’re seeing right now.

      Reagan made it a shitty place to work and Trump is stiffing them while taking away food stamps.

        • dickalan@lemmy.world
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          6 hours ago

          It had Billy Bob Thornton in it, I’m sure you can find it out with that information, I can’t fucking remember either but it did start with the word TIN

          I just looked it up it’s pushing tin

    • aramis87@fedia.io
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      14 hours ago

      20 a day right now, and that number is going to escalate. They’re working without pay, bills and rent/mortgage are overdue, savings are disappearing, and trump has said he thinks government workers who are working through the shutdown don’t deserve to be paid for that work when it ends. It’s a cascade effect, where every retirement increases pressure on those who remain, some of whom will also chose to leave, increasing pressure, etc.

      At some point, there isn’t going to be much to stop the cascade, and we were already short on ATC recruitment before all this.

      • GladiusB@lemmy.world
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        11 hours ago

        It’s also a very stressful job to be doing without all that. There are not a lot of people that can do things without any compensation.

        • ngdev@lemmy.zip
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          10 hours ago

          oh yeah and theyve already been getting fucked this year. id be out too