My wife is a VA nurse - works in the ICU. Spent a half hour today helping a WWII veteran pee.
Don't forget that these drones were ALL MANAGEMENT. The air traffic controllers didn't get so much as a Christmas Ham.
This contract they were "reviewing" had not only been in effect for 2 months, it was essentially the same one that the FAA scrapped 3 years earlier after being in effect for over ten years. An arbitrator, finally allowed to review the non-negotiated employee regulations promulgated by Management, tossed the FAA employee regs and hammered out what was in place before.
$5 million is an FAA "estimate" that encompasses airline tickets for all managers and supervisors and clerical staff, their room and board, and their attendant SALARIES for that week. $5 million is a conservative estimate.