Airport workers, Coast Guard families in Connecticut go without paychecks

WINDSOR LOCKS – As the federal government shutdown moved into its 24th day Monday, workers at Bradley International Airport and Coast Guard families in Connecticut were starting to feel personal as well as professional impacts.

“We all have mortgages. We all have rent,” said 29-year-old Christopher Scofield of East Granby, a technician in the Bradley control tower who is working without getting paid. “We have bills that have to be paid. ... It can only get worse from here as far as affording bills. A lot of us are having to take up second and third jobs. I’m trying to pick up as many hours as I can just to try and pay the bills.”

Besides working 40 hours a week at Bradley helping air traffic controllers, Scofield also

works 20 to 35 hours per week at a local ice skating rink cleaning and smoothing the ice for the skaters.

“I don’t want to become a professional Zamboni driver,” Scofield said. “That is certainly not one of my life goals. I help airplanes land on the ground safely every day. I’m very proud of that, and I enjoy that greatly.”

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal met with workers and union officials at Bradley on Monday morning before catching his regular flight to Washington. He said the 40 air traffic controllers and 150 Transportation Security Administration workers checking passengers and baggage at Bradley deserve to be paid because they are performing critically important tasks that involve national security.

Two transportation security officers at the airport — Adrian Pellot, 36, and Sarah Small, 33 — live together in Windsor Locks and have both been working without pay.

“We have no income right now,” Pellot said. “We’re bleeding money. Just day-to-day things. Food. I still have to pay the bills. The electric company, the cellphone company — they don’t care. They’re brutal.”

The frustration has mounted, he said, because their immediate future is out of their hands.

“To feel like we’re poker chips or leverage is very, very infuriating,” Pellot said. “We are people. We have lives — not just a number to throw around. I want the government to reopen.”

Some of the workers are more focused on their jobs and paychecks than the broader questions of immigration policy and border security that have led to the shutdown. Regarding the ongoing clash between Congress and President Donald Trump over building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, Scofield declined to comment.

“My opinion doesn’t really matter,” he said.

But Small said workers need to get back to their jobs.

“I don’t think the wall is going to benefit anything,” she said. “I feel it’s a waste. There’s got to be a reason that we don’t have a wall now. If it was needed, I’m just surprised no other president pushed this hard if it was needed so badly.’’

A Quinnipiac University Poll released Monday found more Americans blame Trump and Republicans in Congress for the government shutdown. The survey said 56 percent of voters say Trump and Republicans are responsible for the shutdown while 36 percent blame Democrats.

In a separate question, 62 percent of voters opposed shutting down the government to force funding for the wall, with 32 percent in favor. Republicans were the only group who supported a shutdown. About two-thirds of voters disapprove of Trump using executive powers to fund the wall.

On the issue of the wall itself, 55 percent of voters oppose building a wall along the Mexican border while 43 percent are in favor. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.

Some passengers at Bradley who know that the workers are not being paid have been giving them gift cards, officials said. The workers cannot accept cash, and they cannot solicit donations as federal workers. But they can accept gift cards, and they have.

With no money coming into their households, some workers have headed to local food banks to help feed their families, said Paul Feragne, a transportation security officer from Manchester who serves as the union president for five airports in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont.

“Our local is going to be purchasing numerous grocery store gift cards to give out to our members to help support them through a very difficult need right now,” Feragne said.

Pay for transportation security officers starts at about $32,000 per year nationally, and they are given an additional $9,000 because of the higher costs in Connecticut, he said.

Even though the employees are working and not receiving pay, Blumenthal said they are not eligible to receive unemployment compensation. He urged the legislature and Gov. Ned Lamont to make changes to state law so they would qualify. Furloughed employees — who are not working — are eligible for unemployment compensation.

Also not getting paid during the shutdown are Coast Guard employees, who are part of the Department of Homeland Security. At a news conference in New Haven with U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, two spouses of Coast Guard members shared their stories. They declined to give their last names, citing a military policy.

For Courtney, the wife of a nine-year active duty member of the Coast Guard, Tuesday will be the first day her husband’s paycheck won’t be coming.

“My husband has been trying to find work to cover basic needs like food, gas and medicines. It’s all adding up quickly,” she said. “I go to Yale-New Haven every week for services for my two boys, and I don’t know if I’ll have money for the gas for those trips. We have to worry about how we’re going to pay our mortgage or keep food on the table. We can only lean on our friends and family for so long.”

When a permission slip came home from school with her son for a field trip, Courtney called the teacher and principal to explain she couldn’t pay the expense.

“The parent teacher organization covered it, but still,” she said. “I had to explain there wasn’t any money.”

Rebecca, who is also married to a nine-year veteran of the Coast Guard, said she has been using food banks to feed her 2-year- old and 3-year- old children. The strain has affected her husband, who she said loves serving his country.

“He loves his country ... I have seen a light in him dim. When you love your country and you don’t see it take care of you, it weighs heavily,” she said.

DeLauro said Coast Guard families could take advantage of the Connecticut Military Relief Fund, which provides families with up to $5,000 to offset financial hardship due to military service.