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NEPACMS presents concert at Penn State Wilkes-Barre’s Hayfield House

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Crestwood seventh-grade students participate in Career Day

<p>PITTSTON TWP. &#8212; With more than a decade as an air traffic controller under his belt, Dan Campanella is no stranger to working long hours and on holidays, always under high stress.</p><p>He&#8217;s become accustomed to being paid for these things, however.</p><p>Thanks to the record-setting federal government shutdown, Campanella and his colleagues at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport (AVP) have been working unpaid for weeks, including holiday pay for Christmas Eve, Christmas and New Year&#8217;s Day.</p><p>The last paycheck they received was a partial paycheck, for hours worked prior to Christmas Eve, he added.</p><p>&#8220;Morale is low. Right now our pay status is no pay, indefinitely,&#8221; Campanella, 31, said during a press conference at the airport Thursday morning to announce a food drive for federal workers there.</p><p>Under the &#8220;Team AVP helping Team AVP&#8221; initiative, specially marked bins have been placed in the terminal&#8217;s main doorways to solicit donations of non-perishable foods and household products to assist approximately 100 employees and their families who are struggling through the shutdown.</p><p>&#8220;We all know that thousands of federal employees are working without being paid, including employees of the TSA, air traffic control and customs and border protection at airports across the country, including AVP,&#8221; airport Executive Director Carl R. Beardsley said. &#8220;We simply want to help our team members.&#8221;</p><p>Beardsley was joined by Luzerne County Councilman Tim McGinley and Lackawanna County Commissioner Patrick O&#8217;Malley.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m outraged, actually,&#8221; O&#8217;Malley said of the shutdown. &#8220;For these employees, this could destroy their credit, destroy their lives.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Our unsung heroes here who make sure that our planes are safe, make sure that there&#8217;s nothing unsafe put in baggage that goes on planes and make sure that your family and friends are taken care of? They&#8217;re being hurt right now,&#8221; O&#8217;Malley added. &#8220;Call your U.S. senators, call the president, get our people back to work. Get their checks to them.&#8221;</p><p>McGinley also called on federal lawmakers to end the impasse.</p><p>&#8220;The people in Washington need to sit down in a bipartisan way and work this problem out so that people who are out there working every day and providing vital services every day get their just compensation,&#8221; McGinley said.</p><p>He appealed to &#8220;our caring communities in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties&#8221; to support the food drive in the meanwhile.</p><p>&#8220;This is a great airport because of the people who work here,&#8221; McGinley added.</p><p>Air traffic controllers tend to relocate far from home said Campanella, who lives in Taylor but is originally from the Philadelphia area. That means they often find themselves far from their families and support systems.</p><p>&#8220;One of the biggest misconceptions I&#8217;ve noticed circulating around, especially on social media, is that all federal employees have easy, overpaid jobs and if we&#8217;re struggling right now it&#8217;s our own fault,&#8221; said Campanella, who has been relying on his wife&#8217;s income as a dietitian.</p><p>&#8220;That is wrong. We&#8217;re all neighbors, and if my neighbor was struggling I wouldn&#8217;t hate on them,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It&#8217;s not like you can plan for the next month. It&#8217;s indefinitely. When the president says months or years, how do you plan for that?&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Officials at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport talk about collection barrels that have been set up to accept donations of non-perishable food and toiletries for federal employees affected by the government shutdown. From left are airport Executive Director Carl Beardsley, Luzerne County Councilman Tim McGinley, Lackawanna County Commissioner Patrick O&#8217;Malley and AVP Assistant Director Gary Borthwick. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/web1_TTL011819Federal3-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Officials at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport talk about collection barrels that have been set up to accept donations of non-perishable food and toiletries for federal employees affected by the government shutdown. From left are airport Executive Director Carl Beardsley, Luzerne County Councilman Tim McGinley, Lackawanna County Commissioner Patrick O&#8217;Malley and AVP Assistant Director Gary Borthwick. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/web1_TTL011819Federal1-4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Dan Campanella, an air traffic controller at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport, talks about how not getting paid during the federal government shutdown has impacted him. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/web1_TTL011819Federal1-4.jpg</photo1><caption1>Dan Campanella, an air traffic controller at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport, talks about how not getting paid during the federal government shutdown has impacted him. </caption1><photoCredit1>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Airport launches food drive for shutdown-impacted federal workers</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Roger DuPuis</p><p>rdupuis@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>To donate</strong></p><p>&#8226; Canned and dry non-perishable foods, paper products, toiletries and other items are accepted.</p><p>&#8226; All items must be unopened. Airport officials ask that donors do not bring cash, gift cards, clothing or perishable goods.</p><p>&#8226; Look for bins at the airport terminal entrances.</p></factboxMeta></div>