Table of Contents
Sexual Harassment MOU
Up Close with President Mac
From the Executive Director
FAA In The News
Health and Safety Notes
Letters to the Editor
CWSU
fyi...
Capitol Hill Report
Calendar Note
In last month's newsletter, I included the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) regarding the FAA's implementation of the Prevention and Elimination of Sexual Harassment in the Workplace Plan, as well as an analysis of same. As some of you are aware the FAA has chosen not to keep their end of the bargain and has thus far refused to implement this MOU.
The problem seems to be that we took unfair advantage of the Agency negotiators and they agreed to some things that are unpopular with some managers at both FAA HQ and in the field. So…under the guise of Agency Head Review (a process that's supposed to be used only to recognize illegal provisions) the FAA has chosen to declare nonnegotiable some as yet unidentified language in Section 9. Of course that doesn't explain or excuse their refusal to implement the rest of the MOU. We'll address this matter in the proper forum but the process being employed against us is of more immediate concern than the substance of the MOU.
I want to point out that our difficulties are with Labor Relations (ALR) and not with Air Traffic Services (ATS). Our relationship with ATS remains positive at all HQ levels and, I believe, mutually beneficial. Conversely, ALR seems determined to deal in the traditional, adversarial mode. This is unfortunate and sends an ominous message considering the fact that full contract negotiations are scheduled to begin soon.
It seems that while ALR talks of partnership, interest-based bargaining and win-win negotiations, the fact is that they routinely revert to power-based methods and deception when they're pressed. Considering ALR's recent track record I think we're wise to prepare for long, protracted and adversarial contract negotiations. This makes our contract team's dedication, training, skill and stamina all the more imperative. As the saying goes, if we're going to have to be a bear then we want to be a grizzly. I'm confident that our team will meet all these challenges and will deliver a worthy product for your consideration and ratification.
The final disposition of the above MOU will eventually be determined but for now if ALR wants to avoid being embarrassed at the bargaining table I suggest they send their best practitioners, perhaps even their Program Director. After all, one would assume he's their best negotiator and his presence should ensure they wouldn't have to resort to reneging on any more agreements or negotiating in bad faith.
NAATS NEWS: Why don't we start with some background about yourself. Where were you born, and where did you go to school?
MAC: I was born at Camp Pendleton, CA (a jar head from day one!) and we moved up to Seattle for all my youth. Graduated high school and went into the Corp.
NAATS NEWS: We know that you have a great deal of pride about your Marine service. Would you like to share some highlights?
MAC: I got my air traffic experience there in 1972 - 1976, and was stationed in Quantico VA. Let's not ask what I liked about it! It was on the East Coast and I am a West Coaster. But I did get to see part of the country I wouldn't have seen otherwise, especially the Civil War historical sites.
NAATS NEWS: Tell us a bit about your Flight Service experience.
MAC: I was hired by the FAA into SEA Center, and then reassigned to North Bend Flight Service in 1978. I was there until '80, then went to Portland Flight Service, where I was until '86, and then I opened McMinnville AFSS in 1986. I've been at SEA AFSS since November of 1995.
NAATS NEWS: And your background as an elected official of NAATS?
MAC: My first NAATS job was as Regional Coordinator for Phil Burton in September '83. I became Regional Director in May of 1984 through March 1991, when I became NAATS VP. I became President in March 1992.
NAATS NEWS: What's your greatest accomplishment in office, and what is your biggest disappointment?
MAC: The biggest accomplishment has been creating a cohesive Board, not only with management at the FAA, but among ourselves. We're more effective, and there is more pride in NAATS. Most disappointing has been the failure so far to get us categorized as a safety-related work force, but that's still my goal. We're worthy of being considered controllers -we're not the door mats.
NAATS NEWS: Where do you see Flight Service in the year 2005?
MAC: Good question. I see consolidations down the road in the lower 48, trimmed down perhaps. I see us doing different, more meaningful work, helping pilots avoid hazardous weather and special use airspace. I see us being more educators with pilots, coaching on weather knowledge, and assisting them more. I see expanded inflight roles for us, too. I see more participation in aviation weather, and greater responsibilities. There will be a Flight Service in 2005 - and in 2015. We were around long before towers and centers, and I see us being around long after them too. Our numbers will get steady, as we get a new pipeline. Most or all controllers will start in Flight Service before deciding if they want to transfer to other options, and there will be more cooperation among the options.
NAATS NEWS: What do you do for fun, when you can find time when you're not traveling, at the facility, or doing NAATS business?
MAC: I get the wife out in the motor home, find a place to camp near a golf course, and we relax together. Cindy and I have been married 23 years, and we try to spend any off time I have together.
