25 TSA officers have resigned from jobs at Boston's Logan Airport amid partial government shutdown
Despite having low levels of sick calls during the partial government shutdown, the unpaid work appears to have taken a toll on Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers at Boston's Logan Airport. On Friday, the local union representing those officers reported that 25 of them had resigned from their jobs at Logan during the course of the partial shutdown.
Earlier in the day, Congress failed for a seventh time to pass a spending bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security, of which the TSA is a part of. By late afternoon, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to grant TSA employees back pay using money from last year's GOP spending bill. However, the president of the TSA Officers Union (AFGE 2617) New England told WBZ it appeared officers would be paid only for the period of February 14 to March 12.
Passengers at Logan have experienced minimal impacts to TSA wait times during this shutdown thanks in large part to TSA officers' willingness to work without a paycheck. The airport reported minimal sick calls over the last month.
Passengers told WBZ they were not taking chances and arriving early for flights.
"We are hoping we won't have that issue here, but we can't be sure, so we arrived a bit early today," said passenger Meriel Sanchez.
"We got there right when they opened the airport. We decided to be cautious and all," said Jane Brakefield, who is traveling home to Alabama. "I was definitely a little anxious for sure."
