NAATS Business Meeting
Four Points Sheraton
Bethesda, MD
January 14, 2003-January 17, 2003
 

DAY ONE-January 14, 2003

9:00 am -- Call To Order

All Directors present except O�Connell.

Accommodations
A couple of no shows we may get charged for the rooms.

O�Connell joins meeting.

Taking of the Minutes
Hoover would like to see a Director who takes the minutes have their minutes take precedence over any other individual�s minutes. Discussion and decision to send the minutes out for comment with all comments forwarded to members of the BOD for approval. If necessary to resolve differences time frames will be extended.

Working Schedule for meeting - Plan to work every evening to get through the agenda, with the possible exception being Thursday night.

President�s Report
Pay and Work Rule Negotiations Status

Pay
Pike talked to FAA last week; Parties will sit down and start talking again in the next week or two. Discussion regarding filing additional ULPs. Problem is there is no basis for successful prosecution of ULP. Additionally FAA can be anticipated to react by refusing to meet at all until ULP is resolved, possibly taking an additional 6 months or so. Lawsuits are similar concern, we will monitor closely but won�t file until we have a sound legal basis for doing so; to act otherwise is counterproductive to our goals. Discussion on need to provide education to membership on what a ULP actually is and how the dynamics work. Possible ULP training at the April convention.

ULP on cost offsets and work rules, there has been no discussion with the FLRA yet. There was supposed to be a telcon last week but due to illness it had to be postponed until January 23.

Work Rules
The FAA is saying work rules are part of pay, no change in status. ULP will be discussed with FLRA later this month.

Congressional Activity
Still working the Hill, now that they are back in session. Pike has been working to find non-traditional help on this issue. He does not have a proposal yet to present to the BOD, but hopes to have something within next two weeks. There are some opportunities out there and he is trying to get someone to take the task of killing the A76.

Senior FAA Relations
Pike will be following up with more meetings with AOA-1 and ATS-1 on A76 and pay. Both have indicated a willingness to work with NAATS.

External Union Relations
Those also remain positive. Pike spoke with Ruth Marlin (NATCA EVP) last week about working together on contracting out in the FAA. Meeting coming up in February with the other FAA unions, one of the discussions will be on joint picketing and to sensitize the other unions on the urgency to act now.

ARS Liaison Selection
Pike recommended Steve Pollock from MKL. Discussion, Jaffe would like to put this off for a month so they can solicit from the members again, he feels we need more volunteers to chose from. Hoover thinks we should make the decision now at this meeting. Terry agrees. In favor-Baker, Holmes, Terry, Comisky, O�Connell, Hoover, Stafford, Mounts. Abstained -- Jaffe. Recommendation approved 8-0-1.

ATP Liaison Selection
Pike not prepared to make that recommendation today, would like to move it to Wednesday�s agenda.

Finance Committee Selection
All BOD in favor of Marc Lackman�s recommendations, Tammy Curry and Kathy Lemke.

Drug/Alcohol Representative
Colquitt is now the representative, she will be unable to attend this meeting because of illness.

Karrass Training Slots (10)
O�Connell has the 10 slots, he hasn�t used them yet. He would like to talk to Karrass directly to book the slots, but does not need all 10 slots. NAATS HQ needs to get Jack the contact name and number. Comisky would like to divide the slots, the regions pay for the seats, not National funded except for Director attendance. Decision - O�Connell to use 9 and Stafford will use the other one for himself.

Strategic Help Discussion
A former regional NATCA VP who did a lot of work for them on the NATCA pay proposal has been in touch w/Pike. He offered his services; they had lunch and talked about how he could help NAATS out. Pike is not prepared to make a proposal at this time. Jaffe thinks this person would be able to help us in some planning down the road, possibly on the MEO or PWS. Maybe look at this issue again at the April meeting and have him come in to speak to the BOD at the meeting in San Antonio. Hoover would like to see if we have a need for the person first before traveling.

A motion was made, seconded and discussed to bring the former NATCA VP to our April meeting. Motion passed 6-3 with Hoover, O�Connell and Terry voting no.

