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No. 46,
October 4, 2000
I talked with NAATS Congressional
Representative Hal Gross yesterday and he's recovering nicely from the bypass
surgery. He's walking 20 minutes a day and should be able to travel some by
car in a few weeks.
We have a tentative date of November 6
for pay negotiations mediation. The FAA attorney is contacting the FMCS to
confirm and I should hear from him either later today or tomorrow.
As you're aware the NAATS proposals
contain differentials for both CIC and OJTI. The FAA has committed to make the
final pay agreement retroactive to October 1999 and some concern has been
expressed regarding record retention. It's possible that the CIC and OJTI
differentials may be retroactive so I've informed FAA management that they
need to take the necessary measures to retain all these records.
We've been informed that the FAA
engineers represented by NATCA reached an agreement on pay last Friday. The
only details I have are that the amount is 5.5% and the payout is slightly
different that the PASS AF agreement. When we get all the specifics of this
agreement we'll pass them along to you.
I have a meeting scheduled with AT-1
Ron Morgan on Monday, October 16. One of the items we'll discuss is the
continuing delay in reaching agreement on pay.
We'll continue to keep you updated on
pay negotiations through Don McLennan's Compensation Bulletins.
You should have received the first
NAATS Quarterly Bulletin at your home address by now. If you haven't received
one please let us know at NAATS Headquarters. Future editions will be
lengthier and will have improved photographic quality.
Wally Pike
No. 47,
October
13, 2000
I regret to inform you that WP Regional
Coordinator Henry Oltman died early this morning. Henry was a long-time NAATS
member and a fine man. Acting Administrator Ward Simpson is attending the
funeral for NAATS Headquarters. His wife Diane survives Henry. Our thoughts
and prayers are with her during this trying time.
I want to thank all of you for your efforts in our congressional grassroots
letter writing campaign. We've received several initiations to attend
fundraisers and we're staying very busy carrying our message to the various
representatives. Because of this I've had to cancel some meetings I normally
would have attended. The pay negotiations have to have the highest priority on
our time and resources.
One of the items we're working hard on is congressional language to correct
the air traffic controller compensation inequities within the FAA. Next week
will be a key time and we're focusing our efforts toward this goal. NAATS
Congressional Representative Hal Gross is continuing to make rapid progress
from his bypass surgery and is offering helpful advise during this time. He
advises that he can resume more of his duties in the next few weeks.
We have a firm date of November 6 for the pay mediation. Our hope is that
we'll make significant progress during this meeting. Regardless, we're not
depending on the good will of FAA management; we're exploring other options
available to secure a fair pay agreement.
I contacted AOPA President Phil Boyer this week and we will meet in the near
future to discuss FSS issues. Phil has given me permission to reproduce, on
our web page, the interviews from the October issue of AOPA Pilot magazine
conducted with George W. Bush and Al Gore.
Wally Pike
No. 48,
November 1, 2000
I want to thank those of you who
contacted your congressional representatives regarding the FAA pay disparity
issue. Unfortunately we weren't successful in getting the necessary language
attached to an appropriations bill but we didn't fail by much. The attempt was
always a long shot but well worth the effort. One good thing was that we
contacted the significant players in both the House and Senate, all of whom were
sympathetic to our cause and willing to work with us in the future. We failed
this year because we haven't done our homework in past years in educating
congress on our issues and securing the commitment from the key appropriators.
I'm determined to correct that deficiency and the Board has taken the action
necessary to ensure this doesn't happen again.
In cooperation with AFSCME we were attempting to attach language that would have
required the FAA to convert our bargaining unit members to a comparable NATCA
pay band retroactive to October 1998. These same concepts will be retained in
our work for the FY02 appropriations and we will work with a well-connected
lobbying firm in Washington, D.C. We will make every effort to reach a fair
agreement with the management team next week but we'll also continue to work the
congressional side.
