Dave Vitko, AOO AFSS
Recently,
the Altoona AFSS has had several members of NAATS quit the union. I realize
everybody cannot be satisfied all the time, but it started me wondering. Why would
long time members, some with as much as 21 years in NAATS, choose to quit? So, at a
suggestion from Tal Haley, a former assistant FacRep, I composed a small questionnaire to
find out. The purpose of this endeavor was not to point fingers or place blame but
to offer constructive criticism in the direction to open communication with the members
and the NAATS officials. I asked five members to fill out the questionnaire and I also
guaranteed anonymity to each person. The following answers will be summarized.
1) How
long were you a member of NAATS?
- a) 9
years
- b) 10
years
- c) 10
years
- d) 14
years
- e) 21
years
2) Why
did you quit?
- a) Union
and non-union members receive the same benefits.
- b) I
took a "Queue" from NAATS; if you don't think you are treated in good faith,
quit (referring to NFP).
- c) Our
union is small and policies adopted on the national level are very divisive; for example,
tier system of pay and no off loading of traffic. We need equal representation throughout.
- d) Mostly,
lack of confidence in the National Representatives for my job security, equipment and
living environment.
3) Do
you feel NAATS officials could do more to keep current members and attract new people?
- a) Yes.
- b) Refer
to number 2.
- c) Be
more responsive to the needs of the membership and be more open and timely about important
information.
- d) I
feel the union is only as good as the local facility.
4) Would
you ever rejoin the union and for what reasons?
- a) If
policies are adopted to keep all members at equal pay, equal off loading and facility
staffing. Try to keep workloads at relatively the same levels.
- b) Possibly.
If union management and FAA management would change and all specialists were required to
belong to the union.
- c) Yes.
Prove to me that you're working for me. Don't be so secretive. Post your
agenda and get more specialists involved. Also, post a budget; how do I know if we
have another Bruce Henry running the association.
- d) Maybe.
When local conditions improve, I will rejoin and support national efforts on behalf of FSS
specialists.
5) Additional
comments.
- a) This
is the first time in 21 years that NAATS has failed to represent the members in
a fair and equitable manner. (Limited information on current negotiations and pay and
compensation).
- b) The
FAA is willing to send supervisors and support specialists to training several times a
year but very little of this knowledge trickles down to my level.
- c) I
feel bad to quit. I believe in unions. I feel NAATS has a lack of direction
and no mention of plans for the future (10-20 years down the road).
- d) I
don't want to be in an association that is always squabbling.
Me'te'o en Gre've - If you don't know the meaning of this
phrase, take heart, because not many people will. It happens to be a phrase
mentioned in an article of AOPA Magazine in the March 2000 issue. Phil Boyer, the
president of AOPA wrote an editorial about the flight service station and the FAA's
consolidation plan. Once again, Mr. Boyer and his magazine place us in a favorable
light as professional weather briefers and our importance to general aviation.
I would recommend reading the article. Another suggestion would be to have every
flight service specialist, union or not, join the AOPA organization. For about $39
yearly you will obtain membership in a fine organization and receive a monthly magazine,
with other miscellaneous services. (Not to mention having a large organization fight to
help save your job) By the way, the phrase Me'te'o en Gre've means, according to the
article, that the weather service is on strike.
More of LESS,
EA RegCo
Let's Talk Past Practice
Clarifying the Issue.
So, management wants to change a condition of employment absent
any bargaining. You know that the facility has always proceeded in a certain way. You
inform management in writing that you expect them to bargain, and they counter with their
claim that they have no obligation to bargain! You tell them that a past practice exists
and that they must satisfy their bargaining obligations under the Statute. They refuse,
and you exercise your right to file an Unfair Labor Practice Charge (ULP) against the
Agency alleging a violation of the 5 USC 7116(a)(5) duty to bargain.
So let us review how the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA)
applies the Past Practice argument.
The FLRA has consistently looked for three elements in determining
whether a Past Practice exists and requires statutory bargaining.
- The practice must be understood.
- Both parties (NAATS & Management) have knowledge of the practice and use it.
- The practice has to have been in effect for a reasonable time.
Now you ask, well how does one prove that a past practice exists?
When the charge goes to the FLRA, they place that responsibility on the party that claims
the past practice. They review evidence to support such claims.
Therefore, evidence is what you need. Evidence to show that, yes
the facility has been doing things this way for years, everybody understood it, and both
management and NAATS knew about it.
Some examples of past practices and attempts at unilateral changes
by management:
Management has allowed Controllers to attend Fixed Base Operator
functions for years. Now they say that only management can attend such functions.
The facility has always allowed 10 minutes to clean up before
the end of the shifts. They know say that you can only use 5 minutes.
On a controller's anniversary date of FPL status, a special luncheon on the floor is
allowed. Now they say no more.
Management might claim that the contract does not contain language
for FBO attendance, clean up, or anniversary luncheons. It does not matter. A past
practice does not have to be covered in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
They may also claim that the change had no adverse impact (De
Minimis). If you do not buy into that argument, then file a charge. Using an example from
above to clarify, management might say that there is no difference between 5 & 10
minutes to clean up. Yeah right, it takes 5 minutes just to find some soap and a working
faucet at some facilities.
Now I did mention the phrase Unilateral Change in the example
lead-in. A unilateral change implies that management has instituted a change to conditions
of employment to Bargaining Unit Employees without meeting their statutory bargaining
obligations.
