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We are reshaping or challenging prevailing perspectives on current events. "Change The Narrative" reflects an intention to not only inform but also inspire listeners to engage with current events thoughtfully and proactively.
Wesley Knight 0:00
This is a KU NV studios original program. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 jazz and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education. Dave
Rico White 0:30
Good morning and welcome to change the narrative. And we are a program that encourages diverse perspectives, foster critical thinking, promote positive change, and we highlight unrepresented stories, and we are joined here today with one of my guests. Go ahead and introduce yourself.
Keith White 0:48
So my name is Keith white. I am the local political coordinator for the state of Nevada, representing a, F, G, E, which is our local union here in the state of Nevada for TSA.
Rico White 1:03
Okay. And my other guest,
Marcos Crespo 1:05
hi, everyone. My name is Marcos Crespo. I am vice president of AFGE local 1250 for the state of Nevada, representing TSA.
Rico White 1:15
Officers. Okay, so with change the narrative, we want to reflect on the intention to not only inform but also inspire listeners to engage with current events thoughtfully and proactively. And in saying that we are in the midst of a shutdown, is that right?
Keith White 1:32
Yes, we are. Yes. We are definitely in the middle of a shutdown, hopefully coming to the end. We are. We are really starting to feel it. We felt it, but we're really, really coming to our coming to our end, to try to figure a way out of this.
Rico White 1:50
Okay, okay, well, let's, let's just jump right into it. I mean, we can, we can Hosh posh around, but let's just get right into the meat and potatoes. Now, how has this shutdown affected TSA employees in the terms of pay and job security, either one of you guys can answer that,
Marcos Crespo 2:08
yeah, with the pay, especially, we've missed now three paychecks, so it's definitely affecting that the pay people are struggling out there, you know, you missed the first paycheck. You know, it's kind of okay. All right, you missed the second one. Then Okay, now, what do I do? And now you missed the third one. Now you're kind of out of options at that point, so you're just kind of looking for help. Anywhere at that point, has
Rico White 2:34
there been help? I mean, basically, are all of the employees impacted equally, whether they are furloughed or how are the paychecks effective? I mean, let's go into that. You want to you want to take that one?
Keith White 2:46
Yeah, we've had some help as as the local political coordinator for the state, we've reached out to our local Congresswoman Dina Titus. We've reached out to Congressman Steven hornsford, as well as Congresswoman Susie Lee. We also have direct contacts with the senator, Senator Jackie Rosen, as well as Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, Dena Titus, Congresswoman Dina Titus, we went and sat and had a meeting with her, and she asked us, What do we need? And we kind of stressed her that we need help from the community, she was gracious enough to reach out to the gaming industry as well as the convention center, and we were able to get gas cards so that we were able to come to work. I believe they supplied us with about 1200 gas cards for our airport. How much were they? $50 gas cards. So that has helped us out tremendously, and I certainly want to let the community of Las Vegas know without the support of the community, we would not have been able to withstand
Rico White 3:50
So are there any changes to TSA operations during the shutdown? I mean, will there be reduced staffing, or has there been reduced staffing? And if so, how does that reduce staffing directly affect the airline industry as a whole.
Keith White 4:05
We haven't had a reduction in staffing. However, there have been some employees who just could not make it to work. Overall, we have a have a great staff. People have showed up to work every single solitary day. We understand how important the mission is. Here. We're all mission essential employees. So the employees have continued to come to work. You can kind of see that people are being affected. And if you can't make it to work, you can't make it to work, there have been reduction by the administration as far as airspace is concerned. So there's been a reduction in cancelation of flights, but overall, employees have continued to show up to work each and every day.
Rico White 4:55
Okay, so you notice that in other airports around. The country, they've had longer wait times decreased. The efficiency at the security checkpoints has that happened at your particular checkpoints throughout the airport,
Marcos Crespo 5:11
we have had a couple of incidences, but nothing like the one in Houston, nothing crazy like that. Our wait times have been consistently five to 10 minutes. I think when they get bad, maybe 30 to 45 minutes, but it's we've not reached an hour or anything crazy like that.