You can help us educate congress on our issue. In every contact we made we were
asked what effect the pay disparity has in the congressional member's state or
district. We were also advised that they hadn't heard of any problems from their
constituents. Again, I thank those of you who have contacted your
representatives and I urge those of you who haven't to please do so and to
explain how this pay disparity negatively affects you. Ask your representatives
to work with us in correcting this matter and to contact us at NAATS
Headquarters. Congressional members have more time to discuss matters at their
offices back home than here in D.C. and frequently this is more effective.
AFSCME represents approximately 150 air traffic 2152s at FAA Headquarters and
they were very helpful in our efforts. We've committed to continue to work this
issue together until fairness prevails.
Some matters are not appropriate for distribution in this forum. All Regional
Directors are aware of all the details regarding this matter. I encourage you to
contact them with any questions or comments or you can always contact me.
Wally Pike
No.
50, November 7, 2000
The NAATS Negotiating Team met with our
management counterparts and two mediators from at the Federal Mediation and
Conciliation Service (FMCS) yesterday. In an attempt to reach some resolution to
the stalemate NAATS proposed exploring, for discussion purposes, an across the
board increase utilizing the current pay structure. In other words paying
everyone the same as we've done in the past.
NAATS position is consistent with our continuing congressional efforts;
comparability with the NATCA/FAA Agreement. The FG-12's in the NATCA environment
realized an increase of 18% in average base salary (not including locality pay
or differentials). The average base salary for NAATS FG-12's is $55-56,000/year.
Our proposal increases this average to $67,000/year. The management team has
shown no willingness to agree to this and offers only an arbitrary 5.5%,
regardless of any other circumstances, with the payout entirely in the last
three years of a five-year agreement.
I want to emphasize that reclassification is still the Union preference and we
have not surrendered that position. We are exploring this other option because
of management's refusal to address any meaningful reclassification discussion.
So far their only offer has been a vague reference to one higher graded facility
per region with no identifiable classification criteria. They later backed away
from even that position.
We will certainly continue to negotiate in good faith with a management team
that seems to know only one tune, 5.5%. I'm becoming increasingly convinced that
congressional action is the better way to go if we're going to achieve
comparability. Unless you tell us differently we fully intend to stay the
course.
Wally Pike
No. 51,
November 19, 2000
By all accounts the 2000 NAATS National Membership Meeting last week was a success. We had approximately 135 members in attendance and all were anxious to participate.
The three invited FAA management speakers all declined to attend so we used the time to talk about the many issues confronting our union. Of particular interest was the pay negotiations status and direction the NAATS Negotiating Team has taken.
The membership was briefed, in detail, on the history of the negotiations as well as our current status. We then discussed our team goal of "comparability". As previously discussed the entire issue centers on a 2152 series GS-12 controller making roughly the same in either the NATCA or the NAATS environment. The membership was unanimous in its support of the contract team and our determination to accept nothing less than comparability.
The NAATS Board of Directors business meeting was held prior to the national meeting and a significant decision was made to allocate resources to ensure a fair agreement is reached by whatever means necessary. I applaud the Board for its insight and courage in taking this step.
We meet with the management team and the mediators on December 12. We're fully prepared to reach agreement once the management team decides to treat us as air traffic controllers. Until that time we'll continue to explore and develop our other options.
Many other matters were discussed at the meetings last week. A report on these will be included in the next NAATS Quarterly Bulletin.
Happy Thanksgiving to all,
Wally Pike
No. 52,
November 30, 2000
We've signed the agreement with our new
congressional firm and we are aggressively pursuing our goals on the Hill. We
will have further updates on our progress as the details are developed. We
appreciate all the requests for grass roots support and we'll have a plan
developed during December. The plan distribution to you will be by both email
and snail mail.
