The world’s richest man Elon Musk offered on Saturday to pay the salaries of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees who have not been paid due to the ongoing partial shutdown of the US government.
“I would like to offer to pay the wages of TSA personnel during this funding impasse that is negatively impacting the lives of so many Americans at airports across the country,” Musk said in a post on X.
TSA employees not paid due to government shutdown
The TSA is part of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), whose government funding remains frozen in Congress.
TSA agents are classified as essential workers and must report to work without pay during the partial shutdown. The partial government shutdown began on Feb. 14, and nearly 65,000 TSA employees, including about 50,000 Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) responsible for passenger screening at about 440 airports nationwide, have been working without pay since then.
They are six days away from missing a second full payday but are under pressure to turn up as screening times at some airports stretch into hours.
The partial government shutdown, which froze DHS funding, came as a double blow to TSA employees reeling from last year’s 43-day government shutdown.
TSA employees resort to working gigs to put food on the table
According to ABC News, many TSA employees are living in fear, with some taking on extra work or even leaving the agency altogether to make ends meet.
Rebecca Wolf, president of AFGE Local 1127, which represents TSA officers at 47 airports in several western US states, told Reuters that struggling workers are taking side jobs such as delivering for Amazon or driving for Lyft and Uber.
“Many have gone and applied for food stamps in their home states,” she said. “I have a couple of officers in one of my states who actually sleep in their car and one has already been evicted.
Food banks, donations
The union alerts members across the country to food drives and free food pantries. Airports like Minneapolis-St. Paul and Phoenix accept donations such as gift cards for gas, food or essentials such as baby items. Seattle-Tacoma Airport has opened a food pantry, while at Dallas Fort Worth International, guards bring food to the checkpoint twice a week.
Hundreds of people have left the TSA
There are also reports that hundreds of THS staff are quitting, resulting in understaffing at airports to screen passengers. A total of 376 people have walked off the job since the shutdown began on Valentine’s Day, according to DHS.
This led to long queues at airports that often stretched for hours to screen passengers.
“It’s just exhausting. Every day we feel like this weight is getting heavier and heavier,” Cameron Cochems, a local TSA union leader in Boise, Idaho, told the Associated Press.
