By late July, 17 air traffic controllers will be expected to trade in their headsets, walk out of their aging workplace on Long Island and report to a new office in Philadelphia, part of a plan to address a long-running problem with recruiting enough controllers to manage the skies around New York.

Despite the hefty incentives they have been offered to go along, the workers — unwilling to uproot themselves and their families — are balking at the move, and some powerful members of Congress are helping them fight back.

In a blistering letter sent to the Federal Aviation Administration last week, a group of New York lawmakers, including Senator Chuck Schumer, a Democrat and the majority leader, demanded that the agency abandon plans to force the employees’ relocation this summer.

The move places undue hardship on those workers, legislators argued. The “forced reassignments” by the F.A.A., Mr. Schumer and his colleagues wrote, are “both confusing and outrageous.” The controllers say their family lives would be disrupted, citing new marriages, disabled children and elderly parents they care for. read more https://aiapkpro.com/disruptions-loom-as-17-air-traffic-controllers-balk-at-job-relocation/