The benefit of being the editor and publisher of a periodical like this one means that every once in a while, I can use the space to get a strictly personal message across to the members.
Through the hassles and difficulties we all face, the time comes occasionally when we have to stop for a second and consider what is really important in our lives. Work, as important as it is, all too often takes over as a total focus. We neglect things and people we love.
My oldest son (approaching 20!) recently gave me a small poster which now hangs prominently on my office wall. It's called "Priorities" and carries the following message:
"A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, what sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove... But the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child."
It may be corny, but it hit me between the eyes like a jab from Holyfield. We work long hours and bring our troubles home, and sometimes we forget what really is important in this world. And sometimes it takes a child to remind you what your priorities really should be. Because before you know it, the child has become the man.
And because this is, after all, NAATS NEWS, I would be remiss if I didn't point out that another priority for all of us is to make sure that the profession we proudly support - and the services we provide to the nation's pilots - must have priority over the petty squabbles we face on a daily basis. And the best way to help meet that priority is through membership in NAATS.
The FAA is continuing its efforts to create new pay and classification systems for employees in the NATCA and PASS bargaining units. Some concerns were raised when a proposal was circulated to facilities which seemed to imply that Flight Service controllers were to be separated from their fellow controllers in the NATCA unit - the so-called 2153 classification. However, FAA headquarters has made clear that all controllers, regardless of option, will remain part of the same series. However, it is possible that different pay systems will be negotiated for each group of employees. NAATS is continuing negotiations with the FAA on this subject as well.
The Canadian government has objected to the imposition of overflight user fees by the FAA on Canadian aircraft traversing US airspace. The Canadians are particularly opposed to such fees when the flight is a Canada to Canada flight.
And speaking of user fees, the FAA's plans for broad fees has run into serious opposition in the House of Representatives. House Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Frank Wolf (R-VA) stated that user fees could end up being worse than the current tax support measures in place at the present time.
Dust mites, which are spider-like animals, are now considered the primary source of allergen in house dust. These microscopic scavengers, which feed on skin scales (flakes) and dander are common inhabitants of every home and workplace. Dust mites are usually located in areas of high skin flake concentration with the greatest percentage in bedroom carpeting, bedding, and upholstered furniture. This could also be a factor in our work environments since there is an abundance of carpeting there too, including floors and walls, and the conditions for dust mite accumulation is prevalent.
Allergic reactions such as sneezing, itching eyes and nose, and asthma attacks are the major complications from dust mites. An estimated 10 to 15% of the general population suffer from dust mite allergies. Studies have shown that the allergen is associated with the mite feces and bodies, rather than with the living mites themselves. Both mite feces and bodies are very small and readily become airborne through vacuuming walking through the area or changes linens. Them mite allergen is also commonly found in sweaters, jackets, and other articles of clothing that are not frequently laundered. Dust mites thrive in warm, humid conditions, 70 degrees F. and 70% humidity. As a result, their numbers typically increase during the summer months and die off during the colder months as the humidity decreases.
There are several measures that can be used to decrease the number of dust mites and reduce the exposure to dust mite allergen. Maintaining the household or office below 50% humidity for a 70 degree interior temperature (or 40% for 80 degrees) is the best approach for reducing mites. This can be achieved through the use of dehumidifiers or air conditioning equipment.
If you have a dust mite allergy, carpeting and fabric upholstery should be eliminated due to the role they play in harboring mites. Wood, vinyl, or tike flooring is easily cleaned, reducing the reservoir for dust mites. All bedding should be washed at least once a week in 130 degree water.
Since concentrations of mites have been found in feather pillows and comforters, allergy suffered should consider replacing these articles with materials that can be frequently washed in hot water.
Additionally, mattresses and pillows should be covered in plastic cases. There is now available in stores anti-bacterial items such as mattress pads, pillows, etc. Steps used to reduce exposure to dust mite feces include vacuuming rugs and floors once a week (or twice weekly if toddlers are around); carpet should be vacuumed thoroughly - four times in each area covered. Cleaner belts and bags should be changed frequently. Washable surfaces should be cleaned with a non-toxic cleaner at least weekly.
EPA can provide you with standards for lead, pesticides, and dust mites in indoor air. They can also give you information about simple tests for home owners to monitor dust levels.
This information indicates why we should not have carpeting on facility walls, and why carpeting should be replaced with more cleanable surfaces.
Food For Thought..
A fellow specialist here at Oakland related the following experience. While dining out recently, this specialist overheard a conversation from a nearby table. "My supervisor is so strict and by-the-book that if she were a traffic cop and she observed someone dash into the street to save a child from a speeding car, she'd give that person a citation for jaywalking."
