NWP Reps/Members,
I would like to dedicate this update to the memory of Trevor Wynn, stepson to FFZ Air Traffic Controller Mike Roundtree and son of Lisa Roundtree his wife.
Trevor Wynn was 21 years old, lived in Flagstaff, Az. where he was self-employed. The vehicle he was driving on Friday May 9, 2008, for some yet unknown reason left the freeway and rolled over, ejecting him.
The Western Pacific region will be sending flowers to the service for Trevor at the following time and place:
Lozano's Flagstaff Mortuary
May 15, 2008 12-2pm
2545 N. Fourth Street Flagstaff, AZ 86004
Phone: (928)-774-1467 Fax: (928)-779-1196
Email: info@Lozanos-FlagstaffMortuary.com
FFZ NATCA Facility Rep Jim Carter sent me the following:
“Mike and Lisa ask that I thank everyone on their behalf for the thoughts and prayers they know have been sent their way. The thought that we are mourning with them comforts them.”
Please love and cherish your family and friends as life can have many surprises in store for us at any given time!
May God bless Mike and Lisa and give them the strength to deal with the loss of a loved one.
Ham
NWP RVP
- To many of us, this past week was a little disappointing with the political posturing in the United States Senate and FAA Reauthorization. However, for many of us who are familiar with Washington politics, this wasn’t a surprise at all.
- The Democrats do not have a real majority in the Senate. For any legislation to be successful in the Senate there must be sixty (60) votes to invoke cloture and overcome a filibuster. The current make up of the Senate is 50 Democrats, 1 independent, (Sen Lieberman who is supporting Sen McCain) and 49 Republicans.
- We will continue to pursue a remedy for our members using any legislative vehicle, AND with every day that passes, the Congress will have an ever increasing difficult time convincing the American public that they have taken appropriate action to address delays, passenger rights, runway and air safety, aircraft inspections, etc.
- It will become very difficult for the near Thirty Three (33) Senators up for re-election this year to convince the American public that they have done everything in their power to restore accountability, integrity and safety to the Federal Aviation Administration.
- What the folks over at the FAA need to realize is that the current set back in the Senate will not deter us from our ultimate goal of a ratifiable collective bargaining agreement and that it will only serve to strengthen our resolve.
- Delay is the number one tool of a Union Buster. And as such, the FAA believes that by delaying everything and anything that they will wear us down. Almost two years after they instituted their dictatorial and draconian work rules, NATCA and its members are still standing and still fighting. As such, we must stay united, we must stay focused, we shall not relent and we will ultimately prevail!
- Taking a page out of Executive Vice President Paul Rinaldi’s speech regarding Union Busting, we must remember how best to deal with this Union Busting FAA, as our unity and solidarity is their worst nightmare and shall serve to defeat them!
- As Paul repeatedly states in his speech, just remember these six words:
“Our Collective Spirit Is Their Enemy”.
- NATCA has produced a new television commercial with the primary intention of reaching a mostly online audience. The video has made its ‘YouTube’ debut and is in need of WIDESPREAD distribution to all of your contact lists, Hill contacts, etc. The Link is provided below:
- NWP OSHA Lead Garth Koleszar worked with NCT local regarding a physical reaction for some at NCT in response to the installation of new carpeting. Garth advised Ron McAuley to have the affected members fill out a CA-1 form and get copies of the MSDS sheet (Material Safety Data Sheet which explains the various chemicals in a particular compound) listing all the chemicals associated with the installation of the carpet and its potential hazards. The MSDS will actually provide the side affects from exposure to the various chemicals in a particular compound.
- The NTSB Chairman, Mark Rosenker speaks up in a New York Times article about his concerns about a runway collision:
FAA inspections aside, what worries some is a runway collision
BY MATTHEW L. WALD
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE“WASHINGTON — The recent groundings of thousands of flights have raised flags about skipped airplane inspections and botched repairs to wiring. But what really worries aviation specialists? Runway collisions. “Where we are most vulnerable at this moment is on the ground,” the chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, Mark V. Rosenker, said. “To me, this is the most dangerous aspect of flying.” For the six-month period that ended March 30, there were 15 serious “runway incursions,” compared with eight in the period a year earlier. Another occurred at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on April 6, one of the closest on record, when a tug operator pulling a Boeing 777 along a taxiway failed to stop at a runway as another plane was landing, missing the tug by about 25 feet. The last airliner crash in the United States, a regional jet in Lexington, Ky., in August 2006, was a runway incursion because the crew tried to take off on the wrong runway.”