I met with Ron Morgan, AT-1, this week
and we finalized the Familiarization Training questions and answers as well as
agreed upon the eleven stations that are now authorized for international FAM
training. The document will be signed by both of us and circulated to the field
during the next few weeks. I'm happy to relay to you that there have been no
violations of this training in our bargaining unit. As we all know, FAMs are
essential training tools and do not constitute an entitlement. Kate Breen, NAATS
ATX Liaison, is the subject matter expert for all questions regarding FAM
training. She can be reached at (202)-267-8028.
NAATS Public Relations Team (PRT)
Chairman John Dibble has developed and distributed a press release regarding the
weather base communication problem between the U.S. and Canada. This is also
available on our web page. John is also soliciting interest from the membership
for vacancies on PRT. If you're interested please send your name and resume to
NAATS Headquarters or contact John for more details.
We will report on the Board of Directors
meeting in the next edition of the NAATS Bulletin. If you are not receiving this
at your mailing address it means we don't have your current listing. Please
contact Gretna DeStefano at NAATS Headquarters at (301)-933-6228 or email
[email protected].
We plan to publish and mail the Bulletin during this next month.
I met with the new NATCA President John
Carr and we agreed to work together on mutual goals. We are also going to
discuss revitalizing the Aviation Labor Coalition (ALC).
Wally Pike
No. 53, December 7, 2000
The December 12 mediation meeting for pay negotiations has been postponed until sometime in January. I talked with the management Chief Negotiator and he suggested we might want to wait since they didn't have anything new to offer at this time. I agreed, since we don't have any intention of agreeing to their offer of record. Comparability remains the keyword for us. I'll keep you informed as details develop.
NAATS Administrator Ward Simpson has informed me that the date is October 24-25 for the NAATS National Membership Meeting next year. The location is the Luxor Hotel.
I talked with the AFSCME Chief Negotiator Steve Kreisberg this week and he advised that they're experiencing the same problems in pay negotiations. It seems that the FAA doesn't use the same criteria in valuing its employees. We agreed to stay in touch.
The FAA and the NATCA engineers have reached tentative agreement on a five-year contact. Pay increase is 5.5% with the payout respectively 21/2%, 1%, 1%, 1%, 0 in years 1-5; subject to membership ratification.
I met with AOPA President Phil Boyer on Tuesday at their Headquarters in Frederick, Maryland. We talked about FSS concerns and agreed to coordinate in areas of mutual interest.
In case you haven't heard, AT-1 Ron Morgan is leaving for a post in Brussels. Word is that the FAA will aggressively pursue finding his replacement and the initial changeover will take place shortly after the first of the year.
President Clinton today signed an Executive Order directing the FAA to create a Performance-Based Organization to make air traffic control more efficient. I've attached a copy of all available information to this update. We're working with other unions but we don't know what the ramifications of this might be until we receive the FAA briefing. As soon as I have more details I'll pass them along.
No. 54, December 20, 2000
This week I met with ATS-1 Steve Brown and we discussed a number of matters
including the status of pay negotiations and the new FAA Performance Based
Organization (PBO). It was a good discussion and we agreed to work closely
together in the future.
I attended a briefing on the PBO by ATS-2 Peter Challens. Bottom line is
that no one really knows all the ramifications of the Executive Order at this
time but we agreed to develop a process that will include NAATS involvement at
the pre-decisional stages. This is expected to begin in January and, of
course, we don't waive any of our bargaining rights by participating. It does
give us an excellent opportunity to influence the structure and direction of
the PBO. The impact to us could range from minimal to significant.
I also met with Administrator Garvey yesterday on this topic and discussed
the same concept of early union involvement. I applaud her decision to engage
us at the very beginning in this change.
Congress is basically through for the remainder of this year. We know the
game and we'll be ready when the new 107th congress begins next month. As
previously discussed, we'll keep you advised of all the details.
