this post was submitted on 27 Feb 2025
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Summary

Elon Musk called on retired air traffic controllers to return to work, citing a shortage amid heightened scrutiny of the FAA under Trump's second term.

With DOT Secretary Sean Duffy's support, Musk's DOGE attempts to "upgrade" aviation systems despite recent FAA job cuts.

The AP reports fired employees included radar and navigational aid maintenance personnel, though Duffy insisted no "critical safety personnel" were terminated.

Musk's appeal comes amid increased public concern over recent aviation incidents, though experts consider the uptick an anomaly.

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[–] LettucePrey@lemm.ee 251 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (3 children)

Well if it isn't the consequences of his own actions.

[–] ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world 118 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Fucked around ✅

Found out 👈

[–] Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world 75 points 2 weeks ago (8 children)

Not really, tbh. He's pretty clearly just doing as much damage as he possibly can. This whole "Oooh whoopsie, we did a bad, does anyone want their job back?" shit is pure show to give himself some plausible deniability to keep the guillotines at bay.

If you look at what's happening through the lens of his goal being malice, and ignore the "ooooops!" pony show, what you see is a man who's hamstrung an entire nation with literally zero consequences.

[–] Ioughttamow@fedia.io 16 points 2 weeks ago (6 children)

I wonder if he regrets this one though. If it becomes dangerous to fly he’d have to travel on the ground like a peasant

[–] baltakatei@sopuli.xyz 27 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

He'd sooner take the oligarch route and privatize the FAA, fill it with his own loyalists, then give his flights priority wherever he goes, including whatever private aviation business (e.g. FedEx clone) he wants to push.

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[–] PhilipTheBucket@ponder.cat 59 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Honestly, this one's not even completely his own fault. Standard bureaucratic ossification has been fucking up ATC staffing for years now. The pay is low, the qualifications are steep, and the responsibility and stress is insane. Why would someone do that? And so, people don't. And, on top of them, management from both the business and political sides simply doesn't give a fuck about safety or morale.

The levels of traffic were just recently increased in that DC airspace where the plane hit the helicopter, and at the time, a bunch of qualified people were trying to raise the alarm that some bad shit was going to happen if they stuffed more aircraft into an already overcrowded area. No one in a position to make any of the decisions cared, and they did it anyway. That all happened before Trump and Elmo came into the picture.

Of course, it is true that their own actions have produced some additional consequences now. They've fired a bunch more people and demotivated all the existing or prospective ones pretty much as much as it is possible to do. And, as much as the existing systems are aging and in need of some modernization, it's absolutely guaranteed that whatever Musk does to "improve" them will make them even worse. All I'm saying is that he didn't entirely create the bad situation he is now about to amplify tenfold.

[–] LettucePrey@lemm.ee 29 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

100%. There was a shortage of traffic controllers before the firings even began, this only exacerbated a bad situation.

[–] xmunk@sh.itjust.works 30 points 2 weeks ago

Someone at all familiar with the status of ATC staffing who isn't a complete idiot would clearly not have exacerbated this situation.

I'm a developer - I'd even classify myself as pretty far to the "move fast and break things" end of the spectrum. But I'm a senior developer because I ask questions and understand things and write tests to confirm that understanding and prove a new system correct before fucking breaking them. Once that's done I've totally got a sledgehammer in hand and am wildly swinging it around to rebuild it cleaner but, critically, we do this in a development environment.

This fucker is hot fixing production without a fucking clue how anything works. He's in a little fucking bubble where the only opinions allowed in are "Elon is a genius" and he's drinking the fucking Kool-aid. I've seen executives like that and the only correct response is to jump fucking ship.

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[–] gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 149 points 2 weeks ago (11 children)

"There is a shortage"

ah damn i love that language. reminds me of the boss that abused my mother back when she was still in employment. "there is a shortage, you need to come over on your day off, otherwise we can't handle the workload". how about employing more people? no? maybe because you can't find another fool who will do the work with these bad working conditions?

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[–] radiohead37@lemmynsfw.com 131 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
  1. Claim a federal agency is inefficient
  2. Fire employees and defund agency
  3. Agency performs worse than before
  4. Point finger at the agency showing how it is incompetent
  5. Move to privatize agency
  6. $$$$$$$
[–] AbidanYre@lemmy.world 70 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

That's been the Republican M.O. for like 40 years.

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 23 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)
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[–] JBar2@lemmy.world 106 points 2 weeks ago (7 children)

US law mandates retirement at 56 for Air Traffic Controllers due to the high stress and fast-paced multi-tasking nature of the job

It's considered one of the most mentally challenging jobs there are.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/5/8335

[–] Saleh@feddit.org 16 points 2 weeks ago

I'll just leave that scene from Breakind Bad here. If i was in the US i would not enter any flights for the foreseeable future, unless it is the flight to permanently leave.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDVSKYURgHU

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[–] FrostyCaveman@lemm.ee 96 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

How about you just increase the pay and benefits you’re offering? if you love the efficiencies of the free market so much why don’t you fucking act like it

[–] moody 36 points 2 weeks ago

The free market dictates that in a shortage, the cost of the goods or services must rise to meet the equilibrium of supply and demand. Anything else is surely incredibly inefficient.

