Stress Among Air Traffic Controllers Mounts as They Miss First Paychecks

Joe Segretto, an air traffic controller based out of Long Island, is already having difficult conversations with his children about missing his first paycheck.

“You save money for a rainy day. But you know, you have certain things in life, right?” he said to a group of reporters following a press conference at LaGuardia. “Like your mortgage is number one — you don't want to start defaulting on your mortgage. Feeding your children, feeding yourself. Those are big things. Paying for gas to get to work.”

Segretto is one of the thousands of air traffic controllers across the U.S. who missed their first full paycheck 28 days into the government shutdown, already the second-longest in U.S. history. Air traffic controllers received partial paychecks October 14.

“How would you feel if you weren't getting paychecks?” Segretto said. “Now put that on top of an extremely stressful job. We don't need those extra stres