MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING
BETWEEN THE
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF AIR TRAFFIC SPECIALISTS
AND THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION

This agreement is made by and between the National Association of Air Traffic Specialists ("NAATS" or "the Union" or "User") and the Federal Aviation Administration ("FAA", "the Agency" or "Employer"), collectively known as "the Parties". This Agreement represents the understanding between the Parties at the national level concerning the development of Automated Flight Service Station Voice Switch (AFFVS) at 61 Automated Flight Service Stations.

Section 1. Scope: The Parties agree that the scope of this agreement will regard all phases of the AFSSVS program as well as all resulting aspects that impact the bargaining unit. This agreement will clarify the roles, expectations and legally binding obligations for the Parties. The parties further agree that supplements to this MOU may be developed as the requirements of individual teams and subteams are defined.

Section 2. Union Representation on the Product Team: The Parties agree that a union-designated representative shall be assigned as a full-time Core Team member on the AFSSVS Product Team (PT) throughout the acquisition and implementation phases of the AFSSVS Program.

Section 3. Union Representation During Source Evaluation: The Parties agree that the provisions of the AFSSVS Source Evaluation Plan shall govern union representation during the source evaluation phase of the AFSSVS program.

Section 4. Union Representation - Post Contract Award: The Parties agree that the Union Representative shall be assigned as a Co-Lead jointly with a member of management to all program related teams that include bargaining unit members in addition to the Union Representative. The Union may designate this co-leadership role to another union member of a particular team. The role of these co-leads will be to provide Union leadership to the teams, as well as, provide an operational perspective to requirements development, source evaluation and solution implementation.

Co-Lead responsibilities shall include but not be limited to:

a. Co-chairing team meeting, telcons and activities and ensuring adherence to the processes and procedures as defined by each team related to the AFSSVS program.

b. Forwarding team decisions to the Voice Switching and Recording Product Team Lead within (15) fifteen days of the conclusion of the meeting,

c. Reporting status of the issues back to the team at each meeting, and furnish regular written status reports to their respective organizations (at intervals determined by the Co-Leads.)

d. Ensuring ample lead-time notification for team members' attendance at meetings and activities.

Section 5. General Team Membership:

a. The Union shall be afforded the opportunity to be represented on program related teams, other than the PT itself, in numbers equal to management team members.

b. Teams may recommend the creation of subteam to the Agency. Subteams shall be empowered to make recommendations to the primary team(s) from which they are created. The Agency shall control the resources allocated to support subteams during their respective lifecycles.

Section 6. Team/Subteam Process:

a. The Agency shall promptly notify the Union as to the formulation of teams that affect the bargaining unit.

b. The Parties shall jointly define the team scope in writing and communicate it to each member prior to commencement of business.

c. All teams/subteams shall utilize a consensus decision-making process.

d. The extent to which the individual(s) representing each Party are empowered to reach agreement in specific areas shall be determined in writing by the respective Parties. Agreements reached by the Parties as a result of team activity shall be reduced to writing and shall be binding on both Parties upon signature by authorized representatives of the Parties.

e. For the duration of each team's existence the PT shall provide to the team(s) monthly status updates via electronic mail (e-mail) regarding decision implementation.

f. Union-designated team members will be provided access to the same information as any other team member.

g. Once a team has reached a decision, the entire team shall be briefed on the resulting decision. In all cases the goal of each team will be to implement an operationally suitable AFSSVS, while ensuring integration into the National Airspace System (NAS).

Section 7. Resources Needed by the Teams to Fulfill Duties:

a. The agency shall provide duty time, travel and perdiem to team members to attend meetings and conduct other required duties in connection with this agreement.

b. Bargaining unit participants will be allowed to participate in the activities of the team(s) in a duty status, if otherwise in a duty status. If requested by the bargaining unit participant and operational requirements permit, the Employer shall change his/her days off to allow participation in a duty status for these purposes. When a bargaining unit participant is unable to be released to participate in a meeting, the meeting shall be rescheduled to the extent practicable, to ensure Union participation. The Employer shall make every reasonable effort to ensure the availability of the bargaining unit participants.

c. The Agency shall ensure that subject matter experts and vendor/contractor representatives deemed necessary by the team are available throughout team activities for the purpose of providing information to team members.

d. Team members shall have reasonable access to agency communications resources. Team members requesting use of employer communications resources must obtain prior approval from management at the local level.

