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September 25, 2007

NWP “Hot Sheet” Week of 9-17-07

NWP Reps/Members,

I am dedicating this week’s update to every controller and new hire at Los Angeles Center. Those who rightfully deserve a pay raise for having worked ATC-12 traffic for over 1000 days. Those who have worked the six-day weeks and ten hour days. Those who have gone over two hours on position for a very long time. Those who have suffered the indignities that their employer has thrust upon them.

I am proud to represent the Western Pacific Region and  the men and women at ZLA who recently stood their ground and did not accept the bile that Joe Miniace and Rick Day were trying to spread about their upgrade.  I would like to give major kudos to Garth Koleszar, ZLA FacRep, the ZLA E-board, Bob and Jenny Carr along with our regional LR lead and former contract team member Mike Hull who debunked many of the lies and slander that the representatives of the “FAA” were attempting to spread.

I know that many of you from around the country have expressed outrage at the way the men and women at ZLA have been treated by the FAA.  As such, I feel it is important to share some of their accounts of the meeting with Rick, Steve and Joe.  This detailed account of the encounter with them is by former area B rep and current ZLA legislative rep Walt Alexis:

“First of all Garth did not let anything get by. They made several missteps that Garth jumped on instantly. At least three times Garth challenged Rick Day’s responses; causing him to backpedal or just complete change his statement. I think I saw a slight smile on Kevin’s face once when Garth had Day tripping over his own tongue. Maybe Kevin was thinking ‘now you see what I deal with every day’.

Before the meeting Kevin and Garth appealed to the crowd (a very packed room) to please keep it civil. It did remain mostly calm, albeit with a few extremely uncomfortable moments for the panel.

Osterdahl basically did the introductions and some facilitating along the way. Kevin seemed to want no part of any of it. (Maybe to their credit)

Miniace's whole purpose was to discredit NATCA. He said the union "chose" to solve the contract issue through legislation. He said NATCA didn't include the facility upgrade MOU in the contract negotiations. According to him the Agency has tried to negotiate improved pay, but NATCA won't come to the table. Also, that NATCA has turned down a generous 15% pay increase offer made by the agency (which he can't show us in writing, and didn't give details of, I'm sure it was an across the board offer, Not!). And several other disingenuous statements. Well luckily Garth and Ham anticipated this tactic and asked Mike Hull to attend the meeting with us. Mike Hull is a very experienced NATCA Labor Relations Rep. from SCT and actually was part of the contract team which attempted to negotiate with the two faced story tellers throughout 2005-06. And Mike was great! As soon as Miniace finished with his 'your union caused all of your problems speech', one of the panel members said something to Mike and he stood right up and took the floor. They sat there stupefied while he discredited each one of the 'union busters' lies. And one thing I know, not a one of them contradicted anything Mike said in his response. If they had facts to the contrary, they kept it to themselves.

Rick Day's speech was his version of how we started as ATC-11's at the time of re class, and later on couldn't get the original ETAP program to validate within the required parameters. Then the Agency started working to fix the program, and it took much longer than he anticipated it would, and unfortunately even though he tried as hard as he could, it was impossible to validate before June 2007. If I recall correctly, Bob Carr immediately disputed at least half of Rick Day's facts. To which they once again could not even muster up a response (Because we're right!).

One funny fact Rick Day put out, was that 40% of management would receive no pay increase. To which a member in the audience asked, "How many of those 40% are at the federal pay cap?" and one of the panel responded with all of them. Excellent, 60% of our managers and FLM's will get 6.7% pay increases (paid for with our blood and sweat) and the other poor deserving ones who won't see a raise already make as much as the Administrator. Well thanks for spreading that around Mr. Day. I'm sure our management force, who are already ducking their heads in embarrassment appreciate that gem.

Well, many questions were asked, most of which he didn't have an answer for, couldn't answer because of pending litigation or couldn't recall. Oh yes, he did use the "I don't recall", defense several times. But occasionally, he made the mistake of trying to answer. That is when things would get interesting; as soon as he'd spew some ridiculous nonsense, one of our subject matter experts would hammer him with the truth. Then he would duck and dive and stumble and mumble for awhile, and eventually Osterdahl would shrug and pick another member to ask yet another question, and the merry-go-round would start up again!

There were numerous statements from ZLA Journeymen conveying the general sentiment and level of morale. (We’re pissed off, and we hate working here) And then to borrow a phrase from “W”, they 'cut and ran'. We do two plus hours on position with regularity, they come all the way from D.C. to help us 'celebrate' our upgrade with no pay, and can only manage about 45 minutes and then they leave. Pathetic!

I would like to give an extra thanks to Garth, Rosalie P., Jennifer Carr, Bob Carr and Mike Hull. These individuals really stepped up to the plate. I apologize if I left someone out”

- Walt Alexis.