A word on the general pay increase this year. NAATS bargaining unit members
will receive an average 3.7% increase that includes locality. You have
probably heard that the FAA employees in core comp, including some unions,
will receive 5.3%. The 5.3% figure is arrived at by using the 3.7% and then
adding the 1% FAA OSI and the .6% SCI which has not been distributed this
year. Some will tell you that this amounts to an additional 1.6% that NAATS
bargaining unit members won't receive. But, as is usually the case, it isn't
that simple. The average increase between the steps of a GS-12 is 1.6%. NAATS
bargaining unit members still receive step increases while those in the core,
of course, do not. Add to that the fact that our bargaining unit still
collects the 5% ATRA figure instead of the 4.1% base pay roll-in that NATCA
and PASS receive. An argument can be made that we are actually receiving more
than the core employees; it's all in your perspective.
Happy Holidays to all,
No. 55, January 5, 2001
As you may have heard, Norman Mineta is
President-Elect Bush's choice for our next DOT Secretary. Conventional wisdom
has it that Mr. Mineta would also have been high on Gore's list for the same
job. He is currently the Commerce Secretary and has served in the U.S. House
for 21 years. Secretary Mineta has been a major player on aviation matters and
I look forward to working with him on our issues. Administrator Jane Garvey is
expected to continue with us for the foreseeable future and I expect to
continue our productive relationship.
The new 107th Congress is now is
session and we're continuing our work there. Next week will be a busy one as
meetings are scheduled with some key congressional players. We remain very
positive about the expected outcome of our efforts.
I'll also meet with ATS-1 Steve Brown
and the new AT-1 sometime next week. I plan to press our issues of pay,
staffing and equipment.
We've tentatively scheduled the next
contract negotiations meeting on pay for February 14. We'll keep you advised
of any developments in this area. The NAATS team remains anxious to reach a
fair settlement with the FAA.
The next BOD meeting will be the week
of January 29. Please contact your regional representatives with any
questions, comments or suggestions for this meeting.
The mailing of the quarterly NAATS
Bulletin will be next Tuesday. If you don't receive it during the next few
weeks please contact Gretna at NAATS Headquarters (301-933-6228 or email
[email protected])
to ensure we have your mailing address.
No. 56, January 18, 2001
We're active in the inaugural
activities as well as the fundraisers now. Obviously our intent is to spread
our message to the new congress and gain support for our issues. We're working
with our new congressional representatives to develop a detailed plan of
action that I'll communicate to you as soon as it's complete.
I want to thank those of you that are
keeping us informed of all the good work you're doing with your specific
representatives. Some suggested points to emphasize:
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� Invite them to tour your
facility,
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� Educate them on who we are and
what we do,
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� Explain our pay comparability
issue with GS-2152 ATCSs,
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� Ask them to support us on our
issues when they come up in Congress,
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� Tell them to feel free to contact
me for more details.
Our next pay negotiations session with
the management team will be February 14. Hopefully some progress will be made;
we'll keep you informed.
There are some agency-proposed changes
to the OASIS requirements schedule. NAATS National OASIS Representative Jeff
Barnes will send out a more detailed Human Factors Team report of these items
but I want to emphasize we're working the issues through our NAATS Human
Factors Team. I'm very sensitive that we don't do anything that displaces them
in the performance of their task.
I'll meet with ATS-1 Steve Brown and
the new acting AT-1 Bill Peacock on February 5. Obviously I intend to press
our issues of pay, staffing and equipment.
I attended the national Air Traffic
Control Association (ATCA) meeting yesterday. Unfortunately no FSS issues were
discussed or even contemplated. At some time it will dawn on the FAA decision
makers that adverse weather and all its related effects are critical to
aviation safety.
No. 57,
January 24, 2001
I've received information that AFSCME
has reached tentative agreement on pay with the FAA. I haven't been able to
verify this yet but the
preliminary details are it's a
seven-year agreement for 8%. Payout in the respective years is as follows:
Year 1 = 2.5%
Year 2 = 2.5%
Year 3 = 2%
Year 4 = 0
Year 5 = 0
Year 6 = 1%
Year 7 = 0
The staff 2152s and attorneys they
represent are to be placed in the higher "k" band. These are all the
details I have at this time. I'm working on verification and additional
specifics and I'll keep you advised.
