NEWSLETTER E-MAIL ADDRESS:
This issue of NAATS News represents a new approach to disseminating the Newsletter - We are providing a Word Formatted version online for downloading and printing:
(Plain DOC version ZIPped Version)
Please bear with us as we try to work out the bugs. Of course any and all comments are welcome.
Wally Pike, NAATS President
This week I met with ATS-1 Steve Brown and we discussed a number of matters including the status of pay negotiations and the new FAA Performance Based Organization (PBO). It was a good discussion and we agreed to work closely together in the future.
I attended a briefing on the PBO by ATS-2 Peter Challens. Bottom line is that no one really knows all the ramifications of the Executive Order at this time but we agreed to develop a process that will include NAATS involvement at the pre-decisional stages. This is expected to begin in January and, of course, we don't waive any of our bargaining rights by participating. It does give us an excellent opportunity to influence the structure and direction of the PBO. The impact to us could range from minimal to significant.
I also met with Administrator Garvey yesterday on this topic and discussed the same concept of early union involvement. I applaud her decision to engage us at the very beginning in this change.Congress is basically through for the remainder of this year. We know the game and we'll be ready when the new 107th congress begins next month. As previously discussed, we'll keep you advised of all the details.
A word on the general pay increase this year: NAATS bargaining unit members will receive an average 3.7% increase that includes locality. You have probably heard that the FAA employees in core comp, including some unions, will receive 5.3%. The 5.3% figure is arrived at by using the 3.7% and then adding the 1% FAA OSI and the .6% SCI which has not been distributed this year. Some will tell you that this amounts to an additional 1.6% that NAATS bargaining unit members won't receive. But, as is usually the case, it isn't that simple. The average increase between the steps of a GS-12 is 1.6%. NAATS bargaining unit members still receive step increases while those in the core, of course, do not. Add to that the fact that our bargaining unit still collects the 5% ATRA figure instead of the 4.1% base pay roll-in that NATCA and PASS receive. An argument can be made that we are actually receiving more than the core employees; it's all in your perspective.
Happy Holidays to all!
Wally
President Clinton Announces Actions to Improve Air Travel for American Consumers
President Clinton today will announce three actions to reduce airline delays and improve air travel for America: an Executive Order directing the Federal Aviation Administration to create a performance-based organization to focus solely on efficient operation of the air traffic control system; appointment of a group of business and labor leaders from outside of the aviation industry to serve as a board of directors for this organization; and a review of impediments to congestion pricing at airports. Joined at the White House by the Secretary of Transportation, the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Ad-ministration (FAA), and the editor of National Geographic Traveler, a consumer travel magazine, the President also will call on Congress to reform the way air traffic control services are financed.
CHALLENGES TO OUR AIR TRAVEL SYSTEM. Our nation has the safest air transportation system in the world, but air travel is no longer as efficient as it is safe. The recent, explosive growth in air travel is straining the limits of the air traffic control system operated by the FAA as well as the runway capacity at key airports. Flight delays and cancellations have soared, costing passengers and airlines billions of dollars and contributing to widespread passenger frustration and anger.
To address this problem, the FAA must be structured to manage the high-tech, high-demand operations of a 21st century air traffic control system. As 24/7 service provider, the air traffic system in some respects is more like a business than a typical government activity. It should operate with a clear mission, measurable performance goals, and identifiable users. The Clinton Administration has worked with the Congress to provide the building blocks of a more efficient air traffic control system, including flexibility from federal personnel and procurement rules. Today's action by the President builds on these steps by creating a distinct management unit for the air traffic system -- the Air Traffic Organization -- and giving it the incentives and tools to operate more flexibly and efficiently. The FAA Administrator will continue to regulate the air traffic system to ensure that it operates safely and securely, as well as efficiently. At the same time, because it is freed from the day-to-day operational concerns of air traffic, the rest of the FAA will be able to focus its energies on leading our aviation system at large.
PRESIDENT CLINTON WILL TODAY ANNOUNCE STEPS TO REDUCE AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL AND AIRPORT DELAYS. To accelerate efforts to reduce delay and improve air travel for consumers, the President will announce the following steps:
Executive Order Directing FAA to Create a Performance-Based Organization to Make Air Traffic Control More Efficient: The President is issuing an Executive Order directing the FAA to create a "performance-based organization" - the Air Traffic Organization - to manage the operation of air traffic services. It will be located within the FAA, but will be separate from, and overseen by, the FAA's safety, regulatory and enforcement arm. Establishment of this new organization is a major step towards development of a 21st century aviation system.
The new organization will be devoted exclusively to its "core business" - the delivery of air traffic control services. It will be managed by a Chief Operating Officer, who will be hired through a nation-wide competitive search; the COO will negotiate a performance agreement with the FAA Administrator and be paid partly based on performance. In collaboration with its customers (airlines and other air traffic control users), the organization will set clear performance goals, which will be spelled out in a performance agreement; using agreed-upon indicators, customers can measure the organization's performance and hold it accountable.
Designation of Business and Labor Leaders to Oversee Air Traffic PBO: Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater is designating five distinguished individuals for appointment to the Air Traffic Services Subcommittee of the FAA's Aviation Management Advisory Council. Congress created the five-member Subcommittee in recent legislation. It will function as a board of directors, overseeing the management and budget of the Air Traffic Organization and ensuring that it becomes more customer-driven and performance-based. The designees are:
� John J. Cullinane, President, The Cullinane Group
� Nancy Kassebaum Baker, former U.S. Senator from Kansas
� Leon Lynch, International Vice President, United Steelworkers of America
� Sharon Patrick, President and COO, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc.
� John W. Snow, Chairman, President and CEO, CSX Corporation
DOT/FAA Federal Review of Impediments to Airport Congestion Pricing: The President is directing the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the FAA to review the statutory and regulatory impediments to the use of congestion pricing and other market mechanisms to pro-vide for more efficient use of existing runway capacity and encourage the creation of new capacity. For instance, charging airlines more to land at airports during peak hours could reduce congestion and delays. The FAA is already looking at options for congestion management, including market mechanisms, to reduce delay at LaGuardia Airport. DOT and FAA should expand that effort and seek statutory relief where appropriate.
THE WHITE HOUSE WILL RELEASE A REPORT OUTLINING NEED FOR A NEW AIR TRAFFIC ORGANIZATION. The White House report outlines the challenges facing the aviation system, the steps the FAA has taken to address them, and the need to create an a new performance-based organization to operate the air traffic system more efficiently.
CONGRESS MUST TAKE ADDITIONAL ACTION. These Executive actions, building upon current reforms within the FAA, are necessary but not sufficient to allow the Air Traffic Organization to operate a 21st century air traffic system. As the Administration said in 1995, the individual reforms of the ATC system are interrelated, and "fundamental air traffic reform requires that these changes be made together or the benefit of individual changes will be greatly reduced." Thus, the President also will call on Congress to reform the way air traffic services are financed, in keeping with recommendations from both the Administration and the congressionally created National Civil Aviation Review Commission:
Congress should replace the excise tax on passengers with authorization for the Air Traffic Organization to set cost-based charges on commercial users of the air traffic control system. (General aviation should continue to pay the fuel tax.). The Air Traffic Organization must be able to price its services, in order to balance supply and demand in the short run and meet customer demand in the long run.
As soon as the Air Traffic Organization is fully financed by cost-based fees, Congress should allow it to borrow funds from Treasury or on private markets to finance long-term capital investments. Fees would replace direct appropriations for capital, and would enable debt financing of needed capital investment.
AIR TRAFFIC SERVICES SUBCOMMITTEE DESIGNEES.
Nancy Kassebaum-Baker. Former U.S. Senator Nancy Kassebaum-Baker will be designated for appointment to the Air Traffic Services Subcommittee for a three-year term. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Kai-ser Family Foundation. She also chairs the national advisory committee on rural health to the Secretary of Health and Human Services and is on the Board of Directors of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, the African Law Institute Council-ABA, the International Medical Corps and Handgun Control. During her three terms (1979-97) as a U.S. Senator from Kansas, Senator Kassebaum served as chairperson of the Subcommittee on Aviation, the Labor and Human Resources Committee and the Subcommittee on African Affairs. Senator Kassebaum received a bachelor's degree from the University of Kansas and a master's degree from the University of Michigan.