Rico White 5:30
Okay? And if you do reach an hour, let's just say that happens. Then what do you guys do? I mean, is there some type of contingency plan that you guys have in place that will reduce that, that wait time,
Marcos Crespo 5:42
no one passenger at a time. There's not much we could do the we got to work with the staffing we got, you know, it's sounds bad, but it is what it is. You know, one passenger at a time. We're not there really for efficiency. We're there for security.
Rico White 5:59
So, okay, let's talk about the benefits and support. So what resources or support does the union provide to members during a shutdown or during this particular shutdown,
Keith White 6:14
as far as the information, you know, we continue to support all of our members and non members as well. They come to us requesting information on benefits, on on different resources within the community. We, as union officials, are a resource of information. We can help direct a lot of our union members to some of the food pantries that are located throughout the city. As far as gas cards are concerned, we can tell them how to do that. There are other organizations within the community where they're able to apply for unemployment benefits. We supply information on getting assistance through Nevada energy and and as far as some of the local banks that are helping out with this, this shutdown that we have. So even though there's a government shutdown, the union that we have, AFGE, has continued to function as normal and supplying information to all of our union members, so we keep everybody informed. Myself and Marcos over here are definitely staying in contact with our national organization and some of our leadership at the top, the information filters down to us, and then we get it out to the members.
Rico White 7:35
Okay, this is a little sidebar here. It's a golden nugget I heard. I heard Yuki were instrumental and correct me if I'm wrong. All right, Marcos in securing some of the gas cards or talking to some of the legislators, and because of that, you were able to get food get gas cards. And I just want to recognize you if that, if that is the case, is that the case?
Marcos Crespo 8:04
Mark, that's absolutely the case. Yeah. Keith is our local or legislative political coordinator. Okay, so he meets with members of Congress here in the state as well, with two senators for the state. And yeah, absolutely with his communication, Steven Horsford has been amazing. He's come out to the airport, I believe, like three or four times already, simply just to talk to people and to visit the food pantry. Susie Lee, she has done the exact same thing. Dena Titus, like he said, reached out to the gaming industry for us, the two senators have been amazing. They're like, yeah, they've Dave really stood up here and helped us out when we needed it.
Rico White 8:47
All right. Well, congratulations on that. I this is a negotiation union question, is the Union currently negotiating with management about any issues arising from the shutdown, and if so, what specific concerns are being addressed.
Keith White 9:03
We haven't negotiated anything with them as of yet because of the shutdown. When the shutdown is over with, we have some employees who just couldn't make it to work. So we have to see where that stands. Some of the employees were furloughed. Some of the employees, just like I said, couldn't make it to work. So we'll be in direct communication with our leadership team once this is over with, so we can see how we move forward with our with our employees. Yeah, it's it's gonna be interesting once this this shutdown is over with on how we move forward with the employees that just were not able to make it we're not able to make it to work. So we'll see what happens with that. Okay? And you're the LPC, right? That is correct. And what does that stand for? Legislative, political coordinator, local political coordinator. So, so my job is to kind of work a. Like Marco said, with with our senators, with our local Congress officials, anytime we need help, we, like I said, we can reach out to them directly. And like Marco said, I want to give a special shout out to Senator Jackie Rosen and also to Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, who both signed on to to reopen the government, which is ultimately what we wanted. I know it was, it was probably a tough decision for them to actually do that. I can tell you that I was on the phone on a regular basis, calling our local as well as national senators congressmen, encouraging them to to open up, to reopen the government. I was on the phone calling Chuck Schumer's office. I called just a ton of Senators and Congressmen throughout the country to encourage them to reopen the government. I know that there are a lot of issues on a national level, but as far as you know, 5 million or so employees that are not getting paid for 43 days. That affects us directly. So we needed this government to reopen. We're happy that we're moving in that direction to reopen the government, and we're just we just want to thank you for all the support that our two senators here in state, Nevada have given us,
Rico White 11:23
okay, so do you guys have any legislative solutions or protection, protections for employees that you're going to be pushing for currently?