The Senate Commerce Committee is conducting the Norman Mineta confirmation
hearing today. We've sent both the Chairman and the Ranking Member a letter
endorsing Mr. Mineta as the next DOT Secretary. His confirmation is expected
without delay.
All members should have received their copy of the quarterly NAATS Bulletin by
now. If you didn't get yours it means we don't have your current mailing
address on file at NAATS Headquarters. Please contact Gretna at 301-933-6228
or email [email protected] with any
additions or corrections.
We are continually soliciting volunteers for NAATS representatives on
workgroups or as liaisons. The difference is that workgroups meet infrequently
and some travel is required. The liaisons are details of one year at FAA HQ.
If you would like to serve on these please send me your name and a brief
resume. Any area of specific interest is also helpful.
No. 58, February 8, 2001
I've forwarded the AFSCME tentative
agreement, including pay, to webmaster John Dibble for posting. Please check out
our web page if you are interested in these documents.
We will resume negotiations with the management team next Wednesday. Our hope is
that they have concluded they need to address our comparability issue and that
we can make meaningful progress in these negotiations. So far we haven't seen
much from them other than word games and "fuzzy math".
Meanwhile we continue to work the new Congress. Our thanks to those of you who
used the information in the last update and contacted your representatives. It
will pay dividends in the future.
The Federal Labor Relations Authority homepage (FLRA.gov) has a wealth of
information concerning labor relations in the federal sector. John Dibble has
provided a link from our web page and I encourage you to take advantage of this
resource. It's updated more frequently now and can be a major tool for all of
our representatives and members.
I'm scheduling a meeting with Administrator Garvey to discuss the latest OASIS
developments. I feel this presents us with a good opportunity to address this
and related issues in a collaborative manner.
We're received many comments about the FLRA training conducted at the membership
meeting in San Diego. We're coordinating with the FLRA again for this year and
it would be helpful if you would suggest the areas that interest you. Please
send either Ward Simpson
([email protected])
or me ([email protected]) a note with your
thoughts and we'll tailor the training next October.
The minutes of the February NAATS Business Meeting will be published in the next
edition of the quarterly Bulletin. I do, however, want to tell you of one Board
decision regarding facility membership reimbursement. The Board decided to
increase, effective March 1, the regional imprest funds $30 per facility per
month. This money is earmarked for reimbursement of facility NAATS expenses.
Since the Regional Directors will administer this funding using different
methods, you are encouraged to contact them directly for details.
No.
59, February 15, 2001
The pay negotiations meeting yesterday
with the mediator did not produce any significant agreements. The management
team is still offering 5.5% over five years and the union team is still
insisting on air traffic controller comparability.
There was discussion about the pay disparity figure between NATCA and NAATS
GS-12s. The management team stated that it amounts to 13.2% and not 18% but they
didn't have any documentation to support their position. They did take an IOU to
provide this documentation prior to our next mediation meeting on April 17.
Please note - they are not offering 13.2%, they're merely discussing our
proposal.
We've also had Capitol Hill meetings this week with senate and house staffers
from both parties with more meetings and fund-raisers scheduled for next week.
Our new congressional representative is working on some grass roots information
that we'll promptly send to you when it's completed. In the interim we encourage
you to maintain contact with your individual congressional representatives and
to educate them on who we are and what we do.
We're aware of the mailing problems associated with the quarterly Bulletin and
we're correcting them prior to the next edition. The first printing and mailing
of the monthly NAATS News is scheduled for March 1.
No.
60, February 23, 2001
As you probably know there was a proposal to cut anywhere from $300-350 million from the FAA's budget this year. The Bush administration has rescinded that proposal and the FAA will receive the full Air-21 entitlement. As a point of interest, the proposed cut was from the Facilities and Equipment (F&E) budget, not the Operations budget. It's the Ops budget that funds the FAA employees' salaries.
