Dispatch-Argus recently issued the following announcement.
Transportation Security Administration agents monitor the security checkpoint at the Quad-City International Airport in Moline in 2017. Airport screeners who work for the TSA are considered essential workers. The TSA is part of Homeland Security, which has not yet been funded, so non-essential workers for the agency are facing furlough.
The Quad-City International Airport may offer financial assistance to federal employees working without pay because of the partial government shutdown.
At a special meeting Tuesday, the Rock Island County Metropolitan Airport Authority agreed to give Executive Director Ben Leischner the authority to "take any and all actions necessary to facilitate financial assistance" to affected employees.
About 100 Transportation Security Administration, Federal Aviation Administration and Customs and Border Protection employees are going without pay at the Quad-City airport, Leischner said.
"While local impacted federal employees continue to step up and prioritize their workplace duties, this will not be sustainable," Leischner wrote in a memo to the board. "The federal shutdown has now entered its fifth week, and no solutions are in sight. Impacted federal employees have endured at least one missed paycheck and are also facing the likelihood of missing a second. Although legislation has been passed guaranteeing back pay to employees for wages lost during the shutdown, financial commitments are immediate."
Nationally, around 10,000 air traffic controllers, 51,000 TSA officers and an undisclosed number of federal air marshals have been told to continue working during the shutdown.
Leischner said it's the airport's responsibility to "find ways to ensure essential employees" could continue to work "and not have undue concern about how late their mortgage payment is, who is providing their child care or how they will purchase medications or groceries."
He added offering financial assistance to employees also will help the airport ensure security and avoid travel disruptions.
The resolution did not include specific actions the airport may take to provide financial assistance or how much assistance may be given to each employee.
"If the airport was consistent with most other venues, we likely would have already approved a contingency plan outsourcing these essential duties to contracted services; however, because of federal requirements and certifications surrounding these functions — this is not an option," Leischner wrote. "Time is of the highest importance in advancing any and all efforts in support of our valued team members impacted by this unfortunate failure of our United States Government.
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