Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees at Pittsburgh International Airport held a protest on Friday demanding an end to the government shutdown, which has forced TSA officials to work without pay.
Photos of the protest obtained by local news stations showed dozens of TSA employees with signs calling on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to hold votes on bills passed by the House to reopen parts of the government.
TSA agents and other government workers still reporting for duty amid the shutdown are set to miss a second paycheck this month on Jan. 25.{mosads}
“They’ve already missed a paycheck on Jan. 11, and they’re about to miss a paycheck on Jan, 25 and I wonder how secure is the government going to be or the airports going to be when these people can’t come to work anymore, can’t afford gas, can’t afford to pay their bills?” Phil Glover, national vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees, told Pittsburgh Action News.
“It’s time for the Senate to call a vote, and that’s what we need them to do,” he added.
Pennsylvania Rep. Conor Lamb (D) appeared at Friday’s rally, where he urged Republicans in the Senate to have votes on the measures, which McConnell has refused to do until Democrats reach a deal with the White House for the president’s approval.
“They deserve more than money. They deserve a country that has leadership that is actually working together doing its job,” Lamb said.
The president of the area union of TSA agents, which organized Friday’s protest, told a local CBS affiliate that “morale is at an all-time low” among his colleagues.
“The morale is starting to drop because we don’t see an end in sight,” he added, according to Pittsburgh Action News.
The partial government shutdown stretched into its 28th day on Friday, with no resolution in sight. The shutdown began Dec. 22 amid disagreements over Trump’s demand for more than $5 billion in funding to construct a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.