NWP “Hot Sheet” Week of 7-30-07

NWP Reps/Members,

There is an old adage that we must never forget history or we are doomed to repeat it.  As such it is time to remember that on August 3, 1981, thousands of Air Traffic Controllers went on strike to protest their abhorrent working conditions and the lack of respect that they got from their employer, the Federal Aviation Administration.

It would seem that the FAA has forgotten history because here we are twenty six years later and we find that the FAA has not changed much and if anything has regressed.  Safe working conditions for its employees are no longer a concern for the FAA.  Adequate and safe staffing of the world’s busiest and most complex Air Traffic Control system is no longer a concern. Respect for its employees is out the door only to be replaced with a headlong rush to consolidate facilities, institute a fee based system which is the first step towards privatization, destroying employee morale, and only caring about the “bottom line”.

What we, as NATCA members, need to learn from those brothers and sisters who went on strike twenty six years ago is resilience, dedication and sacrifice.  We need to move away from the “Me-Me” type of attitude that serves only the agency.  We are in the fight of our lives and we need everyone to step up and help if we are to prevail.  If we continue to come in and put in our eight hours a day and hope that things will magically fix themselves then we need a serious wake up call.  We actually have two facilities in this region in which no one is willing, or able, to step up and lead.  You have got to be kidding me!

In order to improve our dictatorial working conditions and pay rules, we need to open our eyes and lend a hand. We need to help our Facility Reps and not just sit back and watch.  It is time to remember and learn from our history and to become involved.

Ham
NWP RVP

• The week started off early on Sunday with calls from Jim Corey and Steve Merlin at SCT that they had lost the radar feed for PSP once again.  I was advised by the FAA that the problems with the radar failures are with the FTI lines and the manual modems that they have installed at the radar site.  The feed failed on two separate occasions on Sunday.  I advised Pat Forrey, Doug Church, Frank McCarthy, and a host of others that need to be kept up to speed on this issue.  I also emailed Terminal Service Area Director Teri Bristol about the absolute need to have a telcon regarding the outage on Monday, since I was advised that they didn’t know why it went out and how it came back up!

• First thing on Monday, I contacted AOPA, Senator’s Boxer and Feinstein, as well as Congresswoman Bono’s office regarding the multiple radar outages at SCT.

• Garth Koleszar, ZLA Facility Rep and NWP LR rep, assisted a member out of E10 while Mike Puffer took a well deserved vacation.

• Here is a very nice legislative update from Scott Conde, ZOA Facility Rep:

“There has been a lot of activity on Capitol Hill lately, but as is consistent with Congress the wheels of democracy turn VERY slowly. The House passed the Hastings Amendment that would eliminate the funding for the FAA’s forced consolidation of Approach Control’s across the country. This Bill will be in the main Appropriations Bill that comes to the President, but he has threatened a veto of this Bill just like the majority of the others that are set to come to him from this democratically controlled Congress.

On the contract front there will not be an “Up/Down” vote on the House version of FAA Reauthorization until after the August Congressional Recess. Congress reconvenes on September 4th and a vote on that Bill is expected shortly there after. Keep in mind that the FAA’s current authorization expires on September 30th, so that is the driving deadline for Congress. In the Senate they are much further away from a Bill that can be voted on by the Senate body. They will be extremely lucky to get something finished by the September 30th deadline. Once both chambers have a finished Bill they will need to reconcile the differences in committee. This process will probably take them well past the September 30th deadline. All of this is pointing toward a 90 day “Continuing Resolution” that will keep the FAA funded while the lawmakers finish the legislation and send it to the President. He has already threatened a veto of this reauthorization language if it includes the retroactive language that will restore our rightful contract. We will have to see how that works out, but either way it will probably be the fall before we have an answer.”

• The NWP aircraft accident checklist has been finalized with the help of Peter Trono, Lead NWP ASI and Eric Carter, NWP Safety Lead.  It contains all the information that Local Officers and Crew Reps will need in the event of an accident.  Please take a moment to print it out (it's a two-sided print) and give it to your Local Reps.  It is always available at http://nwp.natca.net, then click on the "Safety" button or just click on the following link: http://nwp.natca.org/safety.htm

• I continued to have some discussions with Teri Bristol regarding a very difficult situation at PHX/P50.

• Mike Hull and I worked with NCT Facility Rep, Steve Hefley to answer a question dealing with FAA physicals.

