Flights to LAX were temporarily halted Sunday as the FAA cited a shortage of air traffic controllers linked to the ongoing federal government shutdown.

The Federal Aviation Administration said flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted Sunday morning due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility.

The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world's busiest airports soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed and canceled in the coming days as the nation's air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown.

During an appearance on the Fox News program "Sunday Morning Futures," Duffy said more controllers were calling in sick as money worries compound the stress of an already challenging job.

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[–] 121 points 1 year ago (24 children)

Holy crap Americans are so complacent.

They are so against union action or workers banding together to do anything meaningful for their workplace or themselves that it takes another outside circumstance to cause them to stop working.

Unionize and work together to force all levels of government to do something about this problem!

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  • [+] 131 points 1 year ago (17 children)
  • [–] 48 points 1 year ago (8 children)

    The FAA also never fully recovered and has been short-staffed since Reagan.

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  • [–] 22 points 1 year ago (7 children)

    Which means they can't ever do that again, which should have given the power back to the ATCs to simply ignore the law and strike anyway.

    Even Trump can't make new ATCs appear out of thin air.

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  • [–] 11 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    Well that's the thing, just like Reagan, he can use the military to temporarily replace them.

    Military airfields have the same procedures

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    Then they should do that so they earn pay more honestly than invading people at home and abroad.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    Many do, but you don't understand that once you sign up for the military you are trapped in it for a while.

    Also I generally don't try to hate the individual that much. We all know the US military is designed to target the most impoverished and desperate in our society to feed them to the war machine. There are many places in the United States where the only way to escape poverty is the military. This is intentional, it creates the illusion of a "volunteer" military and frankly people care less when poor people die.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (3 children)

    SMH. You referenced Reagan, as in the US administration. That's who I referenced.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (2 children)

    What? You're suggesting that Reagan should have left the presidency to be a full time air traffic controller? Or are we talking about soldiers from the 80s?

    I thought it was pretty clear we were talking about modern day America and using examples from the past to demonstrate the options that Trump could use

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  • [–] -1 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    The admin. Holy shit, so much for inference.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    Then they should do that so they earn pay more honestly than invading people at home and abroad.

    How is this statement not talking about the individual soldiers?

    I'm certain you're not suggesting Trump leave the presidency to become and air traffic controller.

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  • [–] 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Nah they still have the union, but it's illegal for them to strike so it's pretty toothless.

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  • [–] 10 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Might happen again at Thanksgiving.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    That would be such a hilariously sad type of self harm. I don't think the staffing has even fully recovered from the Reagan layoffs.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    I would imagine it has, but... ATC training takes a few years and the ones who have stuck it out have been in those roles a long time. There is a cohort of staff who all started and will leave the service at around the same time. I would imagine they are seinor staff or managers by now in their careers, but that much institutional knowlege leaving at the same time would be just as damaging.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    You would think that... But before the strike there was 14k ATC controllers, full capactity.

    Right now there are currently 10,643 fully-certified air traffic controllers operating 313 federal facilities across the nation.

    The total number of certified controllers required to fully staff all facilities to established staffing targets is 14,633.

    The American national airspace system is 72.7% staffed with controllers. There is a deficit of 3,990 certified controllers.

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  • [+] -20 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    like, what i don't get, is how you're imagining this.

    people form a union, then strike, then what? simple, the company fires everyone who is on strike for "not fulfilling their work contract". simple as that, the company hires new people. these can strike too and lose their jobs too. new people get hired. repeat until the people left working at the company are those who don't strike in general.

    what do you mean, "just strike"?

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  • [–] 27 points 1 year ago

    This isn't some night stocking retail job they can pull people off the streets for.

    Vetting and training ATC takes actual years.

    Reagan pulled off mass firings last time they tried striking by pulling in military ATC to do the job.

    But yeah if it's a skilled industry and the strike is big enough it can and does force the company's hand.

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