I'm not sure anyone here is calling for a work stoppage other than saying they could understand the reasoning for such action. I've tried seeing myself in the shoes of the impacted government employees and fully understand the difficulties many are facing.

If 30,000 TSA screeners walked off the job security screenings around the country would be severely impacted and I'm guessing more workers would follow. There is no way that this many employees could be replaced in a manner fast enough to not have a long lasting impact on commercial passenger aviation so I'm not sure any serious punitive action would be taken. But guessing what could happen and taking that step are two different things.

The 75,000 number includes not only TSA but IRS, federal prison employees, anyone who is being forced to work without pay, which some sources are saying is as high as 400,000+.

I've been advocating a work stoppage for quite some time.

I've seen numbers as high as 800,000.

Everything you need to know about the government shutdown

The difference in the numbers is between those at an affected agency who are "essential" and are thus being required to work without pay and those not deemed "essential" who are not working and, of course, not being paid either.

I believe the 800,000 number is the total number of workers affected, both those forced to work and those furloughed. Of course, the number of people impacted is far, far higher.

I've read a couple of articles - wish I had saved the links - about what would ultimately happen if a strike or stoppage occurred in connection with this shutdown. While the law that precludes strikes doesn't offer any exceptions, a couple of legal commentators thought that the courts could see this situation as justifiable and perhaps find the law overly broad particularly when the Court of Federal Claims already found the government violated the Fair Labor Standards Act in the 2013 shutdown (with regard to covered employees forced to work without pay). But the only way to know for certain would be for a group to do it, and then have the case wind its way through the courts - not an easy thing to do, nor quick.

A joint statement was issued yesterday by the unions for ATC, pilots, and FAs. It touches on more than just the TSA absences, as it takes a more systemic view (which is what we need to be doing IMHO), but thought I'd post it here for starters.

https://www.afacwa.org/air_traffic_c...ue_to_shutdown

Unless the shutdown ends in the next 4 hours, the earliest a paycheck could arrive would be Monday

I would expect the 10% callout rate we saw last Sunday to be topped this weekend.

Understood, my intent was not directed at most of the folks here, but more towards agency employees and the Union members that are pushing those employees to take a drastic action like a work stoppage.

Short term solutions are available, and would be able to be implemented probably within 5 days, but the impact would be felt. Most likely it would be damaging to efficiency instead of completely shutting down operations.

I've been advised that if T&A wasn't keyed last night at the field locations that the only option would be for just base pay to be issued by NFC but even then the deadline for that is quickly approaching. I'm fairly sure that the upcoming payday will go unfunded.

It doesn't matter if strikes are illegal. Someone has to sue and I'm not sure there is any will by any government agency to sue to require its people to work without pay. Same thing for down the road. The people who called in sick and were not will not be disciplined and everyone will get paid. None of this has to do with what happens over the next few days other than the end of a shutdown.

Do you not believe that a major interruption to air travel wouldn't help end this situation. This may be one of those times where TSA screeners hold a pretty big stick.

We are in a severe flu season!

Of course I do. I said this the first day it was reported that Officers were calling in sick.

The entire purpose of a strike, whether it is a formal strike, a sickout, or whatever is to bring pressure for a change. Shutting down the commercial aviation system will bring unbearable pressure relatively immediately.

MSNBC just now reporting one screener, 16 years on the job, is claiming he 'can't in good conscience...go to work...screen the bags and pax knowing that I might be sending them to their death'.

Good grief.

I fully agree about the pressure on the system. There have been reports of elevated absenteeism for the last couple of weeks. While the cause could be attributed to seasonal illnesses like the flu it could be other things also. I doubt we'll ever know for sure. I can understand an increasing number of people calling out.