• Mike Hull works with Ron Geyer, SCT VP, and Mickela to get an up to date list of outstanding grievances at SCT for Ron.  Kudo’s to Mickela for rapidly responding to the aid of our reps.

• We get early word that the White House may be looking at a replacement for Administrator Blakey.  Her name is Barbara Barrett and she is Chairman of the Board of Thunderbird University. She is also an attorney, rancher, pilot, and business and government official. During the 1990s she was a teaching fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School and was President and CEO of the American Management Association.  Earlier, Mrs. Barrett was Deputy Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, Vice Chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Board and an executive and officer of two Fortune 500 companies.  Also, her husband is the CEO of Intel Corp.

• I work with Garth Koleszar, Mike Hull, and Kevin Sills regarding a new form that the FAA is using for recording training; they are asking for the last 4 of the SSN and allowing countless others to view this document.  Many transactions these days are done using the last 4 of the SSN and not the entire SSN.  While we deal with this issue, please be very mindful of your credit and if you notice any suspicious activity, please advise your creditor.  Also, notify us of any potential fraud so that we can file a suit against the FAA in Circuit court for damages.  If there are no damages then we can’t proceed on a privacy act issue to Circuit Court.

• Troy Marty, NWP LR rep, Mike Hull and I work with new RNO Facility Rep, Craig Lucas regarding RNO air race staffing, watch schedule, etc.  Craig has hit the ground running and is asking good questions to help represent the RNO local.  Troy was in RNO for some family issues and stopped by and talked with Craig in person.  I would like to thank Troy for taking time away from his family in order to sit down and assist one of our Facility Reps.

• Wednesday August 1, 2007, the PSP radar feed to SCT failed again; not once, but twice.  I discussed this issue with Teri Bristol and advised all of the various stake holders such as AOPA, our Congressional delegation, and NATCA DC.  Pat discussed this issue with Bruce Johnson on Thursday.  Believe it or not, I am sensing a tremendous amount of frustration from the FAA side with not being able to provide reliable and efficient Air Traffic service to our users who utilize the services of the PSP airspace.  These outages should not come as a surprise to anyone.  When you are in a rush to do something, whether it’s your daily chores or whether it’s a major Air Traffic consolidation, you are bound to make mistakes.  Unfortunately, in the business of ATC, we can’t afford many mistakes.  We are truly lucky that these outages happened during the summer months when PSP traffic is at its lowest level.  I truly hope that the PSP consolidation serves as a lesson for the FAA to not rush into anything without including the various stake holders and conducting a very thorough Safety Risk Management analysis of the project.  Note to the FAA- Don’t forget to include the Air Traffic Controllers and technicians as part of your workgroup to conduct a safety risk management analysis!!

• I worked with Garth Koleszar, ZLA Facility Rep, to assist in the placement of a training failure at ZLA.  The current FAA policy is to terminate any employees who have not certified on a position (not including Flight Data).  This is yet another policy that baffles me.  Rather than send these folks to lower ATC level facilities, where many have been successful, they are willing to just walk away from these employees; what an absolute shame!

• Mike Hull worked with Regional HR regarding a ULP out of PSP and possible settlement of the ULP, a dress code issue as well as an adverse action out of the San Diego area facilities.

• Here is some information from Mickela regarding the last two training classes for the year which will be held in Washington DC.  They are as follows:  LOCAL OFFICER TRAINING October 15-16, and FAC REP TRAINING October 15-18.

Please let Mickela know if you have anyone interested in attending either of these two classes.  In order to get the time off to attend the training, the attendee will have to use their RDO's, A/L, or credit/comp time.  The new Training Class schedule for 2008 will be out after October and Mickela will forward it as soon as she gets it.

• I have received numerous calls from facility reps regarding the Western Terminal Service area’s new policy with respect to “Chow runs”.  I have discussed this imposed condition of employment with Teri and will ask her to put out very specific clarification on which facilities are allowed to participate on these “Chow runs”.

• The staffing numbers at Las Vegas approach (L30) which provides ATC services to one of the countries fastest growing airports is very disconcerting.  Training is very sporadic and they can no longer staff the facility without using partially certified trainees.  In 2003, the Las Vegas approach control staffing number was 56.  Today, the FAA staffing range for L30 is a minimum of 42 certified controllers to a maximum of 52 CPC’s.  So while their staffing has been decreased from 2003, their traffic has increased by approximately 25%.  The schedule for pay period 20 contains only 23 CPC's.  The only way L30 is able to staff the facility is to use trainees that are partially certified, i.e. have 2 or more position certifications. L30 currently has 18 trainees in the building. As of pay period 20, L30 will have more trainees than OJTI's!

