Originally Posted by
Gertrude the Wombat
For me time is of the essence in a contract of employment. If my pay is one day late I'm not working the next day, because I'm too busy looking for a new job.
Understood. But for an AT controller, who is the "alternate" employer? There may be another airline hiring across the street, but there isn't another "FAA" across the street. Some of the affected workers are turning to "gig" jobs (Uber or Lyft driving, bartending) in their hours off - which probably does wonders for their rest and alertness. FBI agent? The FBI is the top of the heap in law enforcement - who wants to give up a career there to become a traffic cop or security guard somewhere else? Always assuming that the "unpaid" time will be 1) temporary, and 2) eventually recompensed.
Plus at some levels there is some sense of responsibility and pride - they want to keep the system they've devoted their lives to functioning. At least up to a point.
Problem for the FAA is that they have a substantial number of employees close to retirement anyway, who may just decide "F*ck it - I'll retire now and at least I'll get my pension uninterrupted!" Then we'll have 4-5 years of "short-staffing" until newbie controllers complete training and gain enough experience to be able to handle New York or other high-traffic, high-pressure locations.