MIA workers were promised back pay. For now, Lionel Richie tickets will do.

As she waited in line with her fellow airport workers Friday morning, early for a shift they didn’t know if they would ever be paid for, Sandra Francois wore a long face and held out her hand.

In a white envelope lay her consolation prize for more than a month of unpaid work: tickets to see Lionel Richie and others during Jazz in the Gardens at Hard Rock Stadium.

“We don’t want any handouts honestly, but we’re grateful,” said Francois, a Customs and Border Protection officer at Miami International Airport. She is one of the roughly 3,000 federal workers at the airport — 1,600 from the Transportation Security Administration and 1,400 from CBP — who have been affected by a partial government shutdown that has strained aviation resources nationwide.

She thanked Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert, who said he would offer 5,000 free tickets to the March concert to federal workers at MIA and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, and told reporters times had been tough for her family.

“We want to work and get paid,” she said.

Little did she know the wheels in Washington were turning, and a compromise would soon be reached — if just temporarily.

A few hours later, Trump announced a compromise to temporarily reopen the government. He said the 800,000 federal workers who had not been paid for their toil of the past month will receive the money owed them.

Joy soon swept through the airport terminals in Miami, and employees expressed relief that an agreement had been reached.

Daniel Ronan, the federal security director for TSA in Miami, said Friday morning before Trump’s announcement that the repayment process could take at least a few days.

“Once the shutdown is over, and our funding is restored, they will get all the money that’s due to them for the hours they worked,” he said. “It’ll take a few days at least, if not longer.”

He commended federal aviation employees who maintained their focus during the strain of a shutdown and thanked local businesses and entities for offering up discounts or free meals and gifts to affected employees.

“The outpouring of support has been incredible,” he said. “There’s plenty of these local stakeholders who work with us each and every day all the time [who] recognize the important work that the federal workers do and they’ve come forward and said, ‘In your time of need, we’re going to help you. We’re going to take one little concern off your plate today, so that you can focus on your job.’ And that’s been incredible.”

Johnathan Hubert, a CBP officer at MIA, said he didn’t blame any one political party or lawmaker for the shutdown, but wanted a deal to be struck quickly.

“I can’t say we’re not being treated fairly. I just feel like I wish we would work something out for us to eventually get paid. I don’t like pointing the finger at times like this.”

Hubert said he was happy about receiving the concert tickets. He had been to the festival a few times before and could use a distraction for one night — if his boss gives him the night off.

“I would love [to see] Lionel Richie, man. My wife would love it too,” he said. “[But] we still have to work with management to get our time off.”

This story was originally published January 25, 2019 at 5:01 PM.