The Board of Directors has reiterated its policy of members and FacReps contacting their regional representatives before they call NAATS Headquarters. Some of the reasons for this are;
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Coordination problems created in bypassing the regional officers,
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The fact that we at NAATS HQ frequently don't know the particular policies in effect at the regions or the dynamics involved.
We do want to emphasize, however, that if you cannot reach either your Regional Director or Regional Coordinator by all means feel free to contact us. We have a policy of returning phone calls within 24 hours and letters (including email) within one week.
On Saturday, February 17, President Bush issued four Executive Orders (NAATS Webmaster John Dibble is working on posting the text), one of which revoked Executive Order 12871. While this is unfortunate, we do not expect these actions to have a significant effect on our efforts. All negotiated agreements remain in full force and effect. We'll keep you updated on future FAA activity in the partnership area.
NAATS Labor Relations Specialist Chris Klemm has resigned to take another position with the State Department. We wish Chris the best in his future endeavors. NAATS Headquarters has absorbed the LR duties and no problems or interruptions in service are expected. The BOD has authorized a prototype arbitration advocacy-training program and once the results are finalized the BOD will make a decision on our future structure.
We continued our congressional meetings this week. I'm attaching a letter our congressional representative has finalized that you can send to your individual Capitol Hill representatives. The names and addresses of the individual congressional members are available on the NAATS web page if you need them.
I want to particularly thank DEN AFSS FacRep
Darrell Mounts and his membership for their work with their representatives in Congress. They did exactly what we need:
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they showed their representatives around the facility;
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they educated them on who we are and what we do;
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they informed them that there is a pay disparity between FAA air traffic controllers;
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they asked them to contact us at NAATS Headquarters for more details (costing specifics, any possible bill number, hearing schedule, etc..);
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they reported their progress to us, which allows us to coordinate our Hill activity, ensure message consistency, and to follow-up on the facility contacts. Again, nice work DEN AFSS.
Wally Pike
SAMPLE Letter:
Date
The Honorable [name]
Address
City, State, Zip
Dear (Congressman [fill in last name] or Senator [fill in last name]:
On behalf of the 2,500 members of the National Association of Air Traffic Specialists (NAATS) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employees that we represent, we are writing to advise you of a serious inequity which affects a dedicated group of FAA air traffic controllers.
In 1996, as a result of a provision in the FY 1996 transportation appropriations bill, the FAA was removed from coverage under most of Title V, U.S.C. that sets forth the personnel and compensation system for civil service employees. This measure also directed the FAA to develop a new pay and personnel system. On October 1, 1998, as part of its reorganization, the FAA negotiated and implemented the new Air Traffic Control Specialized Compensation System (ATCSC) for field air traffic controllers (Series 2152).
The air traffic controllers that our organizations represent are also Series 2152 controllers. There was an understanding with the FAA, that under the new personnel and compensation system, all Series 2152 controllers would receive comparable compensation. The FAA has now informed the air traffic controllers who are not covered by the ATCSC, that they will be compensated at a significantly lower rate than the agreement-covered controllers will. Since all series 2152 air traffic controllers share the same series classification and are certified and qualified, regardless of the type of facility or the location where they work, we believe that they deserve comparable compensation.
The civil service personnel and compensation system under Title V provided fair and equitable treatment to all FAA employees. It has been replaced with a system that pits one employee group against another. The FAA now has serious morale problems that have resulted in a number of lawsuits being filed and EEOC complaints filed against the FAA by its employees.
We believe that congressional action is necessary to address this gross inequity. NAATS respectfully requests your support to ensure our goal of achieving equitable compensation for all FAA controllers is reached this year. We look forward to working with you to help rectify this inequity and bring fairness in compensation to all air traffic controllers.
If you would like additional information, please contact Wally Pike, NAATS President at 301/933-6228. Thank you for your assistance in this matter.
Sincerely,
(Name of individual(s) sending the letter)
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