Administrator�s Report

NAATS Headquarters Staffing
Administrative staff at the office is doing a great job. Administrator gave the BOD copies of possible savings with a potential for this year of over $7,000.00.

Office Status (computers/fax/phone/etc.)
A motion was made, seconded and discussed regarding updating the NAATS office, not to exceed $8000. Motion passed 5-4 with Hoover, Terry, O�Connell, Baker voting no.

Budget
After all of the bank statements came in, it appears that the we came in under budget by roughly $50,000.00 mainly due to an increase in membership dues. This is commendable considering we had extra expenses associated with A-76. The plan to read adjust some of the money to get higher interest rates will be done at the beginning of March.

Administrator�s Stipend
Request for $500/month, reduced from previous BOD decision of $2200/month subsistence.

POINT OF ORDER -- Hoover -- improper discussion for this meeting. Pike agrees and rules that this should be discussed during the 4th quarter meeting. Jaffe appeals the Chair�s ruling, Seconded by Holmes. Discussion. Those in favor of overturning the Chair ruling Baker, Jaffe, Holmes, Comisky, O�Connell, Stafford, Mounts. Opposed- Terry, Hoover. Chair ruling is overturned and item will be discussed.

Issue is discussed.

MOTION- Mr. Hoover -- "I move that the proposal to award the office administrator a $500.00 stipend a month be taken to the general membership for a vote." No second received, motion fails.

MOTION- Jaffe- "Due to change in circumstances and in an effort to save the union money lower subsistence from $2200.00 to $500.00 a month until such time as circumstances change or are overcome by events." Second-Holmes. Discussion. Those in favor-Baker, Holmes, Jaffe, Terry, Comisky, O�Connell, Stafford, Mounts.
Opposed-Hoover. Motion passes 8-1.


Chief Negotiator�s Report
MOUs signed -- Staffing, A-76, facility security and management, ASOS/Dewpoint Sensor, CRU-X, PMS.

Changes to the government Charge Card MOU, still holding until Agency gets more information to Dolan.

CRU-X
Test facilities are to be selected with the regional counterparts. NAATS National rep and regional focal points all need to be named. Until the FAA installs the dedicated servers you should not be using CRU-X. The National Representative should be named right away, the Regional Representatives can be given to the region. Further discussion tabled.

PMS
Need to name (3) representatives to the PMS work group. Possibly looking at one regional director and two members to form the group. Hoover suggests Comisky head the team. Comisky agrees and will be the Regional Director on this workgroup. He will name the other two members subject to BOD approval.


Tech/Liaison Reports
Glowacki -- Voice Switch. The Agency may be canceling the voice switch and coming out with a new program. The way Hoover sees it, if NAATS embraces the new procurement that increases the cost of the MEO. Glowacki is looking for a policy on off loading, for technical solutions. Pike thinks this should be a higher level discussion w/FAA and not a Voice Switch issue. Decision that proper procedure is for ARA to notify ATS-1 to talk to NAATS about these issues.

Scott Malon -- ATP.
The SUA/ISE chi team should meet again the third week of February. They are going to put equipment into DCA to test the connectivity only. Once the software is complete, they will send two people per facility out to OKC for a day of training. The agency will not make full deployment by the end of FY03 as indicated in the MOU.

NOTAMS- NSTS. Multi-Domain program, keeps the program in FSS/TWR/Tracon computers. It would save FSS from calling the affected TWR/TRACON unless the controllers in the other options don�t answer the alarm. There should be some testing this summer. The OCT will be at the tech center mid-February, training will be talked about at that meeting. Disagreements between NAATS and NATCA. NATCA does not want to receive more than one phone call after the alarm.

OASIS-There is a survey going around for facrep/management signatures to ask if they are happy about the console placements in accordance with the MOU.

LAA/RAIS- The frequencies that were dedicated to Flight Service have been taken away and given to approach. AOPA agreed with this. Could be a 5 year delay in getting any new frequencies.

Flight Plans- Lat/Longs is an on going discussion.

ADDS- Had lost funding, but has been reinvigorated so some testing and discussion may ensue.