John J. Cullinane. John J. Cullinane will be designated for appointment to the Air Traffic Services Subcommittee for a four-year term. Mr. Cullinane is president of The Cullinane Group, Inc., and was the founder, president, CEO and chairman of the board of Cullinet Software, Inc., a pioneer in the computer software industry. He was a Fellow in the Center for Business and Government at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and also organized and chaired a series of seminars sponsored by Harvard University for CEOs. An investor and board member in a number of emerging software companies, he has worked extensively with the Irish software industry, and has promoted economic development in Northern Ireland. Mr. Cullinane graduated from Northwestern University.
Leon Lynch. Leon Lynch will be designated for appointment to the Air Traffic Services Subcommittee for a five-year term. Mr. Lynch is currently serving his sixth term as international vice president for human affairs for the United Steel-workers of America (USWA). In this position, he oversees the union's civil rights and human rights efforts. Mr. Lynch was elected in 1995 to the AFL-CIO Executive Council. He frequently represents the USWA and the AFL-CIO at conferences of the International Labor Organization and in international labor matters. President Clinton appointed Mr. Lynch to the Advisory Council on Unemployment Compensation, and he is a member of the executive committee of the Democratic National Committee, chair of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, president of the Workers Defense League, a board member of the National Endowment for Democracy and a member of the Labor Roundtable of the National Black Caucus of the State Legislators.
Sharon Patrick. Sharon Patrick will be designated for appointment to the Air Traffic Services Subcommittee for a four-year term. Ms. Patrick is a co-founder and the president and COO of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc., as well as a member of the corporation's executive office and board of directors. Prior to her current venture, Ms. Patrick served as president and CEO of Rainbow Programming Holdings, Inc. Previously, she was a partner of McKinsey and Company, an international consulting firm, where she led a team that conducted a comprehensive management review of the U.S. air traffic control system. This team investigated problems underlying the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) strike and recommended actions for improvement that were subsequently adopted. Ms. Patrick received a bachelor's degree from Stanford University and a master's degree from Harvard Business School.
John W. Snow. John W. Snow will be designated for appointment to the Air Traffic Services Subcommittee for a three-year term. He is currently chairman, president and CEO of CSX Corporation, a transportation company that provides rail, container-shipping, intermodal and logistics services. He has served in senior executive positions with the company since 1977. Mr. Snow previously served in the U.S. Department of Transportation as Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (1976-77), Deputy Undersecretary (1975-76), Assistant Secretary for Governmental Affairs (1974-75), Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, Plans and International Affairs (1973-74), and Assistant General Counsel (1972-73). Mr. Snow received a bachelor's degree from Kenyon College, University of Toledo, a doctorate in economics from the University of Virginia and a law degree from George Washington University Law School.
WHITE HOUSE REPORT ON AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL REFORM
December 7, 2000. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) oversees the largest, busiest and most complex aviation system in the world. As part of its mission, the FAA and its staff of 49,000 operate and maintain our nation's air traffic system, orchestrating the take-off, landing and routing of 93,000 aircraft a day. The FAA also regulates aviation safety and security, which entails standard setting for, and oversight of, commercial airlines, private aircraft, aircraft manufacturers and the air traffic system itself.
To the credit of the FAA and other segments of the U.S. aviation community, our nation's safety record for air travel is exceptional. You could fly commercially every day for 22,000 years and not lose your life in an accident. Between July 1997 and June 1999, not a single life was lost in the crash of a scheduled U.S. airliner.
Moreover, the U.S. has achieved this safety record while experiencing the enormous growth in air travel. Since 1978, when airline deregulation ended the federal government's role in setting prices and limiting capacity, daily departures have doubled, and the number of passengers has gone up by 250 percent. Last year, U.S. airlines transported 694 million passengers on 13 million flights.
Yet our air transportation system is not as efficient as it could be. The growing volume of air traffic, spurred in part by the vitality of the economy, is straining the limits of the FAA's air traffic infrastructure as well as key airports' runway capacity. According to the FAA, flight delays have increased by more than 58 percent since 1995, cancellations by 68 percent, contributing to widespread passenger frustration and anger. The Air Transport Association estimates the cost to airlines and passengers at more than $5 billion per year. Moreover, these statistics under-state the true costs of aviation congestion, because airlines have progressively "padded" their published schedules to better reflect routine delays: for example, one major carrier schedules 75 minutes for a flight between Washington, D.C. and Newark, even though the trip takes only 37 minutes under optimal conditions.
Moreover, delays are almost certain to increase, primarily because of traffic growth. The FAA predicts a 60 percent increase in the number of passengers and a doubling of cargo volume by 2010, resulting in a 25 percent increase in air-craft operations. Having more planes using the air traffic system will exacerbate the impact of bad weather, because there will be less slack in the system. Another factor that will cause delays to increase is regional jets (RJs), which fly at the same altitude as larger planes but are not as fast. With several hundred RJs coming into the airlines' fleets each year, these popular planes will be a factor in delays.
Although new technology for the air traffic system is not a silver bullet, it can expand somewhat the effective capacity of our nation's airways and runways. For example, most flights today travel on a limited number of congested "airways" - narrow, often indirect, corridors defined by the locations of ground-based radar beacons. Satellite-based navigation and other technologies will allow pilots instead to select their own routings - a technique known as "free flight." Precision satellite navigation can also relieve congestion upon final approach to airports, by allow-ing aircraft to make "segmented approaches" from several directions rather than queue up single file. Queues must allow enough separation to ensure that one plane's wake does not create dangerous turbulence for the next plane in line. By avoiding this problem, segmented approaches (and similar alternatives to queuing) can increase the hourly capacity of single-runway airports. New technology can also increase the safety of air travel.
However, the FAA's effort to modernize its air traffic system technology has not kept pace with either the emergence of new hardware or the growing demand for air travel. Despite significant improvements in recent years, some modernization projects are delayed and over-budget. Moreover, in part because of federal budget regarding agency borrowing, the FAA has not always had all of the funds needed for long-term capital in-vestments and research and development.
If flight delays and out-of-date technology are the symptoms, one of the key underlying problems is that the FAA is currently not structured to manage the delivery of a high technology service such as air traffic. The air traffic system operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and an entire industry depends on the air traffic system for its every move. Because of its overriding importance to the safety and security of American travelers, air traffic control is an inherently governmental function. Nevertheless, in several key respects the air traffic system has characteristics that make it best managed as a separate unit distinct from the rest of FAA activities.
First, air traffic activities involve delivering a service, not developing government policy. To be sure, air traffic control management (like the manufacture of aircraft or the operation of airlines) must be regulated to ensure safety. But most experts agree that the delivery of air traffic services is a distinct activity, separable from the regulation or oversight of air traffic safety and security.
Second, because air traffic is operational, the mission of an air traffic service provider is clear and its performance is measurable.
Third, the users of the air traffic sys-tem - the "customers" - are identifiable, and most of the benefits and costs of air traffic services accrue to those who are already paying the costs via excise taxes. By contrast, most government agencies provide for public goods (clean air, safe streets) for which there may be little correlation between taxes paid and the services received by any individual.
Because of the importance of aviation to our nation, the Clinton Administration made reform of the air traffic system an early priority. In 1993, the Vice President's National Performance Review (NPR) recommended that air traffic operations be reorganized into an independent government corporation, allowing the use of many of the tools available to the private sector to provide air traffic services more efficiently and safely. As a follow-on to the NPR recommendation, the Administration proposed legislation to create a not-for-profit U.S. Air Traffic Ser-vices Corporation (USATS), to be governed by a board of directors and a chief executive officer and regulated at arm's length by the FAA. Although Congress rejected USATS, it subsequently adopted key building blocks of the Administration's proposal, namely acquisition reform, personnel reform, and management reform. Congress also established a Management Advisory Council (MAC) to the FAA to provide expert advice from major aviation interests on a broad range of issues, including air traffic. Earlier this year, Congress adopted still more elements of the Administration's reform agenda, by establishing the position of Chief Operating Officer for air traffic operations and by creating a five-member Subcommittee to the MAC, which will function much like a corporate board of directors in overseeing the management and budget of air traffic operations.
