Copyright CBS News
Travelers catching flights at Detroit Metro Airport's McNamara Terminal learned about the impact of the government shutdown on travel and the workers who make it happen. Air traffic controllers held a picket on Tuesday after missing their first full paycheck. The shutdown is now in its 28th day, but this is the first time air traffic control workers have not received their full paychecks since the shutdown began. The workers held down the space at the McNamara Terminal, near the front of the departures ramp from noon to 4 p.m. They're one group of air traffic controllers urging an end to the government shutdown at major airports across the country. Their message is to tell travelers how the federal shutdown is impacting their livelihoods as they're now forced to make tough decisions about how to put food on the table. The workers say the longer the shutdown goes, the more delays travelers might have to experience on the tarmac. The biggest thing we do to compromise is we just need to lower the rate. We have to slow down the number of arrivals coming in because that keeps the level of safety high, and that's what we need. We gotta keep it safe," said air traffic controller Matt Reavis. The workers are hoping to end the federal shutdown by passing out fliers to travelers. It includes information on how to get in touch with elected officials who can have an impact on making a vote to end the federal shutdown. National Air Traffic Controllers Association President Nick Daniels told CBS News that air traffic controller shortages attributed to 5% of flight delays, adding that shortages at some airports led to 44% of the more than 8,000 flights delayed on Sunday. "Air traffic controllers have to have 100% of focus 100% of the time," Daniel told CBS News. "And I'm watching air traffic controllers going to work. I'm getting the stories. They're worried about paying for medicine for their daughter. I got a message from a controller that said, 'I'm running out of money. And if she doesn't get the medicine she needs, she dies. That's the end.'"
