A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
We've heard a lot about how the government shutdown is affecting the nation's air traffic controllers who have to work without pay, but it is also affecting future air traffic controllers who are still training for the job. Here's NPR's Joel Rose.
JOEL ROSE, BYLINE: For most air traffic controllers, their training takes them to Oklahoma City, home to the academy run by the Federal Aviation Administration. And right now, those students may be having second thoughts about their chosen career path.
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SEAN DUFFY: I'm getting word now from Oklahoma City where I have young air traffic controller students who are now telling me, what the hell am I doing? Why am I going to take this job?
ROSE: That's Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy joining House Republicans yesterday at a press conference on Capitol Hill.
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DUFFY: They're thinking about leaving the academy, smart young men and women, because they don't want to work for a system that won't pay them.
ROSE: During the last government shutdown six years ago, the FAA's training academy was forced to close. That had a lasting impact, adding to the shortage of air traffic controllers. The system is still more than 3,000 controllers short of where it should be. This time, the FAA made sure to keep the academy open with funding in place through at least the end of November. That's according to Nick Daniels, the president of the union that represents air traffic controllers. He says the trainees are still getting paid for now.
NICK DANIELS: The very difficult and unacceptable part is the second that they graduate, they then graduate to not receiving a paycheck.
ROSE: Daniels says that's already happened to a few dozen trainees, who graduated from the academy only to start the next phase of their on-the-job training without knowing when they will get paid again. They're joining more than 13,000 controllers who are required to work without pay until the shutdown ends.
DANIELS: At the beginning, it is a concern. It's a fear. It's a distraction. And today we see the reality of it all, that they are the rope in a tug-of-war game that has nothing to do with them.
ROSE: This week, Daniels says, thousands of controllers got earnings statements that officially show $0.00. It's a little bit more of a distraction weighing on their minds, Daniels says, for every day the shutdown continues.
Joel Rose, NPR News, Washington.
(SOUNDBITE OF TALKDEMONIC'S "MOUNTAINTOPS IN CAVES") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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