Ham
NWP RVP

  • Sunday morning, I said “Good bye” to the family and headed for Ontario Airport for my flight to Washington, D.C. and the National Executive Board meeting.
  • The NEB met on Monday, Tuesday and half of Wednesday.  Wednesday afternoon, I met the other members of the NATCA Consolidations workgroup (Bob Romano-BOS and Scot Morrison-LNK) and worked on last minute preparations for our Consolidation workgroup meeting with Rick Ducharme and company on Thursday morning.  The workgroup met on Thursday and ½ of Friday.
  • Since I was going to be in D.C. and not able to attend the ZLA ATC-12 meeting with Day, Miniace, and Osterdahl, I delegated some official time to Mike Hull so that he could attend this contentious meeting and support the ZLA membership.  From all accounts, Mike did an outstanding job of debunking the absolute bold faced lies from Joe Miniace.
  • It's that time of year again to begin submitting nominations for the Fourth Annual Archie League Medal of Safety Awards. Named after the nation's first air traffic controller, this NATCA-created award recognizes heroic acts by air traffic controllers - dedicated public servants running the safest aviation system in the world.
  • All NATCA members are eligible to submit nominations for consideration for  this award that occurred after December 1, 2006. Please read the instructions prior to submitting a nomination, as only full and complete nominations will be considered. Nomination forms and instructions are available here:

http://www.natca.net/mediacenter/ArchieLeagueEvent.msp

Nominations are due to Allyson Hunt in the NATCA National Office no later than November 1, 2007. Once all the nominations have been received, the selection committee will review them and select a winner from each region. Winners will be flown to Washington, D.C. to receive their awards at the NATCA in Washington event in late January 2008.

  • FAA managers who recently came back from the management meeting in DC have said that the Position Classification Standard has changed, and there are no longer buffers to the CI ranges for facilities.  Management is saying these rules were contained in the Pay Rules MOU which was cancelled when the IWRs (Imposed Work Rules) went into effect.  I sure hope that this truly demonstrates why there is an absolute need to have a Union, any questions!!!!!
  • Here is an update from Scott Conde, ZOA Fac Rep on the status of the GI Bill:

This is to update you on the process with certifying the GI Bill benefits for Air Traffic Controllers. After speaking with VA we have completed all of the structural requirements for the program to be established. Additionally, the FAA has completed all of the portions of the formal application with the exception of one item. They are in the process of generating a list of all FAA AT field facilities including their address and the person who will be named as the Certifying Official for that facility. Once that is completed (FAA estimates 7-10 days) we will be able to make the formal submission to the VA.

The VA has promised to process the application "immediately upon receipt". This will generate our certification date and secure the back pay appeal eligibility for our membership.

It is VERY IMPORTANT that our membership understands that their field facility Certifying Official will have to be trained by the VA BEFORE they can process their applications to enroll in the program. I am making a proposal to FAA that will expedite that training process, and working with the VA on possibilities that the back pay appeals may be processed, while we await the completion of the FAA manager training.  I will put out a complete operational briefing that outlines the process to be followed in order to submit your application for both enrollment and back pay. PLEASE do not try and inquire about this process through the VA or the FAA. You are taking the time away from the VA people that we need working on our program while they have to reply to your questions. The pressure on your facility managers just makes them want to kill the program. If everyone waits for their briefings from both the FAA and NATCA it will expedite the process for all involved.

Over the next week I will be working on briefing outlines, finalizing the submissions, and working with VA on enrollment and back pay procedures. Once the submission goes in I will be working with FAA daily to get the briefings to the FAA VP's so that the process of certifying the facility level program officials can get under way. If you are trying to contact me with general questions it may be a while before I get back to you. I understand the need for getting this program up and running as quickly as possible and that is why I want to dedicate my time in this final push to seeing it to fruition. My apologies in advance if your call or email does not get returned in a timely manner.

  • Regional Safety Lead, Eric Carter exchanges some issues of mutual interest with the ATO-Safety Manager in the Western Pacific, Ron Beckerdite.
  • While in Washington, D.C., Mike Hull and I had a telcon with Western Enroute.  Here are some of the issues that were discussed:
    • ZUA (Guam) training issue,
    • training failure placement out of ZOA,
    • Chow run’s for Enroute when the cafeteria is closed,
    • training failure at ZLA,
    • bidding RDO (regular days off) and vacation time on non-duty time,
    • SHOEgate at ZLA,
    • ATOP training delay payout’s at ZOA,
    • last 4 of the SSN being used in sign in sheets for briefings/training, etc.
  • Our Western Pacific Runway Safety lead, Elliot Brann, submits yet another recommendation to make the system safer.  Here is what he recommended:

“The situation was this; a B737 landed on runway 24R. During landing roll, the controller issued an instruction to hold short of runway 24L. This instruction was readback correctly by the flightcrew. A few seconds later, as the B737 was exiting runway 24R at taxiway AA at a high rate of speed the crew asked if they were "cleared to cross"? The controller stated negative. The aircraft tried to stop but crossed the holdbars for runway 24L and conflicted with a departure on runway 24L, pilot deviation.

