President Donald Trump’s administration fired hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) workers on Friday as the administration continues to reduce the size of the federal government and decrease spending.
On Saturday, Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS) President David Spero released a statement, saying, “We are troubled and disappointed by the administration’s decision to fire FAA probationary employees PASS represents without cause nor based on performance or conduct. Several hundred employees have been impacted with messages being sent from an ‘exec order’ Microsoft email address, not an official .gov email address.”
Spero claimed that messages notifying affected employees of the Trump administration’s job cuts were received by PASS union members late on Friday night. Spero also claimed that it was “possible” other FAA employees would be notified of the job cuts over the weekend and that employees could be “literally barred from entering FAA buildings on Tuesday.”
“These are not nameless, faceless bureaucrats. They are our family, friends and neighbors. They contribute to our communities,” Spero added. “Many military veterans are among them. It is shameful to toss aside dedicated public servants who have chosen to work on behalf of their fellow Americans.”
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In his statement on Saturday, Spero said the employees fired by the Trump administration were devoted to the “safety critical mission of the FAA.” Spero argued that the Trump administration’s decision “did not consider the staffing needs of the FAA” and warned that the FAA is already facing understaffing challenges.
In a statement obtained on Monday by The Associated Press, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, a labor union and safety organization that represents roughly 20,000 aviation professionals, announced that it was “analyzing the effect of the reported federal employee terminations on aviation safety, the national airspace system and our members.”
According to Fox Business, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association previously warned of “chronic understaffing” issues throughout the air traffic control system in the United States. The organization emphasized that the “safety and reliability of the aviation system” could be improved by addressing the understaffing concerns and by “modernizing the nation’s air traffic control structure.”
Concerns over the staffing levels of the country’s air traffic control system have increased in recent weeks after a U.S. Army Black Hawk collided with an American Airlines passenger plane last month, resulting in the death of 67 individuals.