[–] chairman@feddit.nl 78 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

This is so easy to fix. Just ask the remaining ATCs to put in 30 more hours per week. If there is a safety law which needs to be amended to make this happen, just amend it. Remove all the rules and safeguards. We should do it like the Tesla factories.

Look. More air accidents will happen. People should be ready to sacrifice themselves. It's that easy.

So easy to fix.

PS: /s for some of you who may need it..

[–] Theonetheycall1845@lemmy.world 28 points 2 weeks ago (7 children)

We also need to brace ourselves for hardship. I mean Elon won't be facing monetary hardships but you will. So brace for that.

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[–] Leviathan@lemmy.world 74 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Fucking beg, fascist bitch.

[–] ddash@lemmy.dbzer0.com 25 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

No no. Pay is what he needs to do.

[–] lka1988@lemmy.dbzer0.com 20 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
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[–] lupusblackfur@lemmy.world 66 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Surprise Surprise Surprise (Gomer Pyle voice)

Just what the fuck did you think was gonna happen Elonia? Fucking idiot...

Leopard, meet face...

🤦‍♀️ 🤷‍♂️ 🖕

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[–] Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world 65 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Yo, air traffic controllers still at work: if y'all have ever considered going on strike, now's the time.

[–] nomugisan@lemmy.dbzer0.com 37 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Easier to quit; last time ATCs went on strike Reagan just fired them all

[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 26 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)
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[–] unmagical@lemmy.ml 65 points 2 weeks ago

"No OnE wAnTs To WoRk AnYmOrE" - guy firing a bunch of people without cause.

[–] odelik@lemmy.today 62 points 2 weeks ago (6 children)

I used to work for Amazon in a division I didn't feel grimey for. Spent over 7 years of my life in that division, doing great things and recurringly got top performer review status and was even awarded role model on top of that on several occasions.

Then they laid me off in 2023, after my latest review of "top performer" & award of "role model".

About 2 weeks ago a recruiter reached out to me for a role in AWS and I responded with, "Amazon shouldn't have laid me, a top performer and role model, off if they'd like me to work for them."

ATCs should give this response to Musk.

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[–] ATDA@lemmy.world 59 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah I'm sure they're just RARING to work for the most publicly toxic boss (that isn't even a boss) in the world...

[–] inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world 58 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (5 children)

As a guy who has to travel for work. I hope that these guys tell him to pound fucking sand

Really highlights how stupid Republicans and Musk really is and how his companies thrived despite his leadership not because.

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[–] m0darn@lemmy.ca 52 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I was told there was no such thing as a shortage in a free market, why won't the executive branch embrace free market economics?

[–] Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world 21 points 2 weeks ago

Musk is discovering he can't hire foreign workers to replace people at will. That some federal workers perform highly specialized and high stress tasks that you can't fix with his typical knuckle dragging tactics.

[–] arin@lemmy.world 49 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Pay more wages, the way of a free market is supply and demand

[–] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 17 points 2 weeks ago

There's no such thing as a labor shortage.

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 40 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Time to renegotiate salary!

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[–] MehBlah@lemmy.world 39 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

Oh he needs those useless federal workers? Most of those people remember what reagan did and feel no loyalty at all to the republican party.

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[–] Kalysta@lemm.ee 36 points 2 weeks ago

The shortage is his own damn fault. I wouldn’t want to work any government job right now.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 35 points 2 weeks ago

Fucking clown show

[–] Phoenicianpirate@lemm.ee 31 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

But what happened to move fast and break things?

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 19 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

They’re broken. We’re onto step 2

  1. Move fast and break things
  2. ???
  3. Profit
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[–] gedaliyah@lemmy.world 26 points 2 weeks ago

"Look, it's nobody's fault, and we don't know how this happened, but for unforeseeable reasons we have a shortage."

Narrator: It was forseen, they do know how it happened, and it was his fault.

[–] foggy@lemmy.world 24 points 2 weeks ago (10 children)

10 years salary up front. In gold.

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[–] imvii@lemmy.ca 23 points 2 weeks ago

"I clear cut the forest and now there is a shortage of trees. Woe is me."

[–] Lettuceeatlettuce@lemmy.ml 19 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Would love to see the rest of them strike and bring the entire air travel/transport network to its knees.

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[–] nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 19 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Most of them retire at or near the age they're legally required to retire, they cannot come back. He's either trying to ask for the people he fired to come back without looking like the moron most people see him for or too dumb to realize even that.

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 19 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)
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[–] brygphilomena@lemmy.dbzer0.com 18 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

What I wouldn't give to be able to say "Fuck You" to his face.

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[–] Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 2 weeks ago

He is easily the worst person there is to ask for it.

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