Under the direction of Jane Garvey, the first Administrator to serve a fixed (five-year) term, the FAA is already using these building blocks to improve the air traffic system operation in important ways:
Collaborative decision-making:To encourage the FAA to treat those who use the air traffic system as the customer, senior FAA officials are making major air traffic decisions in a more collaborative way, following extensive consultation and consensus building. Soon after Administrator Garvey joined the FAA, she convened a task force of industry and labor representatives to consider ways the agency could deliver some of the benefits of free flight to users in the near term. The FAA accepted the task force's recommendations and has made implementation of these tools, collectively known as Free Flight Phase One, one of its highest priorities.
The FAA used this same collaborative approach on an urgent basis in the summer of 1999, after severe weather and other problems led to a dramatic increase in flight delays. Administrator Garvey and other senior FAA officials met with their counterparts in industry and labor to diagnose the problem and agree on concrete fixes. The FAA continued this successful partnership with airlines, pilots and controllers throughout the following fall and winter. The group ultimately produced the FAA's Spring/Summer 2000 Severe Weather Plan, which President Clinton announced last March. Although the amount of air traffic delays during this past summer exceeded that of 1999, the airlines and other participants believe the problem would have been even worse without the Spring/Summer 2000 Plan in place. Thus, they are continuing to refine the plan, use it as a "laboratory" to test new ideas, and make it standard operating procedure year round.
Instilling a performance culture:
If the first crosscutting change - promoting collaborative decision-making and consensus - has largely to do with process, the second one - instilling a performance culture - involves getting the organization to focus squarely on results for the customer. As noted earlier, in contrast to many federal programs, the air traffic system provides concrete services to identifiable customers, and the cost and quality of these services can be objectively measured. The FAA is putting in place operational and financial systems needed to track and report its performance.
The FAA and air traffic users recently agreed to collect and share data on a wide range of measures, as part of the Spring/Summer 2000 Plan. The FAA is now combining its own air traffic data with airline data from 20 major airports to pro-duce a daily air traffic scorecard. This measures the overall system performance and provides feedback on how well the FAA performed under specific conditions. When the FAA and airlines convene each morning to go over the previous day's activities, they have a common database and a basis for evaluating their efforts.
Reforming acquisition and pursuing incremental modernization:
In 1995, Congress exempted the FAA from federal acquisition rules, largely in response to the escalating costs and schedule delays associated with the agency's air traffic modernization effort. Since then, the FAA's problems with major acquisitions have been less severe, and the agency has made significant progress in reducing the time to award contracts and in deploying key systems on time and within budget. However, serious problems persist with certain technologically challenging systems such as WAAS and STARS.
The FAA's traditional approach to acquisition was development of highly ambitious systems incorporating new technologies that promised a radical improvement over existing capabilities. In response to continued problems with WAAS, STARS, and other major air traffic systems, the FAA has adopted a more incremental approach to modernization. This new approach -- "build a little, test a little" -- reduces the risk of cost and schedule problems, and it ensures that rapidly changing technology gets incorporated into the system. It also means that the FAA can provide improved capabilities to users far sooner.
Pursuing personnel reform:
The 1995 law exempting the FAA from federal personnel rules produced immediate results. The change is visible: the FAA replaced 47,200 pages of personnel laws and regulations with a 42-page document. More substantively, the FAA gained much-needed flexibility in hiring, compensating and utilizing its employees.
Freed from federal personnel rules, the FAA negotiated an agreement with controllers that provides higher compensation in exchange for commitments to increased productivity and job flexibility. A new agreement with air traffic equipment technicians includes performance-based compensation, and non-union employees are now covered by a pay-for-performance system.
Today's Actions:
To accelerate these important efforts, President Clinton today will announce the following actions:
He is issuing an Executive Order directing the FAA to create a performance-based organization (PBO) - the Air Traffic Organization - to manage the operation of air traffic services. As a PBO, this organization will have the incentives and tools needed to operate more flexibly and efficiently. It will be located within the FAA and overseen by the FAA Administrator but will be separate from, the FAA's safety and security regulatory and enforcement arms. Although the creation of a PBO is not a panacea it is the right next step towards the development of a 21st century aviation system.
Secretary of Transportation Rodney E. Slater will name five distinguished individuals to the Air Traffic Services Subcommittee of the FAA's Aviation Management Advisory Council. Congress created the five-member ATS Subcommittee in recent legislation. It will function as a board of directors, overseeing the management and budget of the FAA's air traffic control organization and ensuring that it becomes more customer-driven and performance-based. The Subcommittee members (who will not require Senate confirmation) are:
� John J. Cullinane, President, The Cullinane Group
� Nancy Kassebaum, former U.S. Senator from Kansas
� Leon Lynch, International Vice President, United Steelworkers of America
� Sharon Patrick, President and COO, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc.
� John W. Snow, Chairman, President and CEO, CSX Corporation
The President is directing the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the FAA to review the statutory and regulatory impediments to the use of airport congestion pricing and other market mechanisms to provide for more efficient use of existing runway capacity and en-courage the creation of new capacity. The FAA is already looking at options for congestion management, including market mechanisms, to reduce delay at LaGuardia Airport. DOT and FAA should expand that effort and seek statutory relief where appropriate.
These Executive actions, building upon current flexibilities within the FAA to further improve its effectiveness, are necessary but do not fully provide the financial flexibility to manage its operations. As the Administration said in 1995, the individual reforms of the air traffic control sys-tem are interrelated, and "fundamental air traffic reform requires that these changes be made together or the benefit of individual changes will be greatly reduced." Such fundamental financial reform re-quires additional action by the Congress, in keeping with the recommendations of the Administration and the congressionally created National Civil Aviation Re-view Commission:
Congress must reform the way air traffic services are financed, by replacing the excise tax on passengers with authorization for the Air Traffic Services PBO to set cost-based charges on commercial users of the air traffic system - that is, the air carriers that earn revenues from the transportation of people and products and therefore stand to benefit directly from an improved system. (General aviation should continue to pay the fuel tax.) The Air Traffic organization needs to be able to price its services, in order to balance supply and demand in the short run and to know what steps are needed to meet customer demand in the long run.
As soon as the Air Traffic PBO is fully financed by cost-based fees, Congress should allow it to borrow funds from Treasury or on private markets to finance long-term capital investments. Fees would replace direct appropriations for capital and would enable debt financing of needed capital spending.
- Hal Gross
- Legislative Consultant
Evenly Divided Nation Reflected in Election;
Stalemate or Bi-partisan Congress Up For Grabs
As this is written on December 8, 2000, about a month has passed since the Presidential election without the winner being finally determined. One current and two potential Florida Supreme Court decisions, all subject to possible review by the United States Supreme Court., are pending. Meanwhile, the Republican-controlled Florida legislature has opened an 11-day special session to get involved, and ultimately, the narrowly divided U.S. Congress will have its say. As much of a "political junkie as I am, I'm about ready to say "enough already."
The narrow division between Republicans and Democrats is also reflected in both houses of the Congress. In the Senate, Democrat Maria Cantwell's ap-parent 2000-vote victory over Republican incumbent Slade Gorton brings the Senate to a 50-50 split, subject to the resolution of the Presidential race. If the Gore-Lieberman ticket wins, Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT) will resign his Senate seat and become Vice President-elect. As Vice President, he will be empowered to vote to break all ties, but Connecticut Governor John Rowland, a Republican, can be expected to appoint a Republican to the vacated Senate seat, which would give the Republicans a 51-49 majority. Of course, if Bush wins the presidency, Lieberman will remain a Senator in a 50-50 Senate, but Dick Cheney would vote to break all Senate ties.
Meanwhile, two other Senators, 96-year-old Strom Thurmond (R-SC) and Jesse Helms (R-NC) are in increasingly frail health, and facing likely imminent retirement. Both North and South Carolina presently have Democratic Governors, who would be expected to appoint Democrats to the vacated Senate seats, in the event of the death, retirement, or disability of the two Republican conservatives.
In the House of Representatives, where different rules apply, the 107th Congress will open with 221 Republicans, 211 Democrats, two independents, and one vacancy, attributable to today's death of Democrat Julian Dixon (D-CA). California Governor Gray Davis, a Democrat, will almost certainly appoint an-other Democrat to replace Dixon. The two independents are Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who almost always votes with the Democrats, and Virgil Goode (I-VA), who usually votes with the Republicans. Thus, the Republicans will maintain a nine-vote margin in the House. Put an-other way, a shift of only five votes in the usually unruly House will change the outcome on any given vote.