Section 8. Pre-Decisional Responsibilities: The Parties agree that traditional Impact and Implementation Requirements are necessary and shall continue to be followed in accordance with all applicable agreements and rulemaking. The Parties agree that Early User Involvement (EUI) in the pre-decisional phases of the AFSSVS Program is beneficial to both the FAA and the Union. The Parties agree to the following regarding all pre-decisional elements related to the AFSSVS Program:

a. A (20) twenty-day (calendar) review period shall be provided to the Union for final versions of all program documents that will affect the bargaining unit. It is the intention of the Parties that this review period is to ensure proper coordination throughout the process of creating program documents.

b. A copy of all documents outside the scope of (a). (above) shall be provided to the AFSSVS Union Representative within one (1) day of the final version being authorized.

c. The final version of the documents (referred to in (a) & (b) above) shall be provided in both written and electronic formats on the same day to the AFSSVS Union Representative, unless otherwise mutually agreed.

d. The Union shall provide a written response to the Agency for documents referred to in (a) above by COB of the 22nd day after receiving all relevant documents. This response shall be in both written and electronic formats, unless otherwise mutually agreed.

e. For the purpose of this MOU and for all teams and subteams involving Bargaining Unit Members, "Consensus" means that issues will be addressed until all participants agree in writing to the resolution. Consensus shall be based on each Party's ability to "live with" and "support" the resolution. Issues unable to be addressed through consensus shall be elevated to the Impasse Resolution Phase described below.

Section 9. Impasse Resolution: The team Co-Leads shall elevate any issues that are not resolved through consensus to a group comprised of one member from ARN, AND, AOS, ATP, the NAATS Chief Negotiator and one additional person TBD by NAATS. The Co-Leads shall make a presentation of the issues surrounding the impasse that necessitated convening the group. The impasse resolution group will operate as a consensus-based, collaborative, problem solving team. As appropriate, the impasse resolution group will ask for technical assistance, subject matter expert opinions, or additional information from the appropriate team or individual members of the appropriate team. Within (3) three working days after the impasse resolution group is convened, the group must a) reach a solution or b) in the event of impasse, remand the issue back to the team with the specific tasking(s) and due date(s). If no consensus is reached either party may pursue any action available under the NAATS/FAA CBA or statute.

Section 10. Bargaining Rights Maintained: This MOU does not constitute a waiver by either party to any rights guaranteed by law, rule, regulation, and/or contract. The Union reserves the right to negotiate any issues concerning the AFSSVS not expressly contained in this MOU pursuant to Article 9 of the Parties' collective bargaining agreement.

Section 11. Facility Level Impact: The Parties agree that briefings shall be provided at the local level to each facility manager and NAATS representative regarding all areas of impact affecting the facility and its personnel.

Section 12. "Reopener" Clause: This agreement may be re-opened by either party.

Addendum 1
AFSSVS Human Factors Team

Section 1: The Agency and the Union agree to recognize the significant benefits of resolving issues collaboratively during the acquisition and development processes. To support this, the Parties agree to mutually create a Human Factors Team, collectively know as the AFSSVS Human Factors Team. This Team shall follow all team guidelines outlined in the AFSSVS MOU and shall be provided the opportunity to develop a charter prior to conducting any team actions.

a.    The Team shall be created for the purpose of evaluating; developing and resolving Human Factors issues related to AFSSVS implementation and other Flight Service Station (FSS) related activities. For the purpose of this MOU, Human Factors is defined as: "variables which enhance or limit the performance of personnel from carrying out their assigned tasks or job responsibilities in and effective, efficient, and accurate manner."

b.    All consensus decisions of this team shall be in writing and shall be binding on the parties.

c.    The AFSSVS Human Factors Team shall remain in effect until the parties mutually agree to dissolve it.