‘Dangerous Game:’ Unions Warn Shutdown Risks Aviation Safety

Federal aviation employees were widely credited with ending the last government shutdown.

Jack Daleo

Wednesday, October 08, 2025 at 05:00 PM ET

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Edited By:

Travis Tingle

FAA headquarters in Washington, D.C. [Credit: Shutterstock]

Key Takeaways:

A coalition of unions warns that the ongoing government shutdown is severely compromising aviation safety due to unpaid and understaffed federal workers, including air traffic controllers (ATCs), safety inspectors, and TSA agents.
The shutdown has led to increasingly unsafe working conditions for essential personnel, widespread flight delays at major airports, and the furlough of over 11,000 FAA employees critical for safety, technology, and air traffic control modernization.
Unions are actively fighting against the White House's threats of permanent reductions in force (RIFs) and funding cuts for federal agencies, calling them illegal and a political pressure tactic to force a budget resolution.

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“This is a dangerous game,” Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA), said during a news briefing Wednesday outside the headquarters of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) in Washington, D.C.

Nelson joined representatives from AFGE, the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), and other public and private unions to urge Congress to reopen the federal government, warning that a prolonged shutdown could endanger aviation safety.