The leadership of both parties in the Congress is talking as if they will be less partisan this session, for the good of the nation, but this remains to be seen. House Republican whip Tom Delay (R-TX), who is currently negotiating with the Clinton White House over fiscal 2001 Appropriations, is again threatening to shut the government down and blame the Democrats.The even division of the two houses gives special leverage to the moderates of both parties, who, with only a handful of votes can unite to affect a change in the outcome of a vote. While the new Members of Congress of both parties are likely to be willing to accept bi-partisan leadership, it remains to be seen whether the hard-core partisans who have divided the Congress for the past several ses-sions can be brought into the fold, or be simply overridden.
In the Senate, if the 50-50 split holds, there will be negotiations, which could produce split Republican-Democratic chairmanships of Commit-tees, or other bi-partisan arrangements. In a body as collegial as the Senate generally is, it is hard to imagine an endless series of 50-50 votes, resolved by the intervention of the Vice President.
Despite being constantly tested, the resiliency of our Constitution has once again been proven. There will be many disgruntled voters, however the election contests are resolved. But still there are no tanks or guns in our streets.
Stay tuned: the next series of partisan battles will be over redistricting Congressional seats.
This is the last column I will write prior to my retirement. To all NAATS members I say goodbye, good luck and it's been good knowing you.
Letter from Wally Pike to FAA Administrator, Jane Garvey
December 11, 2000
- Ms. Jane Garvey
- FAA Administrator, AOA-1
- 800 Independence Ave., SW
- Washington, D.C. 20591
RE: December 6 White House Meeting with FAA Unions
Dear Madam Administrator:
This letter is to express the extreme frustration of the National Association of Air Traffic Specialists in being overlooked for the above meeting. The creation of a performance-based organization within the FAA to make ATC more efficient is obviously of great interest to the air traffic controllers that work in flight service stations. Just as obviously, it is counterproductive to effective labor relations and partnership principles to exclude NAATS while conducting the meeting with NATCA, PASS and AFSCME.
While this is not the first time NAATS has been excluded from labor management meetings in the FAA, it is by far the most disappointing. I do not know who on your staff made this decision but I hope you will agree that it was ill considered and take the necessary action to ensure it doesn't happen again in the future,
I look forward to a prompt response to this letter. As always, feel free to contact me with any questions or other comments on this matter.
Sincerely,
- Walter W. Pike
- President
NAATS
CONVENTION
2001
LAS VEGAS, NV
OCT. 17-18, 2001
- Luxor Hotel
FACREP TRAINING
OCT. 16TH
- Reservations: (To be announced)
- Don McLennan
- NW Mountain RegDir
The NAATS and FAA negotiation teams met at the downtown offices of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Ser-vices Agency in Washington DC, on Monday, November 7, 2000. They met to discuss the fact they had arrived at impasse after nearly three years of trying to reach an agreement on work rules and a compensation package to cover the, FSS option, bargaining unit members.
The Chief Negotiators opened the session stating the respective positions of the two parties. There was nothing new from anything previously stated/written. Mr. Pike articulated our disagreement with management as consisting of "threshold" issues. He re-counted that we have worked with management for several years to develop the proposal we eventually put forward. The primary issue is reclassification since the Agency and NAATS proposals are so far apart. Management stated that there is a considerable difference between what Center/Tower Controllers do and the work the FSS personnel perform. Management also stated that the Administrator was very worried that granting FSS employees a significant pay increase would risk the FAA's competitiveness with private enterprise that are vying for the work we now perform. They also indicated that staffing issues were also very important to resolve before we could reach agreement on a new contract. Additionally, the "Alaskan" issue was added as a significant aspect that needed to be resolved in the differences between our two proposals. They next stated they had no intention of offering anything more than 5.5% and this was a position of principle, especially since that is all they intend to offered to any of the other Un-ions within the Agency still struggling with their negotiations.
There is evidence we may not be as ready as we would like to be in order to be successful in mediation due to the little common ground between the two parties and the fact that we are so far apart in our proposals. We discussed, at length, the pros and cons of accepting the management proposal and coming to an agreement with them. Our position is that until the management team really wants to substantively discuss the issues there is no likelihood of success under this type of process.
The mediators briefly adjourned with us and met with management. When returning they asked us to try a new way of doing business. They suggested we try and set aside the money and hammer out a structure that works and put the dollar figures to it later. At that point either side can back out if they don't like the dollar values that fall out. In other words, you negotiate the dollars later. The tact here is that if we can at least get to the discussion of structure that would be one less thing we disagree on.
Our position is that since we have already dealt with the Agency on many workgroups with little progress, we would be willing to abandon the reclassification piece if a singular structure would help them begin to substantively discuss compensation.
Both sides of the table came back together. Mr. Pike made the above proposal to Management. They said that a single level would be fine but that would not change, in any way, the compensation offer they presently have on the table. However, they also seemed to have a real need to enter into discussions of developing a pay "structure".
The Union did not surrender, in essence, our long and hard work on implementing the reclassification standard, but rather, is exploring comparability with the "old" GS-12 pay levels in the NATCA bargaining unit. We should accept nothing less than what the Agency has al-ready given GS-12 Air Traffic Controllers. We have agreed to meet with management one more time on Tuesday, December 12 to see if there is any opportunity for movement by either side.
Remote Airport Information Service (RAIS)
All Air Traffic Division Managers (500's) All Flight Service Station Managers AOPA, NBAA, EAA, Interested Aviation Groups
Immediate News Release: FAA Tests a New Remote Airport Information Service (RAIS)
FAA will conduct a test of Remote Airport Information Service. The service will be offered on a test basis from the Louisville, Kentucky, Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Jonesboro, Arkansas, Automated Flight Service Stations (AFSS). The test period will be 6 months starting on June 5, 2000, for Green Bay AFSS; July 10, 2000, for Jonesboro AFSS; and August 14, 2000, for Louisville AFSS.
The participating locations will be London Kentucky airport (LOZ) provided by Louisville AFSS on frequency 122.65, Eau Claire airport (EAU) provided by Green Bay Wisconsin AFSS on frequency 123.6, and Harrison Arkansas airport (HRO) provided by Jonesboro AFSS on frequency 123.6.
RAIS is a terminal information service that, while very similar to Local Airport Advisory (LAA), has some differences.
RAIS is a safety enhancing terminal service provided at airports that do not have an operating airport traffic control tower or AFSS/FSS. The service provides information to arriving and departing air-craft concerning meteorological, aeronautical, and known or reported traffic information. Meteorological information is pro-vided from the latest information available to the AFSS/FSS specialist from either Automated Weather Observation System (AWOS), Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS), or manual observation. The information is advisory in nature and does not constitute an air traffic control (ATC) clearance.
The major differences between these services are LAA requires the specialist to be located on the airport receiving the service and the specialist to have direct reading wind and altimeter instruments. The direct reading instruments are used to advise the pilot of changes in wind and altimeter during the landing. The RAIS service is provided at REMOTE airports using automated weather.
The RAIS service is provided at RE-MOTE airports using automated weather reports for the wind and altimeter information. However, RAIS provides much more than current wind and altimeter advisories.
During the test program, the flight service specialist will give information pertinent to the operation that a pilot needs to ensure safe landing, takeoff, and taxiing operations; for instance: the status of surface operations like runway plowing, the reported location of aircraft conducting landing/takeoff operations, and other airport activity information. Like LAA, RAIS is purely voluntary, but it is a highly recommended advisory service.
All RAIS airports are required to have weather reporting. At airports having AWOS/ASOS on an automated voice transmitter, pilots are encouraged to monitor the AWOS/ASOS weather prior to initiating contact.This is how it works:
- Within 10 NM of the airport, the pilot will check the AWOS/ASOS, when available.
- Then, the pilot sets his/her radio frequency to 123.6 and establish communications. E.g. 'Louisville radio this is N12RG."
- After communications are established, the pilot advises the flight service specialist that he/she has the automated weather and request RAIS. E.g., "N12RG has the automated weather, 10 northwest landing London/Corbin Air-port, request airport information.
- The flight service specialist will pro-vide all the known pertinent information.
Pilots must exercise caution; this program is voluntary, not all pilots will participate. If the pilot does not tell the specialist that he/she has the automated weather, the last reported weather will be provided as part of the service.