After hearing this, I got to thinking about all the supervisors and managers I've met in my 20 plus years with the FAA, and how at least a few of them would fit this analogy.
Just something to think about..
Jerry Lamb, OAK AIFSS
Dear President McAnaw:
I am Jeff Molnar, an instructor here with the Flight Service Training Branch at the FAA Academy. I've been here for the past four years since my move from Green Bay AFSS. I've read your statement to Congress and must say I'm impressed with your effort to insure the future of Flight Service. Congratulations and I wish you success!
I wholeheartedly support your recommendation to establish a pipeline for 100 new FSS specialists per year. Having a steady stream of new students would insure the future of Flight Service as well as the future of Flight Service training here at the Academy. I also agree with your assessment that FAA is allowing Flight Service to slowly disappear. The effects of this policy on the Flight Service Training Branch has severely compromised our ability to train the number of specialists that you envision. Here are some details on our staffing, equipment capabilities, and changes in programs that need to be addressed in order to implement your recommendation.
The training offered to new FSS hires, the Initial Qualification Course, in its present form runs 75 days. It was scaled back from an 80 day course when we lost a sufficient number of evaluating instructors to run the final 5-day
"Integrated Lab". If we were to run "back-to-back" classes, only 3.3 classes could be scheduled in a year (250 work days). If we were to take advantage of the 23 day "overlap", the maximum amount of days that a new class could be started with another in progress, only 4.8 classes could be scheduled in a year. Our current equipment allows for a maximum of 16 students per class which would yield an average of 52 students per year in the first instance and 76 students per year in the second. This falls short of a 100 per year target. The numbers will be lower after Model 1 equipment is phased out. More about equipment later. Our current staffing level is at 10 instructors; 3 will be leaving in the next few months and 2 are on temporary detail from another Branch. The Initial Qualification course requires 8 evaluating instructors for a full class of 16. At least 5 new instructor positions would need to be filled to support future classes of 16 students. Running double inputs would require our staffing to double, optimally to 20. There are no plans to fill any instructor positions even after our staffing level is down to 5 instructors in the near future.
With OASIS deployment approaching, our student output would drop. The good news is that we are scheduled to be the 5th site to receive OASIS equipment, sometime in the Spring of 1998. The bad news is that we will receive only 6 OASIS terminals severely limiting our capability to provide hands-on training in the classroom and lab environments. If the traditional hands-on training opportunities are to be continued in this course, we are limited to 6 students per class. Although our staffing requirements would be lower, our student output would fall far below the 100 per year target. We need to receive a full compliment of 32 OASIS terminals to continue FSS training as we know it here at the Academy. The fact that we are receiving only 6 terminals indicates that FAA does not plan to continue any great amount of FSS training at the Academy.
The plans for future FSS training will come as a surprise and a burden to many. The FSS Training Branch has been allowed to shrink so much recently in anticipation of a restructure of training. A proposed restructure of Flight Service initial training identifies a large portion that would be taught at field facilities. The Academy would retain NWS training for weather analysis and lab exercises for preflight, inflight, and emergency services. Thus, out of the 600 hour course, 272 hours would be taught at the Academy while the equivalent of 328 hours would be left for field facilities to manage. I have heard that facility training staffs have been shrunk and overburdened. I am not sure if training staffs at the 61 AFSSs can provide the intensive training required by the restructured program for 100 new specialists per year while continuing their other facility training duties. It is envisioned that the Academy would develop much of this training for delivery on a CATTS platform. The scarcity of CATTS platforms compounds the problem as trainees and FPLs compete for terminal time. More CATTS platforms would need to be made available to support the training initiative.
Our workload projections at the Academy indicate a shift from instructional duties to courseware development. Our current class of Level 1 tower students training for Flight Service positions (T2F class) will graduate on April 15. Another T2F class is scheduled for September through December and we are told that this will be the last FSS Initial Qualification class that will be taught at the Academy. We will begin developing OASIS training by late summer and will begin delivering that training to the field in 1998. During this same time we will begin developing the field courseware for the restructured Initial Qualification training which will continue well into 1998. At present, we are very concerned about being able to conduct a single small T2F class while the burden and priority of OASIS development hangs over us.
Without an increase in staffing, the idea of training more students in the near future is ludicrous. In all due respect, I reiterate that I would like nothing more than to see the Academy return to the days of training large groups of FSS students. However there seems to be no Academy or Headquarters champion for that cause. We are currently in the midst of a reorganization which will combine the FSS and the En Route training branches to form the Initial Qualification Branch and will lose our FSS
Branch manager. The En Route Branch has always had the luxury of being better staffed and equipped than we have. It remains to be seen whether this reorganization will provide easier access to En Route training equipment and resources will or merely accelerate our demise.
