Whitmire Says Airport Delays Due To "TSA Employees Not Coming To Work"-He Blamed Cities For Trump's National Guard

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Mayor John Whitmire says the big delays at Bush and Hobby Airport are because of “…TSA employees not coming to work.” He said this at the Wednesday, 11/5, session of Houston City Council. 

The full quote is “First of all let me just thank the airport system for dealing with unbearable conditions due to TSA employees not coming to work.” It is at the one hour 26 minute point of yesterday's (11/6) Council session. Above you see Mayor Whitmire in his comments yesterday. 

There are reasons TSA staff are missing work. 

From NPR station WHYY In Philadelphia: 

​"Morale is low right now for Philadelphia International Airport worker...said Joe Shuker, Region 7 vice president for AFGE Council 100, the union representing Philly’s Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers.  How low? “On a scale of 1 to 10, we’re a negative-2 right now,” he said. The last paycheck that airport workers received reflected the start of the shutdown and was several hundred dollars short, Shuker said..... The lack of pay is going to stress out TSA workers who are already working high-stakes jobs. “You got us down here checking for bombs,” he said....They’re going to be distracted at some point,” he said. “They’re going to be worried about how they’re going to feed their kid, and how they’re getting to work tomorrow.”  He said some workers may not be able to cover childcare costs without subsequent paychecks. Additionally, he said he has spoken to employees who are struggling to cover the price of gas or tolls to travel to work. "

​Surely there was a union representative or advocate Mayor Whitmire could have brought to Council for public testimony about why TSA is not at work. That would have helped the public understand what the workers are enduring. 

The government shutdown due to the white supremacist, authoritarians running the country also has a lot to do with TSA employees not coming to work. 

According the Mayor Whitmire, everyone is to blame other than Donald Trump and the far-right for the federal government attacks on Houston and cities across the country. 

​Here is what Mayor Whitmire said in a recent interview with the New York Times:

“Most major cities are in turmoil,” Mr. Whitmire said. “We’re not.”.......With rhetoric escalating over immigration raids and National Guard troop deployments, Mayor Whitmire is betting that the best way to govern a large American city right now is to keep your head down.....Mr. Whitmire, in a series of interviews with The New York Times, faulted other Democratic mayors such as Brandon Johnson in Chicago and Karen Bass in Los Angeles for loud public challenges to the president over immigration enforcement and other issues that have only deepened divisions."

There is no major city in "turmoil."  To the extent there is trouble, it is because ICE is terrorizing people and federal troops are being sent where not needed. Is Mayor Whitmire telling us he'll say nothing if low-flying federal helicopters are used to raid Houston apartment buildings like we saw in Chicago?

Our abusers are the problem. Not us. Not TSA employees. Not the immigrants ICE is brutalizing. The problem is the people in power. Not the people out of power and out of a paycheck. 

When habeas corpus is suspended or Harris County elections are interfered with by the state and federal government in 2026, Mayor Whitmire will know just who to blame. 

He'll blame us. 

​I'm on the Egberto Willies Politics Done Right Show every Thursday from 6 AM to 7 AM for the Houston Democracy Project segment. You can hear the show on the radio, stream it on KPFT or watch later on Egberto's YouTube channel.​​​​​

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