Marcos Crespo 11:33
No, we're on a local level. We don't really do the local bargaining like that. That's more on a national level. All right, that's fair. There is laws in place where we should be getting paid back, paid for the time that we worked. There's always a question of what if, but yeah, definitely should be getting paid for the time that we worked.
Rico White 11:55
Okay, let's talk about the long, the long term impact of what this shutdown is done, some of the anticipated long term effects, but basically, let's go into the perhaps staffing shortages, morale issues among employees, future policy changes affecting TSA operations, or anything along that lines. Is any of that kind of come into play?
Keith White 12:23
Yeah, absolutely, some of the long term effects, I think that, you know, I think people are finally reaching their breaking point, which I'm surprised that we've survived this long. But you can see overall morale, the break rooms a little quieter than they normally are. You know, my job is to help continue to lift the spirits of of the employees up. We always try to encourage each other to, you know, keep your head up. This, this is not their fault. I try to explain that to them, but as far as long term effects, I mean, you know, going 30 days without being able to pay your bills will definitely affect your credit. You know there are people who who have received eviction notices. People have received shut off notices. I know somebody had seven day quick notices as far as rent is concerned. So yeah, this, this is definitely going to have some long term effects on on a lot of the employees who were not able to to overcome this shutdown. And yeah, we're just praying that this is a that this is over with. Yeah, long term effects will definitely happen to a lot of these employees. Marcos was here during the last shutdown, and he might be able to tell you some of the stuff that happened back in 2019
Marcos Crespo 13:54
Yeah, the first shutdown was pretty rough. For 35 days. I never thought we would pass that? Yeah, it's not easy. And I think part of the long term, term effect on employees is, you know, you've been through one shutdown. You've been through two shutdowns. There's the constant fear of shutdown. This seems like every year there's a possible shutdown this one hour. If this works out, we might get a continuing resolution to the end of January, and we'll, you know, where will we be at come February 1. We might be right back where we're at right now.
Rico White 14:33
Oh, yeah, and I and that is a real possibility, being that this, this resolution, if that's what you want to call it, is only going through January, and then, like you said, we may be back in this, this mess again. So how can the employees stay informed about their rights and any changes during the shutdown? How is the communication being brought to them?
Keith White 14:58
We're constantly in kind. Tech with, with all of our members and also non members as well. We have, we have a couple of different pages in which we get information from our leadership nationally, in which we pass the information down to to all of our members. We have union stewards that are throughout TSA, in which they hold briefings, and they're giving information on a regular basis to pass it on to all of our members and non members as well. So we do have a pipeline of information that constantly flows through our union stores as well as our leadership, our local leadership here in Las Vegas as well. So employees stay well informed. Anytime we get any new news, we constantly give that information out to to all of our employees. So they pretty much stay informed.
Marcos Crespo 15:50
We were both officers on the floor, so we both are out there screening with everyone else. So okay, we see these people, and we talk to them and and they talk to us, you know.
Rico White 16:00
Okay, now it's also helpful to know how receptive the union is to member concerns. You agree with that, okay? And understanding the process for gathering feedback can empower employees to voice their experiences and their suggestions. So how is the union collecting feedback from members about their experiences during the shutdown?
Keith White 16:23
That's a great question. We actually have our stewards collect and gather information on a regular basis. Okay? They, in turn, bring that information back to us. We still have a direct relationship with leadership here at TSA. Any of the concerns that they have, we are able to get that information back to our leadership team. Like as far as the food pantries that we have, they constantly let our stewards know what they need. In turn, they bring that information to us. We pass that information on to leadership, and that is how we are able to address the majority of the concerns for our employees, whether there's a shutdown or not, there's information that we we have a gathering team basically, that gathers information on a regular basis, lets us know what our members and our non members need, and again, they pass that information to us. We take it to leadership, and that's how changes are made here at our local TSA.