My thought, all flightcrews should have the mindset to not ask if they are "cleared to cross" a runway, but verify "holding short. This way, they will error on the side of safety. There may be something in place now at the airlines in recurrent traning to address this, but I think it should be a special emphasis item nation wide”.

  • Mike Hull and Kevin Sills work with NCT Fac Rep Steve Hefley on an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charge dealing with a change in working conditions at NCT.
  • While in Washington, D.C. for the NEB meeting, I had the opportunity to attend some fundraiser’s for several members of Congress.  I met with Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-9) whose district includes OAK, Congressman Raul Grijalva (AZ-7) whose district is mainly Southwestern Arizona and a portion of Tuscon, and freshman Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (AZ-8) whose district is Tuscon and Southeastern Arizona.  I had an opportunity to discuss our issues with each one of them, especially at the breakfast meeting with Congresswoman Giffords when I talked with Congressman George Miller (CA-7) who is the Chair of the Committee on Education and Labor.
  • Here is some information from Mickela on upcoming NATCA-sponsored retirement seminars, “They are announcing Retirement Seminars in the Los Angeles and Sacramento Areas, by S.Harman & Associates.

Los Angeles will be November 15 and Sacramento will be November 16.

  • Look for more retirement seminars, coming up in January/February, in the following areas:
    • Fremont
    • Palmdale
    • San Diego
    • Las Vegas
    • Phoenix

I will send out the info as soon as S.Harman gets them booked.

Any questions, please go to their website at www.natca.sharmansite.com and register.  If you need your membership number, please e-mail me, and I can get it for you”.

  • Mike Foote, Fac. Rep at LAX and regional media lead worked with several different reporters on upcoming stories dealing with runway incursions and air traffic controller staffing.
  • Here is a response from Western Enroute to our inquiry on the progress of the ATOP settlement pay out:

“Here is the latest on Oakland Center Actions:  They have been processed for all but two of the active employees involved in the ATOP settlement.  Those two should be completed either today or tomorrow.  Two others (a retirement and a reassignment to the Southern Region) must be processed manually and will take longer.  The pay for the already processed actions should be on the 9/25 paychecks”.

This manual is an excellent tool to see how FAA management is actually SUPPOSED to mitigate risk!!

  • Believe it or not, the FAA is now advertising for air traffic controller jobs in buses! I guess that Myspace or Scotts just wasn’t generating enough interest for $8/hour jobs as an air traffic controller.  What ever happened to that pipeline of interested new hires that FORMER Administrator Blakey was talking about, hmm!
  • Pat Forrey, NATCA President, has been invited to testify at a Aviation Subcommittee hearing on “Airline Delays and Consumer Issues” on Wednesday September 26, 2007.
  • Following the vote on HR 2881, Noel Kingston NWP Legislative Lead sent sample letters to the editor to our facility representatives and legislative activists.  The next time you see one of our legislative activists, please thank them for giving up their free time and vacation time to represent us in Washington, D.C. and in the District offices.
  • While watching the debate on HR 2881, I noticed that Congressman Waxman (CA-30) wasn’t too happy with the FAA on their lack of cooperation on runway safety issues at SMO (Santa Monica).  I picked up the phone and called Noel Kingston and asked him to reach out to Pam Choi, SMO Fac. Rep. and our legislative activists to call Congressman Waxman’s office and offer him any assistance on safety related issues at SMO.  Within minutes, Noel was on the phone and sending e-mails out to our reps in the field; poetry in motion.
  • As we are getting closer to OSI/SCI time, I have asked Jeff Walukonis, retired ZJX controller and former contract team member to explain the imposed process:

“Not everyone will receive the OSI.  The OSI is not in lieu of the Presidential Pay raise.  The OSI amount of money is the presidential pay raise plus 1% (the old steps were 1.6%).   The FAA can pay all the OSI pool (Presidential plus 1%) or less.  They have paid less in the past never more.  Also, New hires, hired less than 90 days from the end of the Fiscal year, will not get the following January OSI…also

a.  The following employees are ineligible for an OSI.  Employees that:

    1. have less than 90 days in a pay status with the FAA in the performance year.
    2. were on an Opportunity to Demonstrate Performance (ODP) at the end of the performance year.
    3. were unsuccessful in completing an ODP during the performance year.
    4. received an unsuccessful performance rating.
    5. received a suspension, reduction in grade or pay for conduct or performance, or issued a removal decision letter during the performance year.
    6. were decertified as a result of a performance deficiency during the performance year.

