Actor thanks TSA, FAA workers Vermont-style
Pancake breakfast for those working without pay through shutdown
They’re working long hours, in high-pressure jobs.
And they’re not getting paid. On Tuesday, air traffic controllers and TSA officers got a brief break when actor Treat Williams, who lives just over the Vermont line, treated them to a breakfast of pancakes and Vermont maple syrup.
The meal was served in the terminal’s third-floor observation deck.
Williams, who is also a pilot, said he appreciates what these workers do to keep the air transportation network safe. In a tweet later in the day, he made an appeal to end the shutdown.
“Just had a great breakfast with Albany TSA,” Williams wrote. “Dear US Government. Please work it out and get these good folks paid. Thank you.”
Workers posed for photos with Williams, and Bart Johnson, the federal security director at Albany, thanked him and the federal employees.
“My hat’s off to the officers,” Johnson said.
“I was in New York City during that day,” Williams said of Sept. 11. “I’d like to thank all the TSA folks,” he added, pointing out there hasn’t been such an attack since.
His acting credits range from “Prince of the City” to “Chicago Fire.”
Johnson and airport spokesman Doug Myers said TSA employees have been receiving plenty of thanks from travelers.
Williams, asked what he thought of the shutdown, said “I never mix pancakes and politics. But these are the people who are getting hurt.”
On Tuesday, the federal government shutdown, now entering its 26th day, showed no signs of ending. Andrew Pegler, an air traffic controller in the Albany tower, said that while Albany is authorized to have 28 controllers on staff, it currently has just 16. Another 16 are in training, and three of those have had their training suspended. And two of the controllers are eligible to retire. Meanwhile, equipment isn’t being updated.
“Every day of the shutdown injects more risk into the air system,” Pegler, a member of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said.
While travelers see the TSA officers staffing the checkpoints, other TSA employees work behind the scenes, Johnson said, screening luggage and freight. Their responsibilities also extend to surface carriers such as Amtrak and mass transit.
For Williams, Tuesday’s event was a chance to thank controllers and officers in person. “I’ve talked to these guys (in the tower) for 35 years,” he said. “I felt I was just coming down to say thank you to neighbors and friends.”