Rico White 17:23
Okay, that's pretty good. That's pretty good because it's necessary. Because if I was a TSA employer and I wasn't getting the scoop, I don't know if I would want to hang around, you know? I just, I just don't know. So you need a good union and good union stewards to be able to to address those issues. So let's let's talk about the future preparedness. So let's discuss what steps the union is going to take to advocate for measures that can prevent the negative impact of future shutdowns. And this can involve proposed legislation or changes in policy, or better protection, better protection for employees. So what measures is the union advocating for to prevent or mitigate the impact of future shutdowns for TSA employees?
Marcos Crespo 18:11
I think one piece of legislation that would definitely help the situation with these ongoing shutdowns would be to pay office, to just pay people if you want to shut down the government, that's fine, but the people who are still forced to go out there and work every day pay those people for going out there and working every day. It's not fair that you know these these people that have no responsibility with what happened. But here we go.
Rico White 18:37
Yeah, that's a long time. I don't know how you guys did it.
Keith White 18:41
It's unbelievable that that my co workers have have withstand it's a pretty remarkable to walk around and see employees constantly show up to work each and every day. It's it's almost a miracle to see that employees are still keeping their heads up, coming to work on a regular basis, but we're doing it somehow, through, you know, the union support, I will say, we constantly are doing everything we can to uplift the spirits. And a lot of the employees are kind of leaning on each other. I've encouraged them to kind of pour into each other and and when you ask somebody how they're doing, not just how you're doing at work. How are you doing outside of work? We all know how we're doing here, but how's your family? How are your kids doing? How are you how are you maintaining outside of work? I think that's really, really important to constantly, like I said, pour into each other and lean on each other for support the morale you know, can sometimes get a little low, but as we continue to show up to work on a regular basis, we kind of lean on each other to get
Rico White 19:50
through this. Okay, let's stay on that same subject real quick, because you said you want to, you want to try to make sure, you want to find out how they're doing, not. Just at work, but at home and in there, in real life, in real life situations. So what efforts are being made to support workers who may face financial difficulties due to this shutdown? I know you said you were getting gas cards and I mean, are they doing loans? Are they? I mean, how, what is the union doing? Or what can the union do?
Marcos Crespo 20:21
The union, they can't really do loans like that. If you Yeah, it's tough. If you could go to a bank, you could go to a credit union, those guys are offering loans, but a lot of those, like the Navy credit was offering a pretty good loan program, but you had to have an account with them going into the shutdown. So that's kind of limits the amount of people that could participate in that. But yeah, it's tough because we can't. The Union doesn't really have the at least locally, we just, our local is Nevada and Arizona, so we don't have the funds to, you know, be able to afford loans to people. So, you know, we do what we could do, gift cards, gas cards, food, here and there, whenever we can, you know. So it's tough.
Rico White 21:10
So if I hear you correctly, there's nothing in place. But what initiatives could be in place to assist those facing financial hardships due to the shutdown, moving forward. You know, this can include partnerships with local organizations or financial planning resources. I mean, because we're right around the corner, January is right around the corner, and if we go through this again, are you guys putting these, these contingency plans in place? And like I said, you know, partnerships with local organizations, financial planning resources and things of that nature. Or will you be Yeah, we're
Marcos Crespo 21:45
going to continue to work with members of Congress and the senators here in the state, try to get whatever support we could get. Going forward, I'm sure this won't be the last shutdown, so I'm sure we'll be here again eventually. So hopefully, by that time, you know, we'll kind of be better, a little bit better prepared for it. Unfortunately, that's that's kind of the new reality we live in.
