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Kelowna  

Pizzas across the border

Air traffic controllers at Kelowna International Airport joined others across the country to show solidarity with their brothers and sisters south of the border.

Both air traffic control controllers and TSA officials are caught up in the partial government shutdown in the United States.

Workers who control the air space are considered essential and, despite the shutdown, have been forced to stay on the job without being paid. The shutdown over funding for a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico is more than three weeks old.

To show their support, Kelowna air traffic controllers sent more than a dozen pizzas to their counterparts in Reno, NV, and Rockford, Ill.

Ryan Christensen, an air traffic controller at YLW, and branch chair of the local chapter of the CATCA union, said the local group was given the contact for the operation in Reno.

"I left a message then sent an email, but the email actually went to Rockford, Ill. The FAA list was wrong," he said.

"I said it didn't matter to us, we're just trying to cover as many as we can, so we'd be happy to buy pizza."

Christensen said they agreed to send lunch to the Rockford air traffic controllers yesterday,and after that was arranged, he got a call back from Reno.

"We figured we'd do it for them as well."

It worked out to 16-large pizzas between the two operations.

All small price to pay, he says, to support those in the United States working without pay.

The gesture started late last week when air traffic controllers in Edmonton sent pizzas to their counterparts in Anchorage, AK.

To date Christensen says Canadian air traffic controllers have sent about 375 pizzas to 75 units in the U.S.



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