Alameda County Food Bank Delivers to TSA Employees Working Without Pay at Oakland Airport

As the government shutdown continues into its third week, Transportation and Security Administration officers in Northern California are worried about continuing to work without pay.

The longer the deadlock continues, the more dire the circumstances for TSA workers, union officials said.

“I’m nearing retirement age and I’ve got some things saved up … but a lot of our people, especially the younger ones, don’t,” said James Mudrock, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1230, which represents TSA officers across Northern California. “A lot of the younger employees, particularly, are working paycheck to paycheck. You miss one, it’s bad. You miss two, it is really a problem.”

Mudrock says since the start of October, employees have only received half of a paycheck — the pay owed for the last week of work before the start of the shutdown.

On Thursday, the Alameda County Community Food Bank delivered free food packages to TSA workers in Oakland after the food bank said it received a request for support from the agency.

“One of the big challenges for a number of federal employees throughout this time frame is that if their dollars are cut, well, then they do not have the ability to just recover from that really quickly, right?” said Regi Young, the food bank’s executive director. “So a lot of it is really just an emergency need, and we’re happy to fill that need.”

The packages, brought to Oakland San Francisco Bay International Airport, contained enough food for more than 300 employees. Each package includes a dozen eggs, a box of mixed produce, coffee and dry goods including pasta, rice and beans.

To greet the food bank staff, TSA workers formed a human chain, passing the boxes from one person to the next until they formed neat stacks in a nearby breakroom for employees to collect at the end of their shifts.

“We appreciate Alameda County Community Food Bank for their generous contribution to our TSA officers here at OAK,” said Kaley Skantz, the airport’s public information officer. “They provide a very essential service to us here at the OAK, and we’re glad that they’re able to receive some relief from the food bank.” Mudrock said the support from the food bank means a lot, but he expressed frustration at the position workers are now in.

“It’s just disgraceful that people who are working to serve the public are put in a position where they’re having to rely on food banks to feed themselves or their family. There’s absolutely no excuse for this,” Mudrock said.

The food bank also said it supported around 1,200 federal employees — including TSA officers, Coast Guard, Federal Bureau of Prisons and IRS employees — with groceries during a lapse in federal funding in 2018. Young said the food bank is also prepared for the possibility that the current deadlock could drag on.

“One of the things that we saw back in 2018 is that when something continues to go on, the need increases dramatically,” Young said. “So we are absolutely prepared for what we may need to do in the future.”

Even with food assistance, Mudrock said a prolonged lack of pay could have serious consequences for workers.

“You can’t just go to the company that’s holding your mortgage and say, ‘Well, I’ll probably get a check in like a month or so, maybe, just hold off until then.’ Things don’t work that way,” Mudrock said.

TSA officials did not respond to a request for comment.

Along with TSA officers, Skantz said air traffic controllers with the Federal Aviation Administration and some employees with Customs and Border Protection are also currently working at the airport without pay.

“So far, we’ve been fortunate in that we have not had any significant impacts to airport operations as a result of the shutdown,” Skantz said. “Obviously, we are continuing to monitor the situation closely just to ensure that passengers and cargo are able to pass through OAK safely throughout the shutdown.”

OAK is one of several airports in the Bay Area that are not playing a video from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem blaming congressional Democrats for the lapse in federal funding, Skantz said earlier this week.

“Democrats in Congress refuse to fund the federal government, and because of this, many of our operations are impacted, and most of our TSA employees are working without pay,” Noem said in the video.

Airport leaders around the country have declined to show the video, fearing it violates state or federal laws prohibiting the use of public resources for political messages.