Jim Perkins -- ARS.
NSTS cont�d, most of the problems we have been having are in ARU-200. Every time they get something fixed in the program ARU-200 shoots it down and makes them re-work issues.

Graphical Area Forecast - Will the FAA computers be compatible with this, OASIS yes the others no. It�s one of the things slowing the program down. Management will be looking for a rep from every region, to include facilities in SJU and HNL to come into the Tech Center for CHI work, sometime in March.

OASIS/DUATS - integration, with budget cuts things have slowed.

Linda Sterling -- FTI.
Linda took over from Nancy Batye on the FTI program. FTI is in phase I and it shouldn�t affect us until phase II. Trying to hook it up with the OASIS waterfall, Linda has not seen any schedule on it yet.

Tim DeGrazio/Patsy Rowe -- FSOSC.
Not much new going on with the FSOSC, they are continuing to identify discrepancies between lat/long and vor radial distances. They each have their own space finally. They have also not seen any funding or projection for the program being installed in the field. FSOSC problems are being addressed by Dolan.

Beth Gerrits -- ATX.
We are losing slots at the academy.

FAM program-still no changes, coordination still with TSA.


Open Topics

BOD Meeting Locations
Hoover would like to see a BOD meeting in SO region. There are normally 2 in DC, 1 at the national convention and 1 west of the Mississippi. The BOD will visit this gain next year to try to have a meeting in Southern Region.

Copyright Laws on NAATS News articles
Hoover has seen a lot of reproduced articles and is concerned that we may not have the rights to publish these. Has anyone checked into the copy right law? Pike will talk to Eli about it to make sure we aren�t infringing on any copyright laws. Hoover notes there is still a problem with the newsletter coming out late.

Quarterly Financial Reports
Hoover had a problem with how we were doing imprest funds reports, but will deal with it.

National Picketing Day
Stafford would like to see a national day of picketing. Pike will address it when he meets with the other unions in February. Are the folks in the field getting the flyers to the FBO out, Directors may want to check with Facreps to see what�s been done. Hoover feels the better way is to talk to the pilots directly such as at FBOs. Malon agrees. Embry Riddle is now teaching DUATS, we need to get out to the flight schools also. Malon would like to get out to some town hall meetings to push flight service. Maybe have our contractors use their network to push flight service and ask for someone from flight service to brief pilots.

National to develop some kind of power point or other briefing on A-76 to get out to the pilots. More of a operation rain check kind of thing. Puffer/Dibble have already done some, we�ll check them out.

AFL/CIO affiliation
Stafford was impressed with the help AFL/CIO gave to their picketing efforts with PASS in San Diego. Discussion on AFL/CIO benefits, pros/cons. O�Connell feels we could get some good training from them. EdWitkin from AFL TTD will go into more detail with BOD on Thursday.

CISM
Mounts wants to know where we are with the CISM program. Holmes will get back to him after she checks with Paul Chilbert.

April �03 General Membership Meeting
Jaffe gave all the information to Eli for the newsletter and it�s on the web. Discussion on training to be scheduled for this meeting. Directors need to get out to the FacReps to push the meeting.

Contract Training
Hoover would like to see some new contract training. Discussion. Decision to be made within the next few weeks.

ATP Liaison Recommendation -- Pike recommends Dennis Carmen from ENA. Discussion. Holmes would like to see continuity continue in ATP. We�ll have two different people arriving at the same time. Dolan would like to see the continuity of Perkins staying for ATP to keep the programs moving. Hoover would not like to see the 2nd year for Perkins, it might appear to look like favoritism. Comisky has concerns about the entire liaison program. Question called. Those in favor (Stafford, O�Connell, Baker, Hoover, Mounts, Comisky. Opposed Holmes, Terry. Jaffe abstains. Recommendation is approved.

DAY TWO -- January 15, 2003

Open Topics Cont�d
FSDPS Staffing- Some FSDPS staffing situations are critical with retirements looming and the deployment of OASIS. Pike to contact Alvin Robinson and ask him to send the BOD a report.

