Air traffic controllers are missing out on their first paycheck

US air traffic controllers on Tuesday lost their first full paychecks since the government shutdown began at the beginning of the month, while the Department of Transportation said flight delays due to staffing shortages had increased.

Union officials and Transport Minister Sean Duffy said Tuesday that controllers are facing increasing financial pressures and it is becoming increasingly difficult to recruit much-needed workers. Air traffic controllers and airport security monitors are among the employees required to work during the lockdown as essential employees, although they do not receive regular salaries.

“The problems are escalating daily,” Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said at a press conference at LaGuardia Airport in New York.

Duffy told reporters that 44% of flight delays on Sunday, and about 24% of them on Monday, were due to air traffic controller staff, compared to about 5% of delays so far this year.

Duffy also said the closure is hurting government air traffic training and employment, and that some funds for trainee salaries are “about to run out.”

Air traffic controllers union officials said some members were driving for ride-sharing platforms and taking other jobs to make ends meet.

Union members, including its president, plan to distribute flyers and speak to the public at several airports across the United States on Tuesday, urging travelers to push Congress to end the shutdown.

The government shutdown, now in its fourth week, has heightened concerns about additional pressure on the US air traffic control system, which has posed a challenge to airlines and travelers alike due to years of staff shortages.

Flights were delayed earlier this month at several US airports, but the severe disruptions that preceded the end of the longest shutdown on record, between late 2018 and early 2019, did not occur.