The Trump administration said Thursday that just 776 air traffic controllers and technicians who worked during the longest government shutdown in history will be awarded $10,000 bonuses for their “perfect attendance.”
“These patriotic men and women never missed a beat and kept the flying public safe throughout the shutdown,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement.
The National Air Traffic Controller Association (NATCA), a labor union for more than 20,000 air industry workers, told Fortune it was informed Thursday afternoon of Duffy’s decision to issue the cash awards to 311 of the workers it represents.
“Although we agree that the work performed by these aviation safety professionals during the shutdown deserves recognition, praise, and our collective gratitude, we are concerned that thousands of air traffic controllers who consistently reported for duty during the shutdown, ensuring the safe transport of passengers and cargo across the nation, while working without pay and uncertain of when they would receive compensation, were excluded from this recognition,” NATCA said in a statement.
The Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS), a union that represents thousands of technicians who support and maintain air traffic control equipment, told Fortune in a statement that just 423 of its members in the FAA’s technical operations division, and an unspecified number of employees in flight program operations, are getting the bonus—even though “well over” 6,000 PASS-represented employees worked without pay during the shutdown.
“It took many hands to ensure that not one delay during the historic 43-day shutdown was attributed to equipment or system failures,” PASS said in a statement.
The FAA did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
Throughout the 43-day shutdown, he took aim at federal aviation workers calling in sick to take up second jobs and pay for essentials, even threatening to dock the workers’ pay earlier this month.
NATCA told Fortune that the union and Duffy had “worked well together to address the negative effects on our bargaining units” throughout the shutdown.
“We look forward to working with the Administration to provide the appropriate recognition to those not covered by the Secretary’s announcement,” the union added.
Pass told Fortune the union is reviewing the information that has been provided by the FAA and is evaluating “how best to ensure that all employees who worked during the shutdown are recognized.”