Sincerely,
Jeff Molnar
AMA-570
e:mail: [email protected]
As most of you know, the CWSU test at Houston Center is still on hold pending a meeting between NWS and FAA. This program has generated some controversy, and I would like to get all our members talking about it. Our BOD says they are for us taking over the work, but keeping it in the AFSS. We in Conroe believe that the job needs to stay at the center to be properly performed. We 4 who are in the test have seen the CWSU in action, and it does indeed involve face-to-face briefings with the TMU and the supervisors. Plus, when bad weather occurs, the CWSU people interface with the people on the floor, and being right there in the center enables them to physically show the controllers where the bad weather is, and what is going to happen. From our observations, we can do this job, and do it well, but to do it properly, we need to be physically present in the centers.
Of course, this whole idea of FSS people taking over a meteorologist's job has got the NWSEO (their union) upset, and they are spreading bad information about our abilities to the press. ( See the April 2, editorial section of USA Today.) You can also check out their website at www.nwseo.org/beacon - some of the things they are saying are fairly strong.
Anyway, the folks I have spoken with seem to be in favor of this program right in the centers. Our BOD feels this is against our better interest, I need your opinions. Please e-mail me at [email protected], or fax 409 756-4722, or snailmail me at 22910 Koback Corners, Spring, TX 77373. Be sure also to send a copy to your RegDir and to [email protected]
Thanks,
Andrea Chay
CONGRESSIONAL ACTION? NOT YET...
Neither On The Budget...
As your April 15 tax filing deadline passed, so did the Congressional deadline for its annual agreement on the federal budget. We presume you complied with federal law by sending in your annual contribution to Uncle Sam. Unfortunately, Congress ignored their own deadline without even filing for an extension.
Basically, Congress is marking time while Washington's obsession with the twists and turns of Whitewater, questionable fund-raising activities, paying Speaker Gingrich's fines and a host of other activities unrelated to the budget. The overall budget agreement between the House and Senate must be in place before their respective Committees on Appropriations receive the all-important allocations for programs under the jurisdiction of their various subcommittees. Without a budget agreement, most of our work is dragged out, taking much longer than originally envisioned in the Budget Act.
Nevertheless, we continue to meet with Appropriations Committee members and their staff on NAATS' needs and concerns in the FY 1998 budget. No one knows, at this writing, when those allocations will be finalized nor when the Subcommittees will actually sit down to write legislation. In the meantime, we push along with our focus on OASIS, the need for a hiring pipeline into Flight Service and retaining the current number of 1-800-WX-BRIEF telephone lines.
...Nor On The Next Administrator
Another area of critical importance to NAATS members is the question of who will be the next FAA administrator. While no formal announcement has been made by the White House at this writing, all signs point to the nomination of Jane Garvey, current acting administrator of the Federal Highway Administration and former deputy to SECDOT Rodney
Slater when he headed that agency. Ms. Garvey's aviation background is limited to having served as director of Boston's Logan International Airport and with the Massachusetts Department of Public Works. As such, it would be fair to presume her knowledge of general aviation is limited.
Perhaps the more interesting aspect of these rumors, however, is that the White House apparently intends to nominate FAA's current Associate Administrator for Research and Acquisitions, George Donohue, to become deputy administrator. Donohue, you may recall, is a former executive in the Rand Corporation think-tank operation and has valiantly attempted to reform FAA's procurement processes. His efforts, however, have not always been to the benefit of NAATS. And, while this pair of nominations is apparently to the liking of the major airlines, general aviation and other industry segments have not been very vocal, perhaps waiting until they are made final.
Predictions
The one thing we can predict, however, is that Congress will take its time on the budget, culminating in a mad rush to finish it and get all 13 appropriations bills passed in the House. And, with the top slot at FAA vacant since David Hinson resigned in November, the White House will continue to take its time on finding a replacement.
As always, feel free to contact us with any questions on NAATS' activities on Capitol Hill.
ANNOUNCING
NAATS FACREPBASIC TRAINING
Instructor: Mike "Mad Dog" Doring
DATE: JUNE 4 & 5
LOCATION: Quality Hotel, Milwaukee, WI
FOR RESERVATIONS, Contact your Regional Director
Attendance will be limited to 20, first come, first serve
NAATS 11303 Amherst Avenue Suite 4 Wheaton, MD 20902 301/933-6228 301/933-3902 fax Walter W. Pike, Chief Executive Officer