As with any legal venue, past practices can become very complex and confusing. The brief
information that I have just provided is the proverbial tip of the iceberg. We must keep
up with the latest legal rulings.
The FLRA has a nice web-site, which is linked, directly to the
NAATS EAST site. Check it out.
ISSUES
What is going on Nationally and Regionally?
- Review NAATS National Updates # 32, 33, 34 & 35, and Compensation Bulletin #15 for
the latest on Pay negotiations.
- The MOU on Initial Operating Capability (IOC) for Oasis at SEA AFSS was signed.
- EKN AFSS has elected Roy McBurney as their FACREP to replace George Gatalicia.
- EA Web-master Ray Dileo has been selected as an OS at DCA AFSS. Ray did a great job
bringing to life the NAATS EA Website. His dedication and professional deserve our
collective thanks. I would like to wish Ray the best of luck "on the Dark Side."
- The ACD National work group had a meeting in Feb. in OKC. All Regional Representatives
should be receiving a copy of the resolution report. Any Facility having a problem with
"silent monitoring" should advise me immediately.
- The FACREP Training in ACY was well attended and well presented. Fanny Rivera was unable
to attend. For full details, see Ray's notes on page 3 & 4.
- If you missed the March Edition of AOPA magazine, specifically the Presidents Position
titled "Meteo en Greve", find a copy. It is a "DO NOT MISS" article on
our option.
ACY Training
Notes on the Training Feb 22-25, 2000
by Ray Dileo
I attended the Eastern and New England FACREP Training Seminar thanks to an invitation
from Ron to the webmaster. I have been to a fair number of these training sessions and
this one was the best, by far. Ron did a good job of setting up the agenda and lining up
instructors for the various programs. We put in a full day of work every day and on one
occasion, we did not even have time to take a lunch break. Of course, we made Ron pay for
that (literally) when it came time for dinner.
Our training closely followed the agenda with the exception of Fanny Rivera. She was a
no-show.
Steve Glowacki covered information on grievances and mentioned two helpful web sites:
www.fpmi.com and www.flra.com. He said it would be beneficial for all of us if there was a
central file of grievances that would be searchable by topic. It might be a slow process
but it is possible that we will be able to do that with the NAATSeast web.
Paul Chilbert then gave us his presentation on the Critical Stress Management Program.
Paul is the Eastern Region coordinator for this program. Critical incident stress is a
normal reaction of a normal person to extremely unusual events.
Jeff Barnes, NAATS liaison, in his discussion of OASIS, said that operational testing
would begin at SEA in Sept 2000. They initially will run it at night while traffic is
light and then slowly begin using it more and more during the busier times of the day, as
the specialists become more familiar with it. Unfortunately, planned deployment in other
facilities will not begin until June 2002. There does not seem to be an answer to the
question of what happens if M1FC dies before then.
Wally Pike then spoke about the pay and contract negotiations. Our team seems to
understand all the issues and they are working hard for us. Talk to your FACREP for some
of the details. Wally said that after the team comes to an agreement with the FAA team, it
would be put to the members for a vote. If we vote no, then it is back to the table.
Bill Tolin, the Eastern Region EAP manager, went through a discussion of the EAP
program. Very simply put, it is short term counseling, up to four sessions per calendar
year, for a variety of emotional or financial issues. The sessions are conducted by
state-licensed psychologists or psychiatric social workers and there is no charge.
Bill Dolan talked about union roles and responsibilities and the Douglas Factors. These
'factors' are what should be taken into account when considering any disciplinary action
and they include the nature and seriousness of the offense, past disciplinary record, past
work record, and so on.
Bill Fleischman, from the FLRA, provided labor-management statutory training and
covered many topics, including the FLRA, the grievance and ULP process, and the statutes
concerning labor-management relations.
Donna Holmes and Kate Breene, our NAATS liaisons, talked about some of the issues that
they deal with at headquarters.
If I understood correctly, the Academy can run 90 FSS specialists through the program
per year and it would cost $1/2 million to set up the double shifts, necessary to increase
the training schedule.
RAIS - Remote Airport Information Service - (Airport Advisories,) will be tested at
GRB, JBR, and LOU. We need to show the FAA that we can do this. There is a private
contractor that would like to do it for no charge, and they would like to get into
clearance delivery.
FSS Renaissance - Many good proposals out of this. Some of them have been mentioned
before but now we have industry behind us so there is actually a chance of getting
results. More meetings are scheduled and this in itself is a good sign.
Tom Halligan talked to us about the drug and alcohol-testing program. For drug testing,
25% of the DOT population should be tested, and for alcohol, 10% of the population should
be tested each year. When the testers arrive at a Facility, they expect to test 30% of
those in tested positions.
Tech Center - Did the tour and got to see all the impressive weather graphics being
tested for terminal controllers, enroute controllers and the CWSU. Very impressive. We
also saw OASIS, which was impressive, but it is so far down the road, it is hard to get
excited about it. The workstations looked comfortable and the 21 inch monitors were nice.
Most of us know Windows and that is good because it is a Windows driven system.
It was a bit depressing to see what is available to other controllers, and those of us
still using Kavouras were frustrated. At least we were given the hope that better
equipment is on the way.
In the evening, we had a chance to informally discuss issues and get into some of the
specific problems at the facilities. You think you might have problems at your station but
then you hear what is going on somewhere else and it makes you realize that maybe you do
not have it so bad after all. All in all, it was an excellent training seminar and my
thanks to Ron Maisel for the effort he put into this.
Live Long and Prosper.
PL
