National Association of Air Traffic Specialists

Aviation Safety is Our Business

NAATS HEADQUARTERS EMAIL UPDATE

Number 68
May 25, 2001

The membership response on the congressional letter writing has been very encouraging. The NAATS membership is certainly doing its part. I met with our lobbyist this week and they are now scheduling the necessary meetings to accomplish our goals. The timetable for completion remains the same, on or about October 1. We will have another meeting with our lobbyist to discuss strategy next week; I'll keep you advised of developments. 

We are analyzing the impact of the change in the Senate leadership as it relates to our issues. A reminder that we lobby both sides of the aisle with no preference toward either party. 

The management negotiating team is now adopting the position that the OMB rejection of the AFSCME agreement temporarily ties their hands. This position fails to acknowledge the fact that before OMB became a concern they hadn't offered a proposal worthy of serious consideration. I'm not convinced that there is anything that prevents the FAA from coming to a fair agreement with us regarding comparable compensation. I'm continuing to meet with senior FAA managers but so far we've seen very little response from them. We are filing a 7114 data request on the OMB rejection of the AFSCME/FAA Agreement as well as a FOIA request to OMB.

Last week I went to BDR AFSS and met with FacRep Mike Sheldon and the membership. I congratulated them on their PAC fund efforts and asked that they stay engaged politically. There was a lot of good discussion and I thoroughly enjoyed the visit. My thanks to NE Regional Director Kurt Comisky for scheduling the trip and inviting me to the facility. Currently I have invitations to visit BTV, MIA and EKN AFSSs to meet with the members. Workload permitting, I'm coordinating these visits with the appropriate Regional Directors.

NAATS National OASIS Representative Jeff Barnes will have a status report for next week's update. He informs me that the OASIS testing at ACY went well this week.

Recently the NAATS Finance Committee met at NAATS Headquarters to draft our FY02 budget. I want to take this opportunity to thank Finance Committee Chairman and Treasurer John Wesselhoft (PIE) and members Bob Roose (PIE) and Mark Bunker (GRB) for all their hard work and effort for our union.

Wally Pike

Walter W. Pike, President

This page was last updated on 29 May 2001