#1, Jan 7, 2005

Here we are at the beginning of a New Year, one that I hope will be filled with answers to so many questions you've been patiently waiting for. I know there are several rumors circulating and I would caution that you don't take any of them to heart at this time. There have been no decisions made, to my knowledge. As soon as there is, I'll do everything in my power to make sure you are informed.

The reason I have remained silent all week after the announcements on Tuesday is because I have not seen the waiver or policy yet. It is hard to comment on policy or waivers when they are not finalized. It's also impossible to brief people on them when they are not finalized or made available. So here is another caution to you all, please do not get your hopes up on a few spoken words wait until the policy is finalized. The last 2 years have been hard on all of you and the last thing I want to see happen is that you're set up for another disappointment.

Make sure as you put your bid packages together and send them out that those are the positions you really want. If you put in for a job, get selected, and then decide it's not what you really wanted, the agency has fulfilled its obligation for priority placement.

The RIF team was in town again all week and there will be an update coming out over the weekend. Scott, Mike, and Kile continue to work hard for you all, and I'm very proud of the way they've been representing NAATS in the negotiations. If you see them or get a chance to send them an email, thank them for the long hours, frustration they endure, and just being on the road away from their families to represent you.

One interesting piece of information the contractor FPMI that is going to be helping the FAA with the transition plan, is subcontracted by Grant Thornton. Seems this A-76/acquisition started with the feasibility study and will continue through end state for Grant Thornton.

I've been in contact with several reporters and have lunch scheduled with my contact at NTEU on Monday. The next few weeks are going to be very busy and I will do my best to keep you updated as things begin to unfold.

Kate Breen

#2, Jan 17, 2005

The contract award announcement should come in the next two weeks, the only definite information I can pass along is that the bids are in the hands of the Source Selection Authority to make the final decision. At least that's what I've been told, there is no set date for the announcement at this time that I am aware. What I can tell you is an announcement like this is generally done on Fridays, not that it will happen on a Friday, it's what has happened in the past. I've been told several different dates from several different people, and none of them have happened. So all I'm going to say at this point is that it should (not that it will) happen in the next two weeks, if I get something cast in stone I will pass it along.

Packages with general information will/have be sent to facilities, in fact you may see them in the facilities this week. Bart Gray our transition liaison worked with Suzanne Hynes along with a few others to develop the packages for the field. They do not have any information about specific RIF issues or about the bids. Specific information about the winning bid will be sent out electronically after announcement to be included in the package. Understand that the information sent out after announcement will be limited until all protest periods have been exhausted. We will also ensure there are links on our website to any information available as soon as it comes out.

Public Law 108-176 is supposedly being amended to include us in the 1.7% retirement benefit for the "good time" years you've worked. I have someone checking into specifics with OPM and they are going to get back to me next week. I've never know OPM to change a law, they do policy on laws that are written so wait until I get the whole story.

I've been called a liar, been told I need to be easier on upper management because they seem sincere, and told the RIF order does not apply to us at this point even though it was Management 1 in RIF negotiations. All in all a good week! I put out information the way I hear and understand it, if management doesn't like it, don't read our dues paying members web page. If I am not answering any of the rumors that are out there it's because I do not want to hamper the MEO bid in any way, from what I've understood from the membership you want to keep your federal jobs. If I were to speak to every rumor that was out there and a vendor uses what I say against us in a protest what have we accomplished?

Scott will update you on RIF in the next couple of days, if management was sincere they'd ensure that you had commitments to keep your federal jobs not just press releases and smiles.

You all have had a stressful 2 