The SCI has three levels, 1.8% .6% and .0%.  This is not only for us.  It applies to all in Cored Compensation.

The reason they say only 20% can get the 1.8% etc is to keep the total money spent at .6%.  See above the steps were 1.6%..under the GS system…they take 1% of that and add it to the OSI and the other .6% is spent in the SCI.

Under the SCI process employees write up why they are great…supes take their input and make a recommendation, OMs take their recommendations, ATMs take their….6 levels of review…and people are dropped along the way to get back to 20%.

Blakey has never exceeded the Presidential increase plus step pool. She has paid less before.

The SCI is a percentage of pay based on the pay in effect BEFORE the OSI is added (that is different than any other federal employee too).  And of course 96% are above band and get it all in a cash award.

I also believe they will change the OSI/SCI pay date from Jan/Feb to March/April time frame…so those that are thinking about taking the lump sum and leaving…be prepared to have to stay a few months longer to get the lump sum”.

  • And to close with yet another trainee that the FAA threw under the bus and is calling it quits…

September 7, 2007

To whom it may concern,

I am writing this letter to inform you that I am resigning from my position in the FAA. My last day with the FAA will be September 17th, 2007.

The reason I am resigning, is the pay. In June 2005, when I accepted a tentative offer for a position at Oakland Center, I accepted the job based on the salary I would be making when I started this job, the pay raises that I would have received after being certified on sectors in a reasonable time frame, and the salary I would have been making as a CPC. After having waited nine months from the time I separated until the time I received a tentative offer, and an additional twelve months from the time I accepted the tentative offer until the time I started at the Academy, I did not bother trying to pursue any other jobs with the Department of Defense, or any other career field for that matter. I separated from the United States Air Force, solely for the purpose of working for the FAA. The only reason I left the Air Force for the FAA was for the pay. I was fully aware that the workload and amount of traffic at a Center would be significantly higher then the traffic I had ever worked while in the Air Force and that I would be paid appropriately for the increased workload. After having fully committed myself to working for the FAA and no other agency, and two and a half weeks before I arrived at Oakland Center, the pay that I assumed I would be making was cut drastically. This was all after I had already accepted a firm offer based on what I thought I would be making.

I have been at Oakland Center since September 2006, it is one year later, and I am still at the same salary that I came in at. I am also making almost 1000 dollars a month less than I was when I made the decision to separate from the Air Force. This is not what I separated for. I knew prior to accepting this job that the cost of living was very high in the Bay Area. Obviously the FAA realizes that cost of living in this area is high, which is why the cost of living allowance is as high as it is. What I don’t think the FAA realizes is that when they cut the new hires pay as much as they did, the percentage of COLA that they pay us is not very much. After I pay rent, and utilities, and my car payment, and car insurance, and renters insurance and gas, all the mandatory things I absolutely have to pay in order to be able to come to work, I'm left with about 350 dollars. From that 350 dollars, I have to stretch that for one month. From that 350 dollars, I have to buy food and make payments on four credit cards. Three of which I had to apply for after I joined the FAA just to be able to get by. I sought a career in the FAA so I could make good money and not have to live paycheck to paycheck. Not so I could go into debt. And because my raises are now based on a percentage of the positions in my area, it will take even longer to make back the money I thought I would be making when I accepted this job.

I am certified on two RADAR associate positions, and am within a few hours of certifying on my third associate position. I certified on my first two sectors in just over my minimum hours and have no doubt that I would have certified on the remaining associate positions by the end of the year. Furthermore I am fully confident that I could have been fully area certified by next year.

I regret that I have to leave the controllers that I work with in my area. I have met a lot of great people at this facility, a lot of top notch controllers that do a great job day in and day out, in spite of the imposed work rules. I really feel bad for all the time they spent training me, assuming that I would eventually be a CPC in the area, and be able to contribute to staffing and eventually be somebody's replacement, only to be resigning only a little over a year after joining the FAA. I really wish that circumstances would have been different. I can honestly and truly say that if nothing had changed last September 3rd, 2006, I would never even have considered leaving the FAA. I know that my resignation alone will probably have little affect on any kind of change, but I hope that my resignation in addition to the growing number of resignations will prove to the FAA that there is a problem, and it needs to be fixed immediately. I personally know several great controllers that would normally have pursued a career in the FAA, but now they have absolutely no desire to even apply. All of these people would have been a great benefit to this agency.

I had always planned that when I was finally hired into the FAA that I would stay for my entire career. But for the reasons mentioned above, I am leaving this agency for another Air Traffic Control job that will pay me appropriately. I would still like to thank you for the opportunity.

Sincerely,

Douglas Ridgeway

10:37 AM |