TSA workers at MSP Airport frustrated after missing first full paycheck due to partial government shutdown
The partial government shutdown and a snowstorm are leading to major travel troubles at airports nationwide, including Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
A group of students from Chesteron Academy in Hopkins learned Monday their two-week senior school trip to Rome is on hold.
"We were supposed to go to Rome today, now we are being scheduled for the 18th," Dominic Berg said.
Dominic Grus from the Czech Republic should be in Frankfurt, Germany, by now. He's been trying to get a flight for 24 hours.
"Now I am going from Minneapolis to Dublin, from Dublin to Heathrow - London, and from there to Frankfurt, finally," Grus said.
But no one is having a more frustrating time at the airport than TSA workers.
"Our staffing is pretty low. It's down under 70% heading more towards 50%," Ruark Hotopp, vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) union, said.
TSA workers are entering their second month without a paycheck. That's leading to staffing struggles, long lines and delays at airports around the country.
"I hate to use the word commitment, because that makes it sound like our folks at these other airports aren't nearly as committed, but our folks in Minnesota are extremely dedicated," Hotopp said.
The union says TSA workers are really getting frustrated that they are not getting a lot of news coverage on the partial government shutdown. Between the weather and the war, it's getting blown out of the headlines.
As for when this partial government shutdown could end, right now, there seems to be no movement in Washington toward progress for a deal.