National Association of Air Traffic Specialists

Aviation Safety is Our Business

NAATS HEADQUARTERS EMAIL UPDATE

Number 64
April 17, 2001

Just a quick update on how the pay negotiations went today. The Director of the FMCS attended along with the other mediators we've been using in the past. After the NAATS and management teams were brought together the FAA attorney made an announcement.

He stated that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has so far refused to approve the AFSCME pay agreement with the FAA and that this meant the management team was withdrawing its 5.5% offer to us from the negotiations. He further stated that he could not negotiate on wages until OMB made a final determination on FAA pay agreements.

At this point the NAATS team asked the FAA attorney several questions regarding his authority to negotiate in good faith. He then revised his statement to say that he could only negotiate pay agreements that did not result in pay increases. We told him that we weren't interested in the 5.5% offer; much less any offer that did not include an increase of any kind. The management team then stated that they felt it was better to wait on further negotiations until OMB makes some determinations about FAA pay agreements.

After talking with the management team and the mediators we agreed to adjourn the meeting. Nothing further of substance was discussed. Both teams are subject to recall by the FMCS.

The NAATS team analysis of the situation is as follows:

• OMB does indeed review and approve the FAA pay agreements,
• AFSCME has a ULP against the FAA for failure to implement their pay agreement,
• The FAA attorney has cried "wolf" so many times, it's hard to give him any credibility on this matter. 

It's an old negotiations ploy to withdraw an offer and then force the other team to argue back to the previous point. The idea is, of course, to convince the other side that they've gained something by taking the original offer they had rejected. That's not going to work here. We are not moving from our "comparability" position.

I'm checking with some sources that can verify the AFSCME and OMB information. We are also checking with our legal counsel to see what our options are in that forum.

Additionally, I'm contacting our congressional representative to develop a strategy for this latest event. This will no doubt involve a request for increased activity from our membership.

For the most part, we regard this as the latest in a continuing series of posturing by the FAA negotiators. They seem to mix in some elements of fact in their positions, then they resort to bad faith bargaining and threats to try to force the NAATS team into agreement. Ironically, this could strengthen our position in the long-term. If it turns out that OMB has no problems with the FAA pay agreements, then the obstacle can only be the FAA attorney.

We keep you advised of developments.

Wally Pike

Walter W. Pike, President

This page was last updated on 17 April 2001