Now, I'm pissed off.
For quite awhile now, the media in this country has constantly portrayed government workers as lazy, overpaid, sacks of crap who can't get a real job. Public unions have been demonized by Tea Partiers. Pay and hiring has been frozen. The public has been seemingly disgusted with us.
I have absolutely had it. My own father even laughed about my "needing the protection of a union, even though I'm an employee of the federal government." Clearly, he has never worked for the federal government.
I am an air traffic controller at the third busiest TRACON in the country. TRACON stands for Terminal Radar Approach Control. Most of the public has no idea what air traffic controllers do, who we are, or why we even exist. About 40% of the time when someone hears I'm an air traffic controller, they think I have a set of orange wands on a ramp to guide aircraft away from the terminal.
There are relatively few of us, about 15,000 in the country. It's not a huge career field. We're pretty efficient.
After you get done talking to the tower controllers, your pilot talks to us. We sit in a very large, dark room watching and controlling your digital blips. We work traffic in and out of every airport, over 50 of them, in our airspace. We work 24/7, nights, weekends, and even Christmas. We get you, your packages, your car parts, your space shuttles, your emergency care flights, your Superbowl celebrities in and out safely, every day. We deal with an unbelievable amount of crap. Every day, someone's engine goes out somewhere, someone has a heart attack on a plane, a tire blows on the runway, weather builds like you just wouldn't believe, and things go wrong, a lot. Our brains couldn't work any harder sometimes. In no uncertain terms, we freakin' move America.
And it's hard. We push and push and push ourselves day in and day out to be as efficient as possible. We absolutely do our best to save these airlines as much money as possible. If they weren't here, we wouldn't be either. I've seen a controller vomit after a nightmarish session. Many, many, many controllers have sacrificed relationships with their families, their livers, and countless other demands have been met because of this job. I have nightmares about the crap that happens at work often. It is, at times, the most stress I think possible. I don't think people have a clue how many airplanes fly over their heads everyday.
So we do make decent salaries and we do get adequate health insurance coverage. We do get extra sick days, although I refer to them as "mental health holidays." But I can't even begin to describe how many times I have thought, there is absolutely no way they could pay me enough for this. We are required by federal law to retire no later than age 56. This LAW was not mandated so government slugs could collect fat pensions early. It's because OLD PEOPLE CAN'T KEEP UP. It's a young person's job. Federal law also requires that new controllers must be less than 31 years of age when they start. It's because of how much training is required to be a safe and efficient controller. I've been a controller in the military and the FAA for a total of 9 years now, and I'm still not completely certified. If you want to die, then I'd love for you to have your plane (and 15 others) crossing at all altitudes, with a 65 year old at the wheel.
Our job is very unique. No one else does it primarily because of the liability and national security issues. The opportunities for lawsuits are literally endless. We do a lot to support national security every day that isn't public information. Because of how fast planes move, how few pilots speak English well, globalization and such, all our equipment, rules, procedures, phraseology, must all coincide. We give our lives to this public service. There isn't another employer competing with ours. We are dedicated public servants who bust our collective bargaining asses day in and day out. The federal government states publicly that they strive to be a model employer. And they should.
Yes, we do have a union. And our union does a ton more than just bitch about pay and benefits. They serve controllers well in many other areas. For example, just about anything, from high blood pressure to depression can cause controllers to lose their medical certifications. They don't want people passing out on the job. The union provides long term disability insurance. In the public realm, no one else will offer it to controllers because of it's nature. Our union provides numerous other services that benefit our career field that is available no where else.
And I'm not defending everything our union does. Sometimes they get involved in stupid arguments, the kind that cut off their noses to spite their faces. But by and large, the union is far more helpful than not.
But since we're evil government slugs, maybe the public would like for the cheapest bidder to take our place. Maybe we should be sweating not being able to take care of our families and moonlighting at a pizza joint. Maybe we shouldn't be able to afford child care on holidays. Maybe we shouldn't be able to pay for vacations. Maybe on top of the very real nightmares at work, we should worry about losing our jobs. Maybe that would make the public happy. I'm sure Lockheed Martin would be as forthcoming about errors and mistakes with the public. I'm sure they wouldn't accept kickbacks from airlines to provide preferential treatment. They certainly wouldn't want to lose their contracts and all. I guess the public would love to see us all fired. Now our pay is frozen and talks of a real government shut down on March 4th are surfacing.
What really angers me though is that government employees have been made scapegoats for our budget problems. The FAA, and many other federal public services, are by large self funded via user fees. Entitlements make up 65% percent of the federal budget. Until the GOP and Democrats want to acknowledge that and address that problem, our budget woes are going no where. Social security and medicare are out of control. 11% percent of our budget pays interest on debt. I am also furious that so few are concerned about the billions being burned away by welfare hogs. I didn't even know until recently that if you make a certain amount of money, you can actually get more back, thousands more, on your federal tax refund than you pay in, via the Earned Income Tax Credit.
Government employees aren't lazy. We aren't overpaid. We aren't dumb. Air traffic controllers, FBI agents, NASA gurus, CIA operatives, and so on are not stupid people. Stupid people get people killed. We could all be successful in the private sector, very successful. I joined the military out of a sense of patriotism and in pursuit of a free college education. I did that before Sept. 11th. Before it was trendy. I bust my behind to help the public. I do it to take care of my son. I am so sick and tired of being portrayed on Fox News as anything less than a dedicated public servant.
In reference to a possible government shutdown, I saw a comment on a news article that said "True public servants will come in to work, even if they aren't getting paid." Really? To help the grateful American citizens? Fat chance.
