Table of Contents
From The President
From The CEO
There was one question for the month that did come up that I thought everyone should participate in. With Mr. Morgan (AAT-1) stating that he will start hiring Flight Service Controllers after our numbers go below 3,000 (that everybody managers, staff, admin., FPL’s, Temp. duties, etc) how many people do we really have in Flight Service (this include FSDPS, ATCSCC). So this is what I want all of the FACREPs to do, is to survey your facility.
Ident. of Facility-_________________,
Region-____________________________
As of January 4th, 1998 what does your Facility look like?
How many:
Managers (ATM, OM, AATM, etc)-___________________________
Supervisors-_________________
Staff (PPS,QAS,TS, etc)-_________________________
Administrative staff-_____________________________
FPLs-________________________
On details away from your facility-_____________________
On extended leave (AWOL,SL,etc )-_______________________
Retired this year-____________________________
Transferred to another Air Traffic option (TWR/ARTCC)-_______________________
Got promoted out of Bargaining unit (ARSUP/Region)-_________________________
Now this information is important for a couple of reasons, I need it for Capitol Hill, our work group leads need it for their discussions, we need to compare our information to the FAA’s (usually a two month delay factor) when they tell us we only have 3,001 one employees in Flight Service. I want to see a fax/letter/e-mail from each FSS/FSDPS/AFSS in the FAA.
We need this information back by January 15th, please return it to your respective Regional directors by fax. Lets see how much more efficient our pipeline compared to the FAA’s. We will try to show you the totals in the February newsletter.
Next Month
On Friday, December 12, NAATS President Mike McAnaw informed Ron Morgan, AAT-1, that NAATS will accept the January 1998 comparability pay increase of 2.8% (average) in lieu of bargaining. I coordinated with NATCA President Mike McNally and PASS President Mike Fanfalone regarding the actions of their respective organizations. NATCA is accepting the increase, PASS will probably do the same.
In a meeting with ATS-1 Monte Belger on December 5 I discussed several issues of concern to NAATS. On the agenda were the Architecture Work Group, the lack of activity on Reclassification and our stalled contract negotiations. Also attending were NAATS ATO Liaison Jim Parris, AT-1 Ron Morgan, AT-2 Jim Washington, ATX-1 Pete Sweers and ATO-1 Jeff Griffith. While no new commitments were made in these areas, the attendees did agree to continue to work together.
Regarding Reclassification, NAATS has informed Air Traffic that we will accept the Reclassification document only as it is currently worded with two stipulations:
1. No changes are to be made by Air Traffic;2. It applies only to our current structure of 61 AFSSs and 14 FSSs, NAATS re-serves its right to bargain over any changes due to part timing or consolidation.
We haven’t received any response from AT-1 at the time of this article. Please remember, the bargaining over the compensation attached to this document makes all the difference. No time frame has been identified for the beginning of that process.
We are continuing to work with NATCA and PASS on the "covered by" doc-trine that has ground our contract negotiations to a temporary halt. All three unions are very concerned about the matter and we’re discussing possible solutions. In the meantime, the management team remains intransigent.
The NAATS Board of Directors meeting will be January 6-8 in Silver Spring, Maryland.
The next AT-1 meeting is January 5.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL
By Labor Relations Director Mike Doring
Last month Chief Negotiator Wally Pike wrote a very accurate account of the current state of our contract negotiations with the management team. As has be-come her pattern, the FAA Chief Negotiator responded with the usual distortions that we have come to expect. I could go into detail but there are not enough pages in this newsletter. At Wally’s request we’re not going to engage in a tit for tat exchange, we’re confident that you can see through the half truths management provides.
There is one major issue though that I need to address with you. NAATS has received some complaints that the FAA Chief Negotiator or facility managers had her letter containing these misrepresentations distributed among the members of our bargaining unit. That crosses the line. FAA management cannot communicate directly with bargaining unit members. The FAA negotiators are supposed to negotiate with Wally Pike - not unit members in Columbia, Missouri or Islip New York. If the FAA wishes to inform its management team that is ok, but it is a ULP to communicate to bargaining unit employees by bypassing the legal representative, (NAATS) specifically Wally Pike. The FAA cannot pick who they wish to talk to or negotiate issues with. This constitutes an unfair labor practice that I’m determined to address. The FAA has chosen to make this negotiation a street fight and I intend to do everything I can to make them play by the rules. If they want a fight then let’s get after it!
NAATS has an obligation to communicate with its membership, our newsletter is an appropriate vehicle. For the FAA management to distribute negotiation positions or allegations to the field including bargaining unit members is not acceptable. Why not negotiate our next contract on the Jay Leno show or better yet Truth or Consequences.