New Contract Training- Discussion regarding logistics and feasibility of conducting the training. The week of March 10th (Mon-Thrs) is suggested for consideration for the first training session. Location-Orlando, Ft. Worth as a back up. Second location suggested is Reno, with Ft. Worth again as a back up. Date-week of March 17th (Mon-Thrs), Begin the two week process to see if training is feasible.

Drug and Alcohol Briefing
Not a lot of new information. Why doesn�t the FAA administer the program the same in every region? According to ATX every state is different on requirements. We have to look at the national and alcohol standards. Magellan runs the assessments and also runs the program for people who need help, isn�t that a conflict of interest. The person making the assessment should not make any profit from sending someone into rehab. You can appeal the decision of a doctor. Alaska has a current problem where a member�s medical has been pulled for 5 months now and the FAA is dragging their feet to get it back. The information for the Drug and Alcohol list comes from CPMIS. Next year to ask for Dr. Lomangeno and the EAP Frank Pirhalla to come to the meeting to answer any questions.

Staffing Standard Briefing
ATX provided the briefing. A study done on the AWS done about 8-9 years ago was more or less a wash on affects to the schedule in flight service. The current staffing standard is outdated. The job maybe getting done currently with staffing the way it is, but hardly any training can be accomplished, airport visits have just about stopped, pilot training/meetings are almost non-existent, and annual leave is hard to get. The staffing standard should be updated every 5 years and this standard is 10 years old, there is no money to send people out to collect data to do a new standard. The count twice a month is taken on the 10th and the 20th of the month. The staffing standard should be done over again with OASIS, it was started, but halted because of money.

ARU Liaison Briefing
Art Finnegan handed out an update and list of projects. ARU will be turning in the ATB through reorganization. NAATS will need to name 11 representatives to test the graphical area forecast in Atlantic City, one from each region and one from San Juan and Honolulu. Due to funding the project is on hold, a meeting may happen in March some time. Need to name a representative to WARP also. Holmes will talk to the members at the Command Center. WARP will become the Global Weather Information System (GWIS). The agency may combine the Collaborative Convective Forecast Product (CCFP) into the Integrated Terminal Weather System (ITWS). The agency is finalizing the initial requirements document on Juneau Airport Wind System (JAWS) this week in Washington DC.

Constitutional Amendments -- Discussion around the need for a constitutional change. The BOD went through the changes to the constitution as presented by the constitution committee and the committee will present the modified constitution again after changes.

A-76
Breen briefed the BOD on the upcoming kick off meeting of the PWS team tentatively scheduled for the week of Jan 27th. The team will go out on initial visits to regional offices to start some workshops and data collection, they have funding to go to the 8 regions and another meeting into DC at this point. They got the funding from somewhere in the FAA Administrators budget, she has told the people on the A-76 groups that she intends to see this through. The PWS team received binders with information surrounding the process. There was discussion around the need for regional A-76 reps and also facility A-76 reps, we need both. There was initial talk about advertising, picketing, strategies, those topics will be picked up again in the morning to let people sleep on the ideas presented. The PWS team will be sent for a one day training session put on by the A-76 institute to help them understand the process. The communications team will get the binders out to the facilities in the next couple of weeks, and the web page should be up and running by the end of next week.

DAY THREE -- January 16, 2003

A76
Ms. Breen would like to know if her reports are easy to read and understand and if they need to be done differently. No problems noted.

Media
Discussion on various types of media we might use to get our A76 message out to the public.

Discussion on membership lobbying. Pike favors bringing in a group of people to target specific members of congress before the FAA briefs the hill. Leadership of the authorization committees , appropriators, and some one who would offer up legislation. Pike will get a list of representatives who we need to target on the hill and then we�ll match membership constituents up to bring for visits.

Holmes will look into the AOPA fly-in to see about setting up a temporary flight service station. She will also look into what needs to be done for the AOPA convention in Philadelphia this fall.

A-76 training will be done at the convention.

John Barrass Questions and Answers
A discussion was held with our A76 contractor help.

Executive Session

A-76 Cont�d
Hoover briefed BOD on PWS team discussion w/our contractor. Hoover will be PWS Team Lead. PWS team will prepare an article for membership.

Motion to adjourn Hoover, Second O�Connell. Motion passes 8-0, Comisky absent.