• Effective Wednesday August 1, 2007, Long Beach ATCT has a new facility rep (not too new, since he used to be the facility rep), Rene Holliday.  I would like to thank Rene for stepping up during these difficult times.

• I touched base with Rich Burton, San Jose Facility Rep. regarding their smoking RACD (radar scope), update on the fleas in the tower, and a reasonable accommodation request on behalf of a member.

• Our National President, Pat Forrey, announces that Ken Montoya, NATCA's Director of Political and Legislative Affairs, is leaving NATCA.  Here is what Pat had to say:

“Ken has done a tremendous job over the last 11 years, working tirelessly on Capitol Hill to advance our legislative issues and improve the lives of all NATCA members.  His contributions to this union will continue to have a positive effect on our members, and he will be long remembered as a champion of NATCA's causes”.  I would like to personally thank Ken Montoya for all of his hard work and sacrifice on behalf of NATCA and our membership.

• On Friday August 3, 2007, I got some currency in Area E at ZLA and delegated the official time to our LR lead Mike Hull.

• I exchanged some emails with Paula Ryan, DVT Facility Rep, regarding their upcoming elections.  Paula has been picked up at lovely PRC ATCT and will soon be working with Facility Rep extraordinaire and NWP Legislative lead, Noel Kingston.

• There has been some confusion in the field regarding the GI bill benefit.  Some FAA managers are telling interested controllers that they are not eligible for the benefit, blah, blah, blah.  Please keep in mind that most of these managers have yet to be briefed on this program.  Scott Conde who is our National point of contract on this issue is working with the FAA to get some guidance out to all field facilities in the form of a managers briefing.  Meanwhile, all bargaining unit employees who believe that they have an entitlement to the GI Bill should fill out an application form with the Veterans Administration (VA).  Here is what Scott Conde recommends: “They should ONLY fill out an application form and nothing more. They should not contact anyone in the FAA regarding this process as the program is not yet established and they are not yet eligible to receive funds. This application will simply generate a claim date that will preserve their right to back entitlements once the program is certified. We will put out an operational briefing on how to apply for funds once the program is certified”.

• We have gotten permission from Mike McCarthy, radio host on Chicago’s Q-101, to use his recent commentary about the state of the ATC facilities nationwide.  You can listen to his poignant and unbiased commentary by going to our regional website at http://nwp.natca.net/index.htm

• Here is yet another letter from a trainee who finally had enough of the lies and deceit of the FAA and decided to resign:

The purpose of this letter is to inform you that effective Sunday, August 4, 2007, I am resigning from my position as an air traffic controller with the Federal Aviation Administration at the Indianapolis Airport Traffic Control Tower.

Unfortunately, this was not a difficult decision for me to make.  During the short period of time that I have been employed, the Agency has done several things that contributed to my decision.

First, I was hired in under the terms of the 1998 NATCA/FAA Collective Bargaining Agreement.  My initial offer of employment from the Agency promised pay raises at all points of progression within my training.  The Agency has reneged on that promise.

Second, I was hired with the promise and prospect of an annual salary of approximately $90,000 upon FPL certification.  Under the terms of the imposed work rules, the Agency has also reneged on that promise and will offer compensation of approximately $60,000 upon FPL certification.  I cannot overstate the importance of what I view as a $30,000 lie.

Third, employment within the Department of Defense (DoD) is now more attractive than employment within the FAA.  I could stay at IND ATCT with the potential to earn $60,000 at an ATC-9 facility.  The facility is a combined tower/tracon.  The facility is a 24/7 facility that requires a multitude of shift assignments.

Alternatively, employment as an air traffic controller within the DoD is available within a comparable cost of living area.  The position has Monday through Friday day shift only hours and is at a VFR tower.  Annual compensation is also $60,000.

Ultimately, for the same compensation I can be employed as an air traffic controller at a facility that will contribute to a far higher quality of life for my family and me.

In closing, I find the situation that the Agency has placed itself in disturbing.  I fear that I am not and will not be the only newly hired employee to reach these conclusions.  The Agency’s imposed work rules, particularly in the area of pay, are having and will continue to have detrimental effects on the Agency’s ability to hire and retain qualified applicants.

Sincerely,
David Kremzar