Operational dates, hours of operation, and changes in the test program will be announced by Notice to Airman (NOTAM) for each airport. The NOTAM's will be is-sued prior to the start of operations and as needed during the test period. The RAIS NOTAM's will ensure that pilot weather briefers advise pilots about the test program during all briefings that include operations at a test airport. Additionally, all pilot weather briefers can an-swer questions about the RAIS program. Pilots and other interested parties can provide feedback by contacting the sponsoring AFSS during the test period. Feedback is very important to help measure the success of this service.
Decisions to continue or expand this service and the final hours of operation will be determined by demand for the ser-vice and input from the users. If the test results indicate high acceptance by the users, the service will be made permanent. Low user demand and acceptance may result in the decision to discontinue RAIS services at those specified test air-ports.
Comments about RAIS will be consolidated and shared with airport management at the test airports or the sponsoring AFSS. The various methods avail-able to contact the sponsoring AFSS may be posted at the Fixed Base Operator on field or can be obtained by contacting the sponsoring AFSS. Remember input is vi-tal to the success and improvement of the service we provide.
Questions about this program may be directed to FAA Headquarters, Flight Ser-vice Division, FSS Procedures Branch, ATP-320, Attn: Bob Geranis at (202) 267-9326. (Email: [email protected])
Sincerely,
Jeff Griffith, Program Director
for Air Traffic Planning and Procedures
International Cautionary Advisory
U.S. pilots unable to obtain Canadian Weather
NAATS PRESS RELEASE
Across the country pilots, flying into Canada are unable to obtain vital weather nec-essary to make go/no-go decisions, through their normal channels.
The National Association of Air Traffic Specialists (NAATS) has learned that US and Canadian weather data bases are unable to communicate this morning with each other and as a result pilots are not getting the data they need to make decisions on whether or not to fly trans-border flights.
Technicians and programmers at the National Weather Service and the Federal Aviation Administration are working to isolate and repair the problem.
Meanwhile, pilots are either grounded, or forced to call their destination Flight Ser-vice Stations (FSS) to obtain weather conditions. FSS' provide crucial data to pilots who must decide whether weather conditions are sufficient to fly safely.
FSS Air Traffic Controllers (represented by NAATS) are fielding calls from pilots in Canada, trying to obtain US weather while, at the same time, trying to explain to US pi-lots heading to Canada that their destination weather is unavailable.
While this should have little impact on Air Carrier operations between the countries, private and business pilots are affected tremendously, particularly with the winter weather conditions.
For more information on NAATS and the Air Traffic Controllers they represent, visit www.naats.org.
Wally Pike -- NAATS President
(301) 933-6228
- John S Dibble - NAATS Public Relations
- (303) 693-8570 - Denver CO
- Email [email protected]
A Historical Perspective of New Technologies In Labor Relations
- Christopher G. Klemm
- Director of Labor Relations
Has employers' thinking really changed over the years regarding labor? If employers could completely eliminate their labor force and have everything run by new technology, then imagine how the employer would feel emotionally, physically, and fiscally. Imagine no union to bargain with, no sick leave issues, no disciplinary issues, etc. It would be utopia for an employer. The only costs that an employer would have are repair expenses to existing machinery and purchasing new technology to replace the old.
Below is an article that I feel directly relates to members of NAATS. This article makes you think about issues that have or will impact your job, such as implementation of OASIS, the Internet, consolidation, privatization, and contract negotiations with agency. This is a critical time for NAATS to stand united together and show solidarity towards each other. You must become positive examples to-wards your colleagues, so that new employees and former NAATS members will be exposed to the true determination and commitment that every NAATS member brings to their job.
A Historical Perspective of New Technologies in Labor Relations:
Andrew Carnegie and Samuel Gompers are important figures within the study of labor relations, because of their impact to our society's view of either favoring management influences or union's ideals. Andrew Carnegie and Samuel Gompers were two men that emerged from the old world with only their ethnic chivalry, but ended their careers and lives as leaders by their fellow colleagues and the people who followed them.
Andrew Carnegie may always be regarded as an innovator of new technology. When Carnegie began to seize the steel industry, he raced around America and Europe to hire the best engineers, who knew everything to know about making steel. He wanted to have the best of the best and he always continued to rein-vest his capital into his plants. He feared that if he would become lazy and oppose ideas of changing the technology, that he would only face destruction. His belief in changing technologies at a moments notice was apparent. With all this new technology that was created by the Indus-trial Revolution, Andrew Carnegie continued to eliminate the men who worked for generations in the old craft trade of making steel. Carnegie slowly replaced the men and the tools that went with those crafts in making iron ore into steel, and he changed the lives of thousands of people who came to this country with only their labor to sell. Carnegie continued to strive to get the work done for as little money as possible. He kept the pressure on his managers and superintendents to reduce labor costs even further, by replacing men with machinery wherever practical, and by stepping up production and hours of cheap labor.
One of the most important significance of the Industrial Revolution was the crippling effect to the new and old laborers, such as Andrew's father Will Carnegie. Will Carnegie was a weaver, his work had been handed down to him from other weavers that could be doing the same work hundreds of years ago. It is empirical that people be aware of the destruction that occurred in the lives of so many people, who could not adequately adapt well enough to the changes of the work force that Andrew Carnegie and his fellow managers in the business of manufacturing did to the people of the nineteenth century.
While Andrew Carnegie was reshaping the direction of the labor workforce in America, Samuel Gompers found himself, like his fellow cigar makers, scared about this idea of acceptance to new technology. Samuel Gompers knew that machines would eventually reshape the craft trades. He was very skeptical and unsure of the foreseen damage that his trade and others would concur because of other business leaders overwhelming feelings of astonishment to the monetary gains of profitability that could be reached through Andrew's concept of attaining new technology.
Samuel Gompers feelings of uncertainty to the future of skilled craft trades caused him to believe that true solidarity among the skilled workers could definitely secure their jobs, no matter how good a machine may sound to their employer. His continued belief in association among his fellow laborers would only encourage employers that their employees were more than a just a mere commodity. To have the solidarity or acceptance from the American people was Gompers strongest belief for his union to succeed. This concept of acceptance was not always accomplished by Gompers and his organizers, however. Samuel Gompers was easily identified with keeping the strongest union to withstand the nineteenth century.
ARW
Margaret A. Hamilton
[email protected]I was out of the office all last week accompanying ARW-200 on an ASOS evaluation to Indianapolis. It was a very successful visit. HUF AFSS personnel traveled to IND to meet with us at the tower and we got some good comments from them on our perspective on weather products. A highlight of the trip was a meeting with Civil Air Patrol pilots who gave glowing accolades to our fellow NAATS members at HUF and LOU AFSS. Kudos to all! They had nothing but good things to say about AFSS personnel and services.
PROJECT: INTERNET POLICY ADVISORY CIRCULAR
The battle continues here . . . during my absence Steve G. spoke several times with ARW personnel. Basically they still refuse to coordinate with us despite promises from Rick Heuwinkle and Dave Whatley. All the information we get is from ATP. (I am now perusing ARW's files on the shared-drive on the LAN on a daily basis to find out what's going on.); ARW dismissed nearly all of ATP's issues (which incorporated our comments). Steve and I will be meeting with ARS-1 and ARW-1 next week to readdress the communications issue. I believe the problem lies within the management structure, failing to support this effort as well as failing to hold their personnel accountable for addressing union issues.
PROJECT: ACE-IDS
We have submitted MOA Union 2 proposal and are awaiting management's response. They have agreed to provide System Administrator training to our personnel in facilities receiving the system. We are just working out the details. I encourage those directors, especially Southern and Southwest, to explore at the regional level the possibility of getting ACE-IDS at those sites where it is going into the towers (FTW and MCN). Future potential sites include PIE, SEA, BOS, ISP and HRR and/or SAN. Contact me if you have any questions.
PROJECT: SAWS
The Stand-Alone Weather Sensors program continues to move along on schedule. I am still waiting for confirmation of a test location for the display in the AFSS environment. We were all set to go to Millville until I found out that their lighting is different from any other facility. We have suggested Leesburg to the program office and hope to get started soon, maybe during the holiday mid-season. I continue to insist that we cannot and will not accept a display which has only been tested in the towers.