Please forward any information you have on the distribution of FAA’s propaganda at your facility. This should include when and where the management letter was distributed. Let’s stop their total disregard for proper labor relations now. It is amazing how childish grown ups can act, if the FAA wants to talk about issues why not just call Wally Pike.
Management<----->NAATS<----->Employees
Remember, protect the box.
URGENCY FOR NEW WORKSTATION CONSOLES
by Suzanne Pellosmaa
So here we are and I am still not quite sure where the stand is on the new con-soles issue addressing correct ergonomics. I was told recently by Scott Chapman that only three solutions may exist to the problem of the OASIS installation if money can not be budgeted for new con-soles. The three choices are very limiting and still do not bark upon good ergonomic standards, thus I will keep up my fight for new consoles. There was a study done at the Rancho AFSS back in 1992 that offered some alternatives to our current-day console configuration, and as a back-up, I did send a copy of this study to Scott Chapman, in the hopes that, if money is not available, then still perhaps when the OASIS is being installed, we can at least request a working environment that does not resemble an assembly-line influence. Specialists at Rancho had recognized the noise levels, improper lighting, lack of privacy, easy germ transfer, etc., and the study was done at their request. As far as I know, only a preliminary study was done with no follow through. If there are any facilities out there that do not have the assembly-line arrangement of the consoles, I would like to know. It still comes down to a matter of money, but you would think that the FAA would rather pay a minute amount up front, then have to pay out later in all the workers’ comp for carpal tunnel and tendentious claims.
Slowly but surely, I am hearing from more of you out there with workstation injuries to include carpal and tendentious, and so far I have at least five documented cases. I am making a plea to all of you specialists at our flight service stations, if you have (or have had) any noticeable signs of carpal or tendentious, please relay any or all information to me as soon as possible, or at least to your regional director. I am also considering to contact NIOSH/OSHA to come into our facilities to inspect our current workstations, for this, I would need the documentation of the specialists with the noticeable signs (or current cases), or at least full names with telephone numbers where they can be reached at. A facility can be cited under the general duty clause for ergonomic injuries.
Another tidbit of information to expand upon, is that OSHA has recently began laying plans to work with state occupational safety and health agencies to help reduce ergonomic problems in the workplace. (Calif. was the first state to adopt an ergonomics standard) The efforts would help to develop federal and state standards and to train employers and workers. A task force has been formed to include federal officials from Washington, Oregon, and North Carolina.
The new Secretary of Labor, Alexis M. Herman, has this to say reference the ergonomics issue-"
Both employers and workers pay heavy costs because of ergonomic-related injuries and illnesses. Employers pay billions of dollars on workers’ comp and in lost productivity. Workers pay in terms of pain, suffering, and lost wages. Those costs are why OSHA has embarked on a four-point approach of using research, education, standard development, and enforcement to tackle the problem of reducing such injuries and illnesses. Because of Congressional action, OSHA can not issue proposed final standard on ergonomic protection before September 30, 1998. BUT OSHA can continue to work on developing a standard and can issue voluntary guidelines regarding ergonomic protection. So, we can-and will-continue our efforts to meet the challenge of reducing ergonomic-related injuries and illnesses." (note: The information above is taken from the Nov issue of the National Safety Council’s Safety and Health magazine).
There is an ergonomics package avail-able, which I have sent to some of you who have requested it and hopefully headquarters will soon be making this available, in a possibly smaller size book-let, to help you understand the symptoms and signs of ergonomic problems that are current in our workstation environments. It also lists a few exercises, etc. that can help to alleviate some of the everyday aches and pains. Again, I urge you to send me your name if you do believe you are experiencing these conditions.
This will be my last article before the holiday season, and I would like to wish everyone a merry Christmas and a safe and healthy new years.
By Jim Parris, ATO-Liaison
"A NEW ERA FOR FSS HAS ARRIVED" That’s right! In yesterdays Air Traffic Operations (ATO) Management Team meeting a decision was made to revamp ATO-300. It will become the "FLIGHT SERVICE OPERATIONS DIVI-SION." The exact makeup of the Division is till to be decided, but as of now there is to be two branches, "FSS Operations/Procedures Branch" and "Contract Weather Branch." It’s expected at least one additional branch may be added later. Also, remember the Contract Weather is rapidly expanding.
This development should greatly improve all of our programs. We will have not only our own branch manager, but our very own division manager to make sure FSS issues do not get "lost" in the myriad of programs always under-way at headquarters.
(Ed note - Jim Parris is on the ATO Management Team and was significant in the decision to make this recommendation for a separate division to ATO-1 Jeff Griffith.)
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