美国国家公共电台 NPR 'I'm Scared': TSA Families Fear Falling Behind On Bills, Losing Their Homes

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Air travelers are used to flight delays and cancellations because of the weather or maybe mechanical problems. Well, it soon might be the partial government shutdown that is disrupting travel. New planes are not being certified¹ to fly. Security screeners and air traffic controllers are working unpaid². Here's more from NPR's David Schaper in Chicago.

DAVID SCHAPER, BYLINE³: I'm here at Chicago's O'Hare Airport standing⁴ next to one of the large CT-80 scanners. It's essentially⁵ a CT scanner for your checked luggage. And the TSA officers who operate this machine, they're here at work lifting the heavy and sometimes odd shaped and overstuffed bags onto the conveyor belt to go through the machine even though come this Friday, if the shutdown continues, they won't get paid. And that presents a severe financial hardship for many of these officers.

CHRISTINE VITEL: I've been here 16 years plus. I am a single mom.

SCHAPER: Christine Vitel is a security screener at O'Hare with a son in college, and she's trying to figure out how she'll pay his tuition. And...

VITEL: I just bought a house. I'm not going to be able to pay my mortgage.

JANIS CASEY: A lot of the officers, they live paycheck to paycheck.

SCHAPER: Janis Casey is president of the Union Local representing TSA employees in Chicago. And she notes that they are among the lowest paid federal employees. Some average $36,000 to $43,000 a year, but start only in the mid-20s. And for some TSA workers and their families, the situation could get dire⁶ rather quickly.

JACINDA: If there's no check on the 26, I have no idea what we're going to do.

SCHAPER: Thirty-six-year-old Jacinda's husband is a TSA officer in Portland. We're not using her last name because she fears he could be fired. They have two kids, a 6-month-old girl and a boy turning 4 at the end of this month. Jacinda says they were planning to buy a few presents and decorations to celebrate, but now they can't.

JACINDA: Our rent is due. The electric bill is due. Our cellphones are now past due.

SCHAPER: Jacinda says her husband's hiring by the TSA three years ago helped lift the family out of poverty. Now she fears the shutdown will set them back.

JACINDA: I'm scared. And I'm trying to be OK because I can't be sad every day for my kids and I can't be stressed out because it effects how I parent. You know, my husband's stressed out too, and he has to go to work and deal with it at work. And, you know, he knows he's working for free, which is ridiculous.

SCHAPER: Even more ridiculous, Jacinda says, is that he came home the other day with instructions on how to file for unemployment while he's still working 40 hours a week. And the situation is not much better for higher paid essential government workers like air traffic controllers.

MICK DEVINE: It's a very high-stress job, and you need to be on your game at all times.

SCHAPER: Mick Devine is with the National Air Traffic Controllers Association in Boston. And he says the shutdown is forcing controllers to make tough financial decisions, and it weighs on them heavily.

DEVINE: There is a concern that as this goes on that the human factors aspect of this shutdown will take a toll⁷ on the psyche⁸ and the concentration level of our members. And they do the best job that they can each and every day.

SCHAPER: Nearly 20 percent of the FAA's 10,000 air traffic controllers are eligible⁹ to retire, and union leaders say some might do that rather than continue to work during the shutdown. There are also concerns that many of the nation's 51,000 TSA employees will quit and find work elsewhere rather than continue to work without pay. Already, a greater number than usual have been calling in sick, and only some FAA safety inspectors¹⁰ are working right now.

DENNIS TAJER: We're starting to see the beginning tremors¹¹ of a situation that will only get worse over time.

SCHAPER: Captain Dennis Tajer is a pilot for American Airlines and a spokesman for the Allied¹² Pilots Association. He says many planes are not being inspected, and pilot training is not being certified.

TAJER: We are able to maintain a margin¹³ of safety and security, but every day, another player is pulled off the field. And there comes some point where the game cannot be played properly.

SCHAPER: Back at O'Hare, air travelers are expressing concerns, too. Here's Ericka Westgard (ph) of Indialantic, Fla.

ERICKA WESTGARD: If TSA is affected¹⁴ and lines do get longer, work could get sloppier¹⁵. They might not be checking things as well, and that's always a concern for safety.

SCHAPER: But Ray Ortiz, who just arrived on a business trip from New York, says he hasn't seen any ill effects from the shutdown yet.

RAY ORTIZ: I flew out of JFK today. Like, I actually showed up early because I thought the wait times might be very long, but it was actually really short today.

SCHAPER: Nonetheless, Ortiz and other air travelers and industry insiders worry that as the shutdown continues, there could be a tipping point where safety and security could be compromised or operations could slow in a commercial aviation system already plagued by delays. David Schaper, NPR News, Chicago.

(SOUNDBITE AFLUEN'S "1412")

1 certified   

a.经证明合格的；具有证明文件的

参考例句：

• Doctors certified him as insane. 医生证明他精神失常。
• The planes were certified airworthy. 飞机被证明适于航行。

2 unpaid   

adj.未付款的，无报酬的

参考例句：

• Doctors work excessive unpaid overtime.医生过度加班却无报酬。
• He's doing a month's unpaid work experience with an engineering firm.他正在一家工程公司无偿工作一个月以获得工作经验。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

5 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

6 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

7 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

8 psyche   

n.精神；灵魂

参考例句：

• His exploration of the myth brings insight into the American psyche.他对这个神话的探讨揭示了美国人的心理。
• She spent her life plumbing the mysteries of the human psyche.她毕生探索人类心灵的奥秘。

9 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

10 inspectors   

n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors. 他们假装成视察员进了学校。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inspectors checked that there was adequate ventilation. 检查员已检查过，通风良好。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 tremors   

震颤( tremor的名词复数 )； 战栗； 震颤声； 大地的轻微震动

参考例句：

• The story was so terrible that It'sent tremors down my spine. 这故事太可怕，它使我不寒而栗。
• The story was so terrible that it sent tremors down my spine. 这故事太可怕，它使我不寒而栗。

12 allied   

adj.协约国的；同盟国的

参考例句：

• Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
• Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。

13 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

14 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

15 sloppier   

adj.过于伤感的( sloppy的比较级 )；宽松的；太稀的；衣着不整的

参考例句：

• Other types of millipedes may curl into a looser, sloppier spiral or form a neat ball. 在同样情况下，其他种类的千足虫可能会蜷缩成较为松散的螺旋形圆盘，或者形成溜圆的圆球。 来自互联网