PROJECT: JAWS
We received an informational briefing on the Juneau Airport Wind System yesterday. The system proposed by the agency seems to be in compliance with what our representative at JNU has re-quested, with the exception of the number of displays. Guylan has asked for two displays, I'm sure to make the information accessible to all the PF positions. Bill Dolan and I plan to go to the next Program Management Review in Juneau next month to assess the situation so that we may argue the point with more authority. We'll be coordinating with Guylan and Mark on this.
PROJECT: WARP
WARP Stage I Phase I received its In Service Decision this week, so work will commence on installation at the remaining 12 sites (ARTCCs and Command Center). Tom Halligan has more information on this.
PROJECT: TEMPERATURE USER NEEDS ANALYSIS
A brief word about the User Needs Analysis (UNA) process: These groups are coordinated within ARW to take re-quests from outside entities, validate the needs, and explore the possibility of the agency working to fulfill those needs. FAA has declined to fund permanent reps to these groups until such time as the scope of the projects expand. The ARW liaison (that is, me!) will monitor the activities as workload permits and advise you if we need a full- or part-time rep.
The Temperature group met this week and is proceeding to gather data to validate the expressed need of ATA for up-to-the-minute temperature data. The idea of complying with the ICAO requirement to issue a SPECI for every 2 degrees of temperature change is not being considered as NAATS and NATCA would have strenuous objections to the impact on the workforce. Therefore other means of providing this information to the air carriers will be explored.
PROJECT: SPACE WEATHER USER NEEDS ANALYSIS
ARW has formed a UNA team to look into the issue of the growing need for Space Weather information as it has an increasing impact on the growing transportation technology. I expect progress to be slow at first; however, one of the first actions will be to identify "users" and "customers" of space weather information. Naturally I will be keeping a close eye on this one!
THANKS TO NAATS for making a $100 contribution to the CAP in memory of Dave Sankey, AUA-430, who died when his Cherokee crashed enroute to South Carolina shortly before Thanksgiving. All of us who worked with Dave, un-ion and management alike, feel his loss. I found him to be a supporter of issues of concern to us, and a great individual to work with.
IN CLOSING, I expect the next two weeks to be rather slow due to the holi-day season. I plan to be in the office every day and will let you know if any-thing happens. Please feel free to call if you have any issues to discuss. If I don't talk to you before then, happy and safe holidays to all!
Margaret
ARS
- Steve Glowacki
- [email protected]
DUATS FUNCTIONALITY (OASIS)
Things are at a standstill while we wait for ATP to develop the CONOPS for how DUATS will interface with OASIS.
AFSSVS
We're in a lull - for about 2 weeks. As soon as January comes around we'll be reviewing the responses. If you have any comments, please forward them to me so that I can consolidate them into a single union position. The draft release of the Spec Document is on the web. You can access it via two ways:
Site #1
http://www.faa.gov/and/AND300/and320/320home.htm
Select "Library"
Scroll down to AFSS Voice Switch (AFSSVS)
Select the "Requirements Document for AFSSVS"
Site #2
http://www.asu.faa.gov/faaco/index.cfm
Select "Current Announcements"
Select "Search" and type "AFSSVS"
Scroll down to "Section J1 Specification"
NOTAMs
The issue focuses on the following: Disseminate ALL NOTAMs (ICAO, Local, Domestic, FDC) to Support Flight Planning Operations. It appears there is going to be some kind of BPA (Business Process Analysis) conducted regarding NOTAMs. ATP thinks that the AFSS's can be taken out of the loop and that the process would be if the Airport managers, PASS, Tower/Tracon/Enroute would be responsible for inputting their own NOTAMs. In reality, the real problem is hardware, but in today's 'software' driven systems, BP's get looked at as well.
HEADSETS
Fresh news: The money set aside for headsets was applied incorrectly. Congress had stated that the money was not to be 'reprogrammed' from it's original purpose, that not being headsets. Apparently, someone (Linton-Denro) had lobbied the Maryland Senator to ask why this was happening. So, currently, ARS is trying to find out where they can get the money to take care of the problem.
ALASKA SPECIAL NEEDS IRT
Alaska had a little rough start including our representatives. But, with a little nudging, that problem seems to be taken care of - for the moment. Mike Welch was recently invited to a committee work group meeting. I'll pass on whatever information I get. At the HQ scene, management is currently stuck because many of the Mission Analysis, etc documents haven't been forwarded from the region. As soon as they arrive I'll be reviewing them and prepare a briefing for all.
NASR2001
NWIS (NOTAM/Weather Information System) Phase I will focus on resolving the current problems and is scheduled to progress through FY04.This includes streaming the functionality of the following sub-systems: WMSCR, USNSR, NASR OE/AAA (Obstruction Evaluation/Airport Airspace Analysis) and API (Adaptation Process Improvement.) We are currently involved in all but the last two of these areas at this level.
SAFEFLIGHT 21
There is a draft memorandum for the group to define the scope, management structure and membership of the SFSSG and SFPT (product team.) Wally and Bill both have it.
NEXCOM
There is not specific answer being given to solve the frequency problems. Although NEXCOM is out there it is still not in stone. There still is a debate on whether there is even a spectrum issue, not to mention the technology issue and the certification skepticism expressed by the technical folks. The question is being asked, "What are we [FAA] doing next?"
FTS2001
The switchover has not occurred. MCI dropped the ball, BIGTIME, without actually doing anything illegal. MCI had sent a team to Conroe to learn how we do offloading. That team didn't communicate what they learned to the rest of MCI. Hence, they weren't prepared for our way impromptu dynamic offloading methods. (I commented on this last October after attending the MCI training.) The problem MAY be resolvable if MCI can adopt 2 specific command procedures in their programming. They are suppose to report back to ATP by early next week.
Now the fun stuff! We are no longer under the old AT&T contract as of 12/7. AT&T has taken up the squeeze play and DOUBLED the rates for the FAA. Previously, they paid about $1.9 million per year. Now it will be $3.8 million. I asked if PB lines were going to be cut as a result of this. The answer was, "We don't know what's going to happen, yet." I suggested that the FAA stay in close contact with us if they think this could become a reality. I pointed out that it would look real bad if we found out about lines being cut on our own.
ATPDonna Holmes
[email protected]Holiday Greetings to all !!!
Consolidated Convective Forecast Product- Wally just signed an MOU that entitles intranet access to retrieve this product from the Command Center web site, for use by specialists. ATP is in the process of coordinating the details so we can ensure intranet access in the operational area. We have received comments back from all regions on the accessibility at all facilities. We will be meeting to determine the best course of action to proceed. So if you're having trouble negotiating at the local level we should have some National Guidance soon. We are also working on the training. The product will not be available again until April so we have a little time.
ICAO Flight Planning
AOPA strongly opposes having domestic flights file a complete ICAO flight plan. They are promoting a universal flight plan that has been developed in a previous work group. I will be meeting in ATP bi-weekly on the progress as well as attending a users workgroup. The next meeting has not been scheduled.
Total Flight Service Traffic Count
We have begun discussions with ATX on the Flight Service Traffic Count. It seems the reclassification count is no longer being used for any purpose, how-ever the data is being input into the CAATS platform. At this time the algorithm in the 7210.3 and the CAATS plat-form that determines total flight services is not the same. We will be meeting to determine if the current formula needs to be changed and if it does what do we want to count that we currently do not. I have requested a copy of the algorithm in both the 7210.3 and the CAATS platform as well as the guidance letter when we started the reclass count. As I receive this info I will pass it along for comment...Input from both ATP and management in the field is we should be counting more that we do now for our total flight services count...Some suggestions are the TIBS as well as NOTAMs.
ACDWe have begun reviewing the document on lost calls and call delays. It seems we still do not have a national standard so everyone's call count reflects the same information. I have requested a meeting with ATP and Jack O'Connell our ACD rep to finalize these settings.
AIS/AFPA software upgrade for the AIS called AFP has been developed. This program will allow the NOTAM 2000 program to run. Our rep is Al Osborne (MIA AFSS).
A CD will be produced for this program and will include the AFP software pro-gram, AFSS installation procedures and a copy of the latest CXO NOTAM program. If available, It will include a copy of the training package that is underdevelopment.
Bill Dolan will be receiving an Article 9 briefing as soon as the software pkg and training pkg are complete.Frequency Audit
A frequency audit is taking place at the local facilities. Management was un-aware of the impact on the bargaining unit specialists at AFSS's to accomplish this count. Bill Dolan is dealing with this on the National Level. We should have more info soon.
Til Next Year - Donna .....
ATX
- Kate Breen
- [email protected]
Training
There is still no commitment from management to run day and evening classes at the academy. They are singing that same ol' tune, no money and we're waiting to see what happens in negotiations!
One training issue I spoke about at the national meeting was the FAM program. For those of you who were not there let me update you on a few items. The Inspector General's (IG) office is still hot on the trail of this valuable training tool, they seem to want to micro-manage the program with that ever present threat of canceling it completely. Just a reminder if someone from the IG's office should come to your facility and ask about the program, it is a valuable training tool not a benefit or a perk or a free trip to see Grandma. The conversations and observations that go on in the cockpit are a vital part of our training program. It is also an assignment of work, which means you are on duty time. You are released from the schedule not duty when using this voluntary training program.
Budget
The Air Traffic budget has not been finalized yet, but I can tell you that there is some screaming going on with cuts that weren't expected. NAATS has requested a briefing on the budget as soon as the figures are final to see what programs got hit the hardest. I'll pass along any details when I get them.
Staffing
The numbers for November are as follows-2152's 2330, Supervisors 298 and Other than controller workforce 345 for a grand total 2973.
CATTS Platform
This is the new way management is forwarding the traffic count information to headquarters. All facility representatives should have read only access, which en-tails signing on to the program and re-questing a password. If you are a FacRep and have not received a password yet or are being denied access to a computer to access the program, please let myself, or your regional director, know. Eventually all interested parties will be able to sign on and access the information, no, not next week, a few months down the road. I'll keep you all posted.
I hope you all enjoy the Holidays!
Central Region
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
from the Central Region Union MembersPay Negotiations & Meetings
The next round of pay negotiations/mediation was canceled and will be rescheduled for sometime in January. Its beginning to look like we will be going the congressional route. There was a lot of good discussion reference pay at the membership meeting. Talk to your FACREP or other union members who were present for information on it.
The next BOD of directors meeting will be in Tunica, MS the end of January. If you have anything you want brought up, let your FACREP, Nancy or me know.
The dates for the next membership meeting will be October 25 and 26 and be at Luxor Hotel Casino, Las Vegas, NV.
We are already looking for locations for the membership meeting in 2002. Some of the possible locations are; Albuquerque, Boston, San Antonio, St. Louis and Toronto. Chuck Basye and Linda Warby are working on a package for St. Louis to be presented to the BOD for their consideration. More to follow on the next location.Newsletter
The quarterly national newsletter will continue to be mailed to your house. At the national membership meeting it was decided that the BOD business meeting minutes would be included.
New Members & Change of Duty Station
Under the CPP program, Krista Cobb will be moving to Anderson, SC in January.
Ron Shelton and Larry Wilckens will be retiring the 1st of January. I wish them well in their new adventure. I've heard that you get even busier when you retire.
Quarterly Meeting
The next meeting will be in Kansas City on February 28th and 29th. If you have any-thing you want brought up, pass it along to your FACREP or give me a call. See below for a brief summary of the last quarterly meeting that took place on Dec. 5th and Dec. 6th. If you need more information see your FACREP who was at the meeting.
Grievances
As you can see we have a number of grievances out at the present time. Its hard for me to understand why we are getting so many since we have been underneath the present agreement for 7 years. Go figure. We have an LMR meeting on the 9th of January and hopefully we will come to an agreement on some of these.
Facility Step Description Article Columbia Two Changeover to CST 29 Columbia One Changeover to CST 29 Columbia One Adverse Action 95 Columbia Two Hempseed Oil 5,67,74 Columbia Two Termination of Employment 7,FAA Orders Columbia Two Changing of RDO�s 19 St. Louis One Posting of Watch Schedule 34 Mike and Nancy
Central Region Officers Central Region Representatives Nancy Batye Central Region Coordinator Tom Carson - GPS Charles Basye - COU FACREP Dean Cox - NTSB (MO,IA,IL) Greg Gravitt - ZKC FSDPS FACREP Greg Gravitt - NTSB (KS/NE) Jon PanKratz - ICT FACR Greg Gravitt - OSHACOMM Dave Talbot - OLU FACREP Ron McKinnis - Drug and Alcohol Jerry VanVacter - FOD FACREP Neil Person - CISD Linda Warby - STL FACREP All FACREPs were present. Management present included; Rick Day, Paul Sheridan, Tom Klocek, Donna Genest, Rosalyn Ward, Sandra Acquistapace and Diane Wiedmeier.
We discussed the procedures for requesting/receiving data at the facility level from the regional office on good time and retirement estimates. It was decided that the preferred method would be to have it go directly to the employee at work or at his home address. Paul Sheridan took an IOU on this.
General discussion about putting a new RCO in southwestern Iowa and a low altitude Flight watch frequency in central Missouri. A test was done several years ago in southwestern Iowa and they determined a pilot could talk to some ATC facility. We discussed the problems with not being able to reach the AFSS for that area. In the discussion we talked about the local NOTAMs not being available to other facilities. Some are making view sequence screens and some are using the SAR page. We will look into the possibility of having them put on view sequences screens so that everybody in the family will have access to them.
ACE510 provided the different types of headsets available. We should be having a national MOU coming out shortly making the headsets available to us.
OASIS consoles.
After looking at the consoles in St. Louis, we decided that we would like the standard Supervisors consoles. My understanding is that we looking at getting that accomplished at the facilities except for Columbia, which is already going to get those.
Problems with the new clearance phone numbers.
The problems are with the different area codes and they are working on them as they come up.
We discussed call forwarding and diverting of calls between facilities.The union requested a tour of the MCC at Kansas City Center because of the problems we have been encountering with them. I think we have found out the problem; we are using two different contraction manuals. Hopefully we will be able to resolve the is-sue and will address it more with Dave Chaffe who is the liaison to the MCC.
Mobile FSS.
It is going to be kept at the staging area in Kansas City. That way in the spring they can check it out prior to going to the field. The requests on scheduling it will be going to the field in February and due back by April. Bob McMullen will be tasked to work out any scheduling problems. We discussed the physically disabled people having access and what is needed to make that happen.
Update briefing on the weather graphics.
So far there are 15 venders interested so far. The plan right now would be to try and have whatever the work group decides on starting the installation by April/May and have it completed by October 1st.
Internet access.
Since the meeting Sandra provided a list from 510 of what needed to be accomplished at each facility to make it happen. That doesn't mean it will happen, the region still has concerns around it. We have agreed that we will discuss this more in the future. We agree that the Internet is where everyone is going to now. A recent MOU was signed on the use of Intranet in the facilities for the bargaining unit.
Staffing.
General discussion where we are and where we want to be. Nancy and I will be negotiating the placement of people within our region at the LMR meeting on January 9th. We should have our staffing allocation from the national level by then.
The region provided the different awards given to the bargaining unit in the last six months.
EASTERN REGION
Dave Vitko, AOO AFSS
I would like to comment on the recent briefings concerning the Model Work Environment (MWE), throughout the flight service system. The idea is obviously not new but could actually be something worthwhile. The effort not only comes from the specialists but management alike. Flight Service morale has dipped to an all time low and will take a big joint effort to bring it back to where it once was. The agenda and goals outlined in the briefing, seem far reaching but nevertheless, plausible. The men and women of flight service deserve a comfortable, safe and congenial place to work. They have spent lifetimes building a system that cannot be compared to by anyone.
Speaking of a system that cannot be compared to by anyone, read on. Recently, NADIN went down, which put flight plans for the Major Air Carriers and Commuters in limbo. The operations units of these air carriers had to call flight service to bail them out, again. Seems like we always get the short end of the stick but when someone needs help in the aviation community they know who to call.
It seems like it is the same old story for the pay negotiations. The FAA doesn't want to give anything concrete to flight service. Why can't we be treated like the professionals we are? Is that too much to ask? Could it be that the Model Work Environment is all a hoax?
