Airport screeners quitting instead of working without pay poses a longer-term problem for TSA

Air travelers endure long lines and two-hour wait times at the TSA security check point at Terminal E at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport Friday, March 20, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)

Eviction notices. Vehicle repossessions. Empty refrigerators and overdrawn bank accounts.

According to union leaders and federal officials, these are among the mounting financial strains that union leaders say U.S. Transportation Security Administration officers face during a government funding lapse — the third in less than six months that has required the people who conduct airport security screenings to work without pay.

The public is experiencing the consequences in long wait times at some airports as more TSA officers take time off to earn money, cut back on expenses or to protest. At least 376 have quit their jobs altogether since the latest shutdown began on Valentine’s Day, according to the Department of Homeland Security, exacerbating staff turnover at an agency that historically has had some of the U.S. government’s highest attrition and lowest employee morale.

“It’s just exhausting. Every day it just feels like this weight gets heavier and heavier on us,” Cameron Cochems, a local TSA union leader in Boise, Idaho, told The Associated Press.

Cochems, who has worked as a TSA agent for more than four years and is vice president of his regional American Federation of Government Employees chapter, said the number of resignations likely doesn’t fully capture the extent of the agency’s personnel challenges. He thinks many more officers would have walked away in a stronger job market.

“I think more people are staying with the TSA that don’t want to be here,” Cochems said.

A 2024 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that TSA’s workforce has long struggled with some of the lowest morale in the federal government, driven in part by years of comparatively low pay and persistent workplace frustrations. While recent raises have helped, the report said dissatisfaction remained widespread, with officers citing inconsistent management, limited recognition and poor work-life balance.

The starting pay for TSA agents is about US$34,500, and the average salary is $46,000 to $55,000, according to the agency’s careers website.

The GAO warned that unless those underlying issues were addressed, the risk of officers leaving the workforce was likely to persist.

For Cochems, the recent shutdowns have upended the sense of stability that drew him to federal service in the first place. He said he already works a seasonal side job screening college sports teams at airports to supplement his income. Now, with his TSA paychecks halted, even that isn’t enough to keep up with basic expenses.

The financial pressure on his family intensified after his wife was unexpectedly laid off from her job while his income was on hold.

“Every day I come to the airport and I look at the food drive, see what things I can get for my family,” he said, referring to the donations Atlanta’s airport and some others are soliciting to help TSA workers.

The shutdown that began 35 days ago affects only the Department of Homeland Security. Democrats in Congress have said the department won’t get funded until new restrictions are placed on federal immigration operations following the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis earlier this year.

For travelers, the strain in TSA staffing has made airport conditions increasingly unpredictable. Wait times have stretched into hours at some airports, with passengers in cities like Houston, Atlanta and New Orleans reporting delays long enough to miss flights.

TSA officers missed their first full paycheck last weekend, and absences are climbing nationwide, according to Homeland Security. More than half of scheduled staff were absent Sunday at an airport in Houston. At Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, 38 per cent of officers missed work on Wednesday.

“I’ve heard from officers who cannot afford copayments for cancer treatments or office visits for their sick children,” Aaron Barker, a local TSA union leader in Atlanta, said at a news conference outside the airport this week.

Staffing shortages have also forced some airports to close checkpoints, with wait times swinging dramatically throughout the day in some cases. Early Friday, the main security checkpoint at Hartsfield-Jackson had waits topping an hour before easing to less than five minutes by early afternoon and then jumping back up to 75 minutes.

In a Fox News interview this week, Acting Deputy TSA Administrator Adam Stahl warned that the shutdown could have lasting consequences for staffing, saying attrition and recruitment would likely suffer. He noted that after the previous shutdown, departures rose 25 per cent, and he expects the situation to get worse unless normal operations resume and TSA officers receive their pay.

“We saw an uptick of 25 per cent attrition after the last shutdown, and so this is going to continue and worsen — not get better, get worse — if we don’t get a resumption of normal operations, DHS funded and money back into our TSA officers’ pockets," he said, adding that the agency has exhausted its options, including deploying emergency manpower, to keep airport security checkpoints adequately staffed.

Former TSA Administrator John Pistole has said that about 1,100 officers quit during last year’s record 43-day shutdown that ended in November.

Rio Yamat, The Associated Press