Keith White 22:10
And there are some, there are some federal organizations that are helping employees out. If you go online, there's a couple of federal organizations that do have some loans. It's not the Union, but there are organizations that are out there to help federal employees. This is more on a national level, okay, I don't think it's a whole lot. I know there's one program that was given employees $150 depending on your circumstances, but there are some federal employee or federal programs that are helping employees out. But of course, it's not to the amount that employees need rent. I mean, we make $65,000 a year after after taxes and everything. The real raw numbers are people bringing home $3,500 if your rents 1500 if your daycare is 1500 your car note is 500 you're already starting off in the hole, so even with the organizations, it still doesn't provide enough for the employees to actually pay their bills right now. So you know, we're encouraged that the government is going to be reopening soon, and hopefully we can get back on track. Hopefully this doesn't done it hasn't done as much harm as we think it has done. So then employees will be able to get back on to a place where we're able to catch up on some of our bills that a lot of the employees are struggling with right now.
Rico White 23:33
Okay, we're gonna be heading toward the end of our show, but I've got one more question. This is a good one. Now, what kind of action steps are you guys taking? What can members do to support each other and the Union during this time and moving forward in the future? Oh, you like that mark. Oh, you referring it over there?
Keith White 23:55
Well, well, we continue to to look for our expansion within the union, we are constantly recruiting, talking to new members and potential new members to expand. There's nothing more powerful than than than a union. I've been in the Union since 1995 My first one was with the American Postal Workers Union, and then I was with CWA, which is the Communication Workers of America. When I worked at a communication company, members of the Union stick together and speak as one voice. So as we move forward, we continue to encourage not just our local union, but unions all over the country to constantly build up their membership, speak as one voice, collectively as one voice, we are a powerful organization. When you have one voice, speaking for the entire amount of people here at our local union, there's a lot more that can get done by like I said, speaking collect. Effectively of one voice. So as we, as we move forward, we continue to encourage folks to look into their local unions here and abroad, so that you become an organization that speaks as one, so that that is how I see us moving in the future.
Rico White 25:17
Okay, well, we are like I said. We were talking about almost being at the end. But I just want to thank you guys, because inviting varied viewpoints, the show seeks to broaden the conversation surrounding important issues such as this, and moving beyond the mainstream narratives. Because the you know, we get one story one way, and we get another story another way, but when we got it coming from the horse's mouth directly, we are more informed, and we can appreciate that. Closing out what any anything you want to say to your families. You want to get some shout outs. You want to look at Marcos. That smile, man, that smile is just setting it up, baby.
Marcos Crespo 25:58
Sorry. Yeah, I would like to give out a shout out to the AFL CIO here in Las Vegas, okay, along with all the other local unions who have helped us out, we've had stuff donated to us at the food bank. The support, not only for the community, from the our other local unions in town, members of Congress. There are two senators. Everybody. The support has been amazing. And I just wanted to give a shout out to all of them.
Keith White 26:30
And I also would like to say this is an unbelievable community. We could not have done this. We would not have survived with all of the community help that we've received from the gaming industry, from the different casinos, from the convention center, everybody has pitched in on a regular basis to help us get through this. There's no way we would have made it through had we not had the help of the local community. I know that there's a lot of airports throughout the country who did not get the support that we have. We have food pantries, we had food drives, we had gas cards, we had different organizations that helped us out tremendously. So a shout out to the to the Las Vegas community as well as, like Marco said, all the political leaders, I don't want to leave anybody out again. Congresswoman Dina Titus, Congresswoman Susie Lee, Congress, Congressman Steve Horsford, as well as our two senators, and we absolutely Senator Jackie Rosen and Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for all of your support in helping us get through this.
Rico White 27:37
All right, so again, thank you for being a part of change the narrative, which is on 91 five and we broadcast on Sundays, we will definitely have informative, empowering action, suggesting that dialog can influence perceptions and lead to societal transformations. So that was a mouthful. I don't even know if I should have said all that again, change the narrative. I'm your host, Rico white, and we will be back. All right,
Keith White 28:04
thank you so much. Guys. Appreciate it. All right. All right. You.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai