National Association of Air Traffic Specialists

Aviation Safety is Our Business

NAATS NEWS-REGIONAL SUPPLEMENTS, February 2000

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Hopefully I will get the rest of the Regional Supplements soon.  -=Webmaster=-

Table of Contents

Return to this months Newsletter.

https://www.naats.org/nwsltr/news0002.htm

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Alaska Region

Mark Boberick Regional Director 659 Weller Court Fairbanks, AK 99712 (907) 457-6287 [email protected]

Tracey Tideswell, Reg. Coordinator P.O. Box 1769 Kenai, AK 99611 (907) 283-8126 Fax: 283-8127 [email protected]

PAY UPDATE

"Suppose there was a penny out there for a raise, and I’m not saying there is, but just suppose there was…"  Tony Harman, FAA Contractor/Negotiator 1/11/00

The following day he gave this to Wally and said we could have another if we would like. 

(shown actual size) 

"If this agency had any respect for Flight Service, the Administrator would go to Congress and insist that we deserve a pay raise, not because we’re nice people, but because of the critical job we do for the country!"

UPCOMING EVENTS

May 20-21; Alaska State Aviation Conference and Trade Show - ANC NAATS is attempting to arrange for the PRT to attend with the NAATS booth. Volunteers are requested. July 17-20; Air Traffic Procedures Advisory Committee (ATPAC) - ANC MONTHLY TELECON ISSUES

NOTAM PROCEDURES

On 2/11, the Hubs convened a telecon to discuss the procedures and practices for issuing destination notams. It had been determined that at least one incident  had occurred recently in which destination notams had not been given to an aircraft which ultimately encountered a snow berm. While the Union was not notified nor  invited in on this initial discussion, the managers will be advised to bring the FacReps into the discussion prior to finalizing and submitting proposals to the ATD  and proposed changes, if considered, will be bargained. I reminded them (again) that bringing the reps in at the beginning, could likely expedite or alleviate the negotiations process altogether. OOPS! 

EXCUSED ABSENCE FOR HAZARDOUS WEATHER

I reminded them that it indicated a double standard to members in the field when we see the regional office employees sent home early in the midst of a moderate snow storm (3-6"), yet field employees are denied excused absence to dig out after a more serious accumulation (6-18") for which public safety officials issue travel warnings.

It seems it is not GSA after all that shuts down the federal building, but rather our own AAL-1, senior federal official on site. Considering that we have attempted unsuccessfully to negotiate hazardous weather agreements both at the local and regional level for better than 10 years, only to be told "we choose where to live in Alaska (on that hill or out in that part of town) and which vehicles we drive," apparently the folks in Anchorage aren't held to the same standards. That's what we get when we live on the other side of the tracks I guess. Last time I checked with Rand-McNally, Anchorage was still legally part of Alaska, and employees there actually chose to live there. What's good for Washington, is good for Anchorage I guess.  

AT HOUSING NEEDS 5-YEAR PLAN

AF has advised AT that they want out of the housing business (now that they've spent multiple millions of dollars on refurbishing and new construction across the state). Just 2 years ago in OTZ for example, some $1.2M was spent on housing construction  projects and now AF is recommending that these units be excessed and the employees  be moved into commercial housing available (or not) in the local community.

AT has responded by asking for an accounting of annual AF housing funds and FTE slots traditionally used to manage the program so that these funds and positions could be redirected to AT to continue the programs in-house.  AAL-1, however, indicates he does not want to see an AT housing program, a FSDO  housing program etc., but rather to continue a comprehensive regional program that  includes all lines of business. Your ATM is supposed to bring you into the program review process for your facilities. Take a look at the "minimum" requirements numbers submitted and send us your feedback. 

WX OBS BACKUP EQUIPMENT

You will recall that HOM was one of the 3 facilities where with the commissioning of  the ASOS, AF pulled out the standard ceiling and wind equipment since it was now "obsolete." Recent power outages rendered the ASOS useless, yet the specialists were mandated to continue taking obs, estimating most of the elements. Although, the liability clearly rests with the Employer for this awkward procedure,  the specialists were none the less uncomfortable in providing a less than optimal service. It seems our ASOS fears have indeed come to pass. ATD will be conferring with 510 to determine the best course of action, while we consider the various safety violation reporting options. 

ROTATION OPTIONS – MDS

I've asked Will to consider the impact on eligibility for remote site pay for employees who through no action of their own, are asked to work a portion of their 8/16-day rotation in the hub for staffing purposes. For example, if the ATM asks or directs a rotator to work the first or last couple of days in the hub as opposed to in the FSS, should they not be entitled to the RSP for the days actually worked in the field? The current agreement implies that the full rotation must be worked in order to receive the incentive pay. This example is not to be confused with an employee initiated request to shorten their own rotation. 

FAATP

At the request of the workgroup members, I informed Will that it was our intent to bargain the AAL travel supplement at the regional level as opposed to working it in the rotational assessment group. Please forward Tracey or myself any comments on the proposal I recently sent out.      

Tracey and I will follow-up on these issues as well as those from previous telecons.  Minutes from the recent Quarterly should be available soon. 

MISCELLANEOUS

Interim Rule #8 to the Federal Travel Regulations

The Travel and Transportation Act of 1998 (P.L.105-264) now requires the use of a gov't travel charge card for all payments of expenses for official government travel.  Effective July 16, 1999, this rule applies to all official travel performed after 12/31/99.  Employees are now required to use the Citibank MasterCard for all travel charges including common carrier transportation, lodging and rental cars, etc., unless you have an exemption (the qualifications for which are not clear). GTR's are still available for use in emergencies, i.e., the carrier does not accept the g-card or the traveler is unable to obtain a card. Check with your AO for an application.

FEDweek 2/8/00

Overtime/Travel Suit Bears Watching

The National Treasury Employees Union, in a development that will bear watching by other federal employees who believe they are being short-changed on overtime pay, recently won permission to pursue an overtime case against the IRS as a class-action suit involving some 600 attorneys  in the agency's office of chief counsel. NTEU contends the employees have been underpaid for both working and travel hours and  is seeking back pay plus interest covering six years. 

Rules Coming on Paid Family Leave

The Office of Personnel Management soon will announce rules to allow employees to take up to 12 weeks per year of paid sick leave to deal with a family emergency or care for a loved one. The proposal will follow a White House announcement made last year that said the government should be a model to the private sector for improving such leave benefits. The rules could be effective as soon as the end of March. Currently, leave is available to federal employees under the Family and Medical Leave Act for such purposes, but that leave is unpaid.

Several Health Insurance Ideas Offered

The administration also will seek legislation designed to better leverage the purchasing power of the Federal Employees Health Benefits population and create a dental insurance benefit under the program. Another proposal would allow employees to pay FEHB premiums out of pre-tax income, similar to the "cafeteria" type benefit plans used by many private employers and lower levels of government. That would save the average employee $434 per year on taxes, the administration claims. The budget also promises to provide mental health and substance abuse benefits on the same basis as other benefits beginning next January-an initiative previously under way-and to continue the  general requirement that plans cover the major types of prescription contraceptives.
IN PASSING

Mike O'Donnell, longtime friend and former NAATS rep passed away on 12/26 in Seattle. Mike's ATC career spanned 20 years in the Alaska region culminating in his 1994 retirement as Manager, CDB FSS.  Over! 

BON VOYAGE

Pete Smith, longtime friend and former NAATS Regional Coordinator, whose career has also spanned some 20 years in Alaska, retired on 12/30, as ARSUP, FAI. Now he can spend 100% of his time cruising the world with Carnival and Princess, instead of just 90%. Good luck and best wishes Pete.

DEPARTING THE FIX

Our very best wishes too, to another good friend and former FacRep, Robin Craviotto, ENA, who retired last month after 25 years. 

MEMBERSHIP UPDATE

Welcome back to Mary Ellen Cunningham, ENA, recently arrived from EKN.  A belated welcome to Harry Lacy, DLG, who actually joined NAATS this past April, but for some reason, the notification was slow in coming. 

Aviation Humor in Review

Avweb 12/28

It's all in your point of view…

On the Friday after Thanksgiving it was very foggy in Billings, Montana. The RVR was between 800-1400 all morning.

Several air carriers were waiting for departure and requesting frequent updates on the RVR as well and the overall weather picture.

One captain asked if any dramatic improvement was expected.

The controller responded, "I don't think the weather's going to change much, but I expect a dramatic improvement in about an hour when my shift ends." 

Mark and Tracey

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Central Region

National Meeting

Plan on attending the next membership meeting in Orlando, FL.   The dates are Nov. 15^th  & 16^th with Nov. 14^th being a training day for Facreps or their designees.  I will get out the motel information when it’s confirmed.

Pay Negotiations & Meetings

The next round of pay negotiations start on March 13^th in Washington.  You should be getting the pay updates in your facility. The last one, number 14, explained what happened at the meeting in January.  If you have any questions give me a call. 

The BOD meeting will be in Tunica, MS on Feb29-March 2.  Let me know if you have anything you want brought up. 

I will be in Washington the week of May 1^st for the follow-up GA Summit meeting.  Nancy will be traveling up to Washington for various workgroups.  If you need to reach her the pager will be the best way.

GA Summit

We met in Washington in January.  The executive summary and the complete report were passed on to the facilities shortly after the meeting.  It was a very productive session where users, management and union came to a consensus on numerous items that was presented to Jeff Griffith on Friday.  If you haven’t seen the minutes from it let me know and I will forward another copy to the facility.   

Quarterly Meeting

By the time you read this, the quarterly meeting will be over.   We meet on Feb 16^th in Kansas City.  The minutes will be out soon.  If you have any questions on them talk to your Facrep or give me a call.  On the 17^th we plan to attend a town hall meeting put on by the Denver FLRA branch.     

Staffing

Like many other regions, Central Region is now having staffing shortages.  If you are interested in moving to one of our AFSS’s, now would be a good time.  Send your requests to Wally Pike to move under the CPP MOU. 

Weekly Updates and Pay Bulletins

Your facility should be getting weekly updates and Pay Compensation bulletins.  This is another way that the national office is trying to keep the membership updated.  If your facility is not receiving them let me know.  These updates are also available on the NAATS web page (NAATS.org). 

Mike

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Eastern Region

Dave Vitko, Altoona AFSS

Viewpoint

After reading the FAA's proposal to NAATS about the core compensation plan I felt very disappointed and saddened. All the FSS specialist wants is to be able to raise a family and have a little piece of the American dream.  All we are talking about here is to be able to make a living and to support our families in a comfortable style that they deserve.  We are not asking for luxury yachts or a house in the Bahamas.  All I desire is to make as good a living as possible for the work I do.  Even if our business seems to be falling off as a result of the personal computer I still know what I know.  Every flight service briefer throughout the country will not lose any knowledge as a result. Our work force   numbers are also decreasing, which equates to more work per person, and as long as we are needed (and we are needed) by the general aviation public, we should be paid what we are worth.  So until I can afford a summerhouse on the Riviera, I feel the need to have regular pay raises and the dignity afforded me by my employer.

I would like to congratulate Jeff Steffen as the new assistant FacRep. 

On January 29, 2000, Pittsburgh Tower called our flight data position and asked the specialist if he had any information on a particular aircraft.  The specialist checked the DD file and saw we had three previous briefings on the aircraft but no flight plan.  The specialist then learned that Pittsburgh Tower had taken the VFR flight plan and held it in the tower.   It seems the aircraft was overdue and they wanted to know if we had any additional information. First of all, I thought it was our job to take and hold flight plans, and second why wasn't the flight plan passed along to a flight service, namely Altoona. 

The Toilet Paper Caper or Someone Stole My Roll

In the August, 1999 issue of the NAATS Newsletter I wrote an article about how Herb Brown, the caretaker for the AFSS, was 'let go' after 32 years of service with the Altoona-Blair County Airport.   Well recently, I had an incident happen that started me wondering if their plan, which replaced Herb with two Molly Maids, Monday through Friday and several maintenance workers, tidying up on the weekend, was such a good idea.

I went into the bathroom on one Friday evening and only one stall was available because the other one was locked while being repaired.  I had to use the handicap stall.  Fortunately, as soon as I sat down I noticed there was no toilet paper.  I quickly stopped what I was doing and went to retrieve some.  But I started thinking what if I hadn't noticed that there wasn't any toilet paper until it was too late?  What would I have done?   

What would you do?

A.     Crawl or waddle to the paper towels with your pants around your ankles.

B.     Yell until someone heard you.

C.     Wait until someone comes in to the bathroom.

D.     Use your hand and wash up later.

E.      In the future carry a roll every time you go into the bathroom.

Kind of makes you think.  The whole time Herb took care of the facility, (14 years), I don't remember one time that this kind of situation ever occurred.  I guess you get what you pay for.

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Great Lakes Region

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New England Region

BANGOR  AFSS  UPDATE    2/15/00

Well it has been a while since my last local update. The main reason is time, so little time. Things are a little rough up here; we are just finishing up our second round of vacation leave. We have been working our new "perfectly balanced" schedule for a while, and if there is no sick leave used or the supervisors are not on annual leave, everything runs smoothly. Once one of those above events takes place, things get rather skinny. As of this date, we (the union) and management have yet to come to an agreement on CIC usage. With our very low staffing numbers, anytime a supervisor takes leave, there is usually a CIC put in his place. This has negatively impacted the bargaining unit. The obvious solution is to also revamp the supervisors schedule so that there is better use of resources, - sort of like we had to do. The assistant FacRep and myself have withdrawn from the voluntary CIC list, and are to be used only when there is no recourse (as per local agreement). Until this issue is resolved, I have no intent to become a volunteer. Unfortunately we cannot negotiate their schedule, but we do have a right to negotiate the impact on the unit. That is where it stands right now.

I have addressed a few issues with our manager that needed to be looked at. Now we wait for the other shoe to drop. All we ask for is fair treatment, and to be looked at as professionals. This seems to be a recurring theme. In case you haven’t heard, our ATM has postponed his retirement till the fall. This has sort of slowed things down a bit, we’ll see if things get rolling again.

Snow-yes we have been getting our late season storms, 18 inches in Caribou on Valentines day. This brings their total to 41 inches on the ground. We are looking for another storm this weekend. We are a LAWRS here at Bangor; we augment the OBS when it snows. The ASOS still leaves a lot to be desired. When a segment of the unit fails, we must pick up where it leaves off, sometimes it takes a while to get up to speed.

Our Training specialist is in OKC for QAS training, Margaret Hamilton is in OKC for FIT training, and we are sending D. Ayers to OKC in March for EFAS training. We still have one person on extended sick leave. We are awaiting a re-certification any day now. Our newest sucker -err- employee, Scott Hiller just needs weather OBS and In-flight to be fully certified. That will come in handy for the summer, if we don’t loose any more people.

I am looking forward to the FacRep training in ACY this month. It is always a good training session. My kudos to Ron Maisel and Kurt Comisky and anyone else involved for getting it together.

Wayne Shepard (assistant) and myself have been working on a local issue to get BGR AFSS access to weather products to better aid our numerous pilots that ferry planes over the pond. More as information becomes available.

Other local news, they have completed the 3 bay hangar that will house our Life Flight helicopter. The other 2 bays will be rented to private owners. The MAHS, Maine Aviation Historical Society has obtained an old hangar here at Bangor International, and will be fixing it up this summer. I think they should have it in shape for the Blue Angel’s Air Show (tentative) this summer.

As I write this, I am listening to the Republican debates. Don’t forget, get out and vote in your states primaries! 

NTSB------ update:  See national section! 

Till next time,

Dan Holodick

FacRep BGR AFSS

Southern Region 

Richard C. Anderson, FacRep

Greetings from the mostly warm and sunny south.

Security

Security has become a high visibility issue lately in the Southern Region (if not Nationally). The whole issue reeks of political correctness and policy-making by individuals who don’t have the concept of reasonability. We had managed to avoid most of the requirements locally until a security evaluation team stopped by and told us that we were in grave danger, and that they were here to help us. First they pulled our security accreditation (I didn’t even know we had one, and I certainly don’t miss it). Then they pulled out their little book (Order 1600.69) and showed us what we were doing wrong, and what we needed to do to regain our accreditation.

They identified 16 different areas of non-compliance. I found 2 more. As far as I can tell, if it costs money to fix, it does not seem to be a high priority item. In other words, a fence around the employee parking lot is not a priority and can wait until the year 2000 and something, but we must start hanging a picture around our neck immediately so that we all know who our coworkers are.

Do not misunderstand me, I am also concerned with the safety and welfare of my fellow employees. That is why when I was notified of this new requirement to wear an ID badge, I requested the opportunity to bargain this change. I never had any expectation of not having to comply with this new directive, I just wanted a say in the method of compliance. I had hoped that the FAA would provide some resources to enable us to reasonably comply with the Order. I did expect them to fulfill their duty to bargain.

What I got was a letter telling me to wear my badge and a briefing on the potential discipline if I didn’t (1st offense-written reprimand, 2nd-5 day suspense etc.). I also got a metal chain to hang my ID badge, or potentially myself. (I can’t help think that there is some clipboard out there missing a pen since the FAA gave me the chain that is supposed to attach them together) Meanwhile the 2 back doors to the building are unsecured, the parking lot and entryway lights are not on back-up power (it’s a requirement, check the Order), and I have been unable to get a timer to turn the lights back on automatically after a weather obs (not required, but a good security measure that I asked for).

To be fair, local management finally made an attempt to respond to my proposals and they have submitted requests to resolve the parking light issue and the back doors. They still have not fulfilled their obligation to bargain this issue. I have gained some additional experience filing grievances and a ULP, with possibly more forthcoming.

I was unable to comply with management’s instructions to wear an ID badge IAW 1600.69 as instructed, as the ID badge issued to me does not comply with the directive. I was summarily pulled into the supervisors office and counseled. No formal discipline was dispensed, however a record of conversation was placed in a file with my name on the front (that is a whole other issue) and is being kept for progressive disciplinary action. When I pointed out that the badge I was issued did not comply with the instructions that I was given, I was directed to wear the non-conforming badge that I had been given. Apparently a new badge is also more than the FAA is willing to pay to keep us safe.

You can be secure in the knowledge that the defective badges seem to work also and since implementation of this new policy we have been able to avert all terrorist attacks. I highly recommend it for all facilities. The irony of the whole situation is that the wearing of ID badges was not one of the items identified requiring corrective action to regain our security accreditation.

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