MORE OF LESS, EA REGCO
Volume 2.3 NATIONAL MEETING 2000 SPECIAL EDITION
NATIONAL MEETING 2000San Diego Meeting EA Attendees
The EASTERN Region was represented by Ron Maisel Regional Director, Patrick Less Regional Coordinator, ZDC FACREP, Beth Gerrits AOO FACREP, William "Hawk" Hawkinberry EKN FACREP, Arnie Holmes IPT Alternate FACREP, Paul Childbert EA CISD Representative IPT, Dave Dodge EA Financial Officer, and Barb Westermeier BUF. Serving a dual role were NAATS EA members Donna Holmes IPT and Steve Glowacki EKN, who are working as NAATS Liaisons at the National Level.
San Diego Meeting FACREP TrainingOur new LMR Director, Chris Klemm, conducted FACREP training. Chris introduced an updated "General Guide for NAATS FACREPS ". This publication is full of important information. It provides reference materials to cite in grievances, Unfair Labor Practices (ULPs), and other representative actions.
Additional training on the Federal Labor Relations Statue was provided by General Council of the FLRA, Joseph Swerdzewski the only 2 time appointee to the position, and the Regional Director of the San Francisco FLRA Office. This training was of the utmost quality and therefore utmost benefit in helping our representatives to understand their rights and obligations under the Statue.
San Diego Meeting "Respect?"
NAATS sent invitations to Monte Belger, Deputy Administrator, Steve Brown, Associate Administrator of Air Traffic Ser-vices, and Ray Thoman, Deputy Asst. Administrator for Labor Relations to speak to our membership. Not one showed! I need say no more.
San Diego Meeting "Our friends and allies to the North"
Ron Smith, President of ATSAC the Canadian FSS Union, spoke about the experiences of our Canadian Counter-parts. Ron spoke eloquently about the transition from a public sector union to a private sector union due to the privatization. He detailed the many obstacles and roadblocks that they have had to over-come (quite successfully I might add).
Ron also advocated the formation of an International Affiliation of Fight Service Unions to deal with the "We can change anything we want at will attitude" of ICAO. As you know they are the ones responsible for such actions as changing the air-craft designators and weather formats to the ridiculous forms that we must now adhere to. I do not think anybody would argue with the fact that these folks need to answer and be held accountable to those of us that must work under these directives. Ron will be moving on to assume a different position with the new Union which they have joined, CWA-Canada. I wish him the best of luck in his new endeavor. He is a true friend of our organization.
Entrees-Labor Relations Report
Chris Klemm introduced himself and spoke about the LMR arena. He spoke about past and pending arbitrations and grievances.
He is working on a database of all NAATS grievances accessible by all FACREPs.
Entrees-OASISJeff Barnes, NAATS OASIS Liaison, was joined by the OASIS Human Factors Team Members to discuss and answer questions from the membership. The members from Seattle where OASIS is being operationally tested, spoke from the controllers point of view, and clearly voiced that OASIS with it's (correctable?) flaws far outperforms M1FC. One point was made clear, the system at SEA is a system built for SEA. The final system for the rest of us is still being modified based on the SEA system. Keep updated by reading Jeff's Liaison updates.
Entrees-Pay Negotiations
Wally Pike headed this discussion. The first meeting of the parties before the mediator was completed before the national meeting. It seems that management does not understand the term "good faith negotiations" and is staying with their joke of an offer of 5.5%. The NAATS team showed willingness to compromise when they offered to consider a one tiered system coupled with an across the board raise, which was quickly and flatly rejected by the management team.
I was impressed by the unity of the membership stating that NAATS should stay the course and not accept this paltry offer. The need to keep parity with NATCA to prevent the agency from separating us and the important role that we provide in the National Airspace System, from tower and enroute controllers was a key point made in many of the positions stated.
Wally stated that the effort to proceed legislatively fell just short of its goal. This was the effort to achieve pay parity through the language in the appropriations bill. The Board of directors, recognizing the importance of keeping this avenue alive has chosen to allocate a significant amount of revenue and hire a firm to work toward achieving this goal of pay parity. If you want more information on this initiative, please contact Ron or myself.
One item which I felt a definite need to speak up on behalf of the EA region was over the negotiating teams feeling that the management team was going to try and pull away from including OJTI and CIC premiums in the retroactive pay package. I clearly stated that these were important issues to the membership of EA. Many of our facilities are short-staffed and run mid-shifts exclusively without supervisors. This is a significant amount of cash in our membership's pockets we are talking about. Wally stated that NAATS understands the concerns and will continue to do everything possible to attain these premiums retroactively.
Entrees-Mid-Term Negotiations
Bill Dolan is the NAATS Chief Negotiator. Bill updated us on the status of completed and pending negotiations on mid-term negotiations. He spoke about two recently signed MOUs, CAATS, and CCFP Intranet Usage by Bargaining Unit Employees.
A new procedure will be to issue rationale with all MOUs to help those of us in the field understand the intent and responsibilities of the MOUs. Future MOUs being negotiated include FTS-2000, INTRANET Usage, GPS, and Headsets.
Entrees-NAATS HQ Report
Ward Simpson has been assisting at the National Office and spoke to a number of issues. Of major concern to every member, is the need to check and verify his or her named beneficiary of the $10,000.00 life insurance policy that each NAATS member is entitled. Many members have experienced changes in their life, which may require them to change their named beneficiary. Please contact the national office and verify that your named beneficiary is correct.
Ward also explained that the national office is trying to update the telephone and computer systems. They are running into traditional problems that many of us have encountered dealing with the Tele-phone Company. Until the situation is re-solved, you may encounter a busy signal, or get the taped message. That does not mean that no one is there. Just leave a message or call back.
Entrees-Treasures ReportJohn Wesselhoft discussed the financial situation of our organization. NAATS is in good financial shape.
Entrees-PRT Public Relations Team
Chairman John Dibble and outgoing chairman Larry Burdick discussed the purpose and evolution of the PRT. The PRT started as an effort to help facilities develop grassroots legislative campaigns, and obtain effective media coverage. They now also work national air shows and conventions to publicize the excellent job that we, the Flight Service CONTROLLERS provide to the aviation community. Many of the stories they related clearly demonstrated the effectiveness of this committee. Some were also quite humorous. There is an opening on the committee and I advise anyone interested to submit their name.
Entrees-Liaisons
Donna Holmes (ATP). Donna discussed the pending requirements of all flight plans and NOTAMs to be issued in ICAO format. The first push will be for ICAO flight plans. A test is being planned for the spring 2001 requiring all flight plans going into Mexico to be input in the ICAO standard. The hope is to achieve 100% ICAO flight plans within two years. NOTAMs will follow.
The Aviation Summit is another major focal point for ATP. This is the avenue where the Flight Service Renaissance comes from. They are hoping to fund a meeting between all FACREPs and ATMs to brief them on the Flight Service Renaissance.
Steve Glowaci (ARS) Steve discussed the new voice switch, NOTAM sustainment, (he pointed out that there is no backup for the current system), and new controller headsets.Kate Breen (ATX) Kate spoke about a number of issues close to our hearts, including staffing standards, the FAM pro-gram, budgets, and the new "HAL-like system form the movie 2001" CRU-X, which has been installed in the NE Region. The system is currently used for sign-ins. It will tie into the BCS equipment and will develop schedules, track breaks & leave, and count how much toi-let paper (affectionately called FAA FORM #1 at NY AIFSS) one uses. I hope that the last item is a tongue in cheek comment, but one never knows. The in-formation that the system tracks will be complied as a centralized database. This will allow for someone at FAA HQ or the RO to look and see how many people are on duty at any facility nationwide, and see how many are working briefing positions and how many are on break! Scary Stuff.
Margaret Hamilton (ARW) Margaret works on and reviewed the latest in aviation weather related issues like ASOS, AWOS, WARP (Weather And Radar Processor), and the 7900.5B Surface Weather Observations.
Entrees-Drugs and AlcoholTom Halligan had the distinct pleasure of being the last orator of the convention. He noted that there have been no major changes in the programs. He went into detailed question and answer session with the membership. If you have any questions on the program, please contact Carol McAteer, EA Drug and Alcohol Coordinator from MIV AFSS.
Entrees-Q&A with the BOD
There was also a Board of Directors question and answer session with the membership. These are always quite interesting. Questions ranged from where do you see the future of Flight Service to the NAATS Constitution.
Live Long and Prosper,
Patrick Less
SOUTHERN REGION
NAATS Northwest Mountain
WESTERN-PACIFIC REGION
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This page was last updated on 2 January, 2001