- I wanted to take this opportunity to remind all NATCA members regarding a NEB policy dealing with repayment of NATCA meeting/training costs if a member accepts a non-bargaining unit position within 12 months of attending NATCA training/meeting/function. The policy can be found on the National Website under ‘Members Center-NEB policies’:
National Policy on Repayment of NATCA Training/Meeting/Function Costs After Acceptance or Commencement of a Non-Bargaining Unit Position with FAA
The NATCA National Executive Board hereby enacts the following policy, effective as of May 1, 2007:
Any NATCA member who accepts or voluntarily commences a temporary or permanent non-bargaining unit position with the Federal Aviation Administration (i.e., an FAA supervisory or managerial position) within twelve (12) months of attending any NATCA-sponsored national or regional training session, meeting, or other function for which the costs of the member’s attendance were paid and/or reimbursed by NATCA shall repay the full amount, as determined by NATCA, of all travel and other expenditures directly attributable to that member’s attendance at the NATCA-sponsored event.
- NATCA will be sending legislative activists to Washington, D.C. during the months of May and June to lobby on our behalf. Next week, SCT Facility Rep Mel Davis and NCT Facility Rep Steve Hefley will be flying to Washington to lobby Congress on your behalf; thank you Mel, Steve, and our regional and national legislative teams.
- Mike Hull and I worked with P50 Facility Rep Kevin Van Uden regarding an agency proposal to realign the facility.
- I worked with FAA Headquarters regarding the calculation of the ATOP backpay for a member at ZOA.
- I talked with RNO Facility Rep Rich Ferris about rumors of prime time leave cancellations, a disciplinary situation, and the cancellation of leave for another member. I have asked Rich to discuss and attempt to resolve these issues with his ATM before I discuss with Terminal Director Kathryn Vernon.
- Steve Costa, ZUA Facility Rep gave us an update on some of the issues he’s dealing with in Guam. Steve and his wife are expecting their first child sometime in late June.
- Following months of work, NCE RVP Howard Blankenship and I were finally able to move up the release date for a ZKC member who had bid and had been accepted to SCT last year, only to receive a two year release date from ZKC management!!
- Kevin Sherwood is working on cleaning up one of our old regional computers and shipping to PRC local. If your local is in need of a computer, please let us know (mickela@natca.net) so that we can be on the look out for any computers that may become available. Additionally, if any facility has a spare computer that they are no longer using and would like to donate to a local in need, please notify Mickela of that as well so that we can make arrangements to get it to Kevin for refurbishing.
- I would like everyone to continue to support our efforts to raise funds for the Bob Marks legal defense fund. So far, through your generous donations, we have been able to transfer $2500 to Bob Marks. Since then, you have donated about $1850 more to Bob's cause. We are not quite half-way to supporting Bob in his defense.
Bob has already spent $10,000 to retain his attorney. I would like to ask that each and every one of you dig deep and find a donation that you can make to Bob and show him that you care about him and his service to NATCA.
Please go to http://kevin.thesherwoods.org and click the "Donate" button beneath "Bob Marks Legal Defense Fund" and send your gift of support to Bob.
You may also send your personal check, as many of you have already done, to:
Bob Marks Legal Defense Fund
c/o Kevin Sherwood
3954 Tuller Ave
Culver City, CA 90230-4612Please make checks payable to Kevin Sherwood and he will ensure that the funds are transferred into Bob's bank account.
- Our good friend, Brian Franklin exchanged some emails with Eric Carter and me regarding the Pilot route project that we are working on together. Meanwhile, back at ZLA, Don Bryden is working on formatting the data from the ACES database so that we can use it in our Pilot route program demo site. I would like to thank Don and Brian for their efforts in finalizing this very worthwhile project.
- In order to comply with the provisions of Standing Rules SRF-4 which states, “The financial records of every NATCA Local must be audited at least once every three years to ensure compliance with all Department of Labor, Internal Revenue Service, and NATCA financial provisions”, NATCA will be conducting financial audits of SNA, ONT, POC, and TOA in the coming weeks. Our good friend Eric Grundmann who is the Southwest region rep on the NATCA Finance Committee will be conducting these audits.
