Canadian Air Traffic Controllers Are Buying Pizza for Their Unpaid American Colleagues

The United States government shutdown has now dragged on for nearly a month, a period in which federal workers South of the Border have gone unpaid.

As a gesture of goodwill, Canadian air traffic controllers across the country are buying pizza for their American colleagues.

The movement first came to light on reddit, where one employee at the New York Air Traffic Control Center, in Ronkonkoma, N.Y. uploaded the following image:

Not to mention, the pizza looked pretty fantastic.

Air traffic control centres in Canada and the United States are often in close contact. After the image went viral, more stories of similar gestures began to emerge.

“Many controllers who work for the [Federal Aviation Administration] literally got paycheques that said $0.00, and many are doing overtime, working holidays, nights, weekends, and are in facilities that are already very short-staffed,” said David Lombardo, who posted the original image to reddit. There is currently no end to the shutdown in sight.

This isn’t the first notable expression of hospitality Gander, in particular, has shown Americans in troubled times. ‘Operation Yellow Ribbon’ saw 38 stranded airliners, totalling 6,122 passengers and 473 crew, sheltered at Gander International Airport following the 9/11 attacks.