A union representing 450 Transportation Security Administration officers in Pennsylvania will rally Friday morning at the Pittsburgh International Airport to call for an end to the partial federal government shutdown.
The rally is scheduled for 11 a.m. at the ticketing lobby.
Bill Reese, local American Federation of Government Employees union president, said that at any given hour, over 300 TSA employees are on duty across the state at 14 airports. Those workers are not being paid.
“They want to move on and get past this, and try to recover the damages that have already happened to them financially,” Reese said.
The shutdown has increased stress for employees, Reese said, and the longer they work, the more significant the financial impact.
“Mortgages, food, utility bills,” Reese said. “It’s really starting to come to be a greater need now that we’ve fully missed one pay and we’re working into our next pay.”
The Steelworks union and elected officials, including Democratic congressmen Mike Doyle and Conor Lamb are expected to attend. Nationwide, TSA is reporting few delays at security checkpoints, despite the government shutdown.
It’s estimated that 420,000 federal employees are working without pay.