- Chad Geyer, ZLA Vice President/NWP LR Rep and Mike Hull work with VNY Facility Rep Rich Velasquez on how to use the GATS (Grievance Automated Tracking System) and helped him with a disciplinary case. There is a user’s guide for the GATS on our regional website, http://nwp.natca.net under the ‘Labor Relations’ tab. If you have any questions on how to use the GATS, please call your LR Rep or Mickela for assistance.
- We have uploaded the Times story that Mel Davis and Doug Church did titled, “Air Traffic Controller Sounds Alarm” on our regional website under the ‘Media’ tab.
- I would like to ask all facilities to set up a program to interact with new developmentals at OKC. We need to answer their questions and help them prepare for the move from OKC to their assigned duty station. We need to let our newest members know that we are here to help them every step of the way. Whether they have a question about lodging, a local gym, work schedules, the Thrift Savings Plan, etc.; we need to be there for them and make their transition as seamless as possible.
- NATCA has requested arbitration on the mandatory use of the FAA email system.
- NATCA has filed a national grievance over the implementation of Spacing Over and Above Required (SOAR).
- I conducted a telcon with Western Terminal Director Kathryn Vernon and we reviewed some of the outstanding items from our previous telcon and resolved some issues. Here are some of the other issues we discussed:
- Incentivized bids for SCT and U90,
- L30 and NCT staffing plans,
- PHX, HCF advance sick leave for an adoption, etc.
- I was advised by CNO Facility Rep Mike Flores that CNO had to declare ATC-0 for approximately ten (10) minutes due to sub-standard staffing.
- I got the following update from our good friends Bob and Valerie Butterworth who are participating in the AFL-CIO “Boots on the Ground” program:
“Brothers,
Training completed, now for the task at hand. Valerie and I will be responsible for 5 Southeast Pennsylvania Counties which include 200 Labor Union Locals which represent 150,000 members. YIKES! We have started to put together a game plan with guidance from the AFL-CIO and plan to ensure personal contact to every member by some Local Representative several times before the election.
We have met with several local leaders, state representatives and members of several Union locals such as, UAW, UFCW, IBEW and various trade Unions, to name a few. NATCA is not a Union that many of them are familiar with but we will do our best to change that. I'm thinking I might need to order a few more NATCA shirts since I've worn the ones I have everyday and they might not make it through 6 months! Mike, I got some nice comments about our LR Team shirt, just thought you might like to hear that.
I have always been aware of the importance of NATCA becoming more associated with the Labor movement but I believe it now more than ever. What an invaluable source of support these wonderful organizations and their members can be. I think we need to continue to push more than ever for our Locals to get more involved in the movement outside of NATCA. The AFL-CIO is just waiting for us to come join the party. Ham, if Valerie and I can arrange the time I would love to discuss this issue and Boots on the Ground at the upcoming Regional meeting.
So today is day one of putting together a game plan, organizing and updating contact info, setting up computers and finding a coffee shop close by. There is the agenda for week one!
Take care, we miss California, we miss our NATCA Brothers and Sisters and look forward to talking to you soon.”
- As a reminder, if you are going to have anyone who is on the Boots on the Ground program (Labor 2008) talk to your members, please make sure that they do this off site and not in a Federal building so as to not violate the Hatch Act. If you have any questions regarding the program or Hatch Act questions, please contact our NWP Legislative Lead Noel Kingston.
- As a reminder, we have some great information on the ‘Hatch Act’ on the NWP Website under the ‘Legislative’ tab.
- I would like thank outgoing EMT Facility Rep Joe Richardson for his years of service to NATCA and welcome the new EMT Local Facility Rep Robert Cherry.
- I got some currency at ZLA and delegated the official time to Mike Hull.
- As of Monday May 12, 2008, there are new templates on the GATS regarding the filing of ALL grievances. Please immediately start using these new templates. You will see that it contains “disclaimer” language to the 2006 Imposed Conditions of Employment (White Book). This language has been vetted by our DC attorneys and it has been approved by the NEB.
- Mike Hull’s very next LR Chronicles will be regarding the “new” process for “expedited” arbitrations and it will contain the “new” language for the employee filed expedited grievance form.
- In the interim, if there are any questions regarding the new templates and/or the new language, please feel free to contact NWP LR Lead Mike Hull.
