Can air traffic controllers keep calm and carry on — without pay?

Ooh, very exciting. And you're here, here just in time for jobs Friday. Yay. Woo. And you know, it's another weird one because we should be getting updated numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, the government shutdown means we are not getting the BLS jobs report for the second month in a row.

So we've got other data sources partly filling the void left by the bls, but there are other government functions that are much harder to find alternatives for and jobs that can't really be replaced. One example, TSA agents.

So how long have you been at the airport? So I got here at 5:30 this morning. It's one right now. So brain's not working at this point. I can't think about how many hours. Long, long day.

Air traffic controllers were also main characters during the 2019 shutdown. Today on the show, we look at why this group of federal workers is such a big pressure point. And one air traffic controller tells us about his experience, experience during the shutdown.

A big part of the government shutdown is a battle over the political narrative, like who's to blame. Sarah Binder is a professor of political science at George Washington University. She says there needs to be an issue that makes everyday people care.

And that's where this story was born, that controllers were the key to resolving the impasse. The National Air Traffic Controllers association, however, rejects this idea.

That is not how they see it. Union president Nick Daniels told CNN recently that he does not want the group to be cast in that same role again.

Still, Sarah Binder says that a tidy story tends to override reality.

Do you have, like an air traffic control voice? And is it different than, like, the voice you use at home.

What if you said, like, I'll have a ham sandwich, please, in your controller voice?

All business.

I don't even know if he likes ham sandwiches.

No, I can't imagine having that job, honestly. And, you know, now Nicholas and his coworkers are in another situation they can't control. Nicholas lived through the previous government shutdown. That one lasted 35 days. The current shutdown has surpassed that and is now the longest on record.

Nicholas and his coworkers collected a partial paycheck a few weeks ago. They missed one entire paycheck last week, and they'll miss another one next week if the shutdown drags on. So they're dealing with a stressful job and the stress of putting food on

The shortage means experienced controllers like Nicholas have already been working long hours. He says he's been putting in six day weeks since 2021. Now he's doing this without pay fatigue, plus the anxiety over this lost income. That's a dangerous combination.

One job that Nicholas definitely doesn't want is fixing the political stalemate. He says that is the responsibility of the decision makers above him. This episode was produced by Julia Ritchie with engineering by Sina Lofredo. It was fact checked by Tyler Jones. Kate Concannon is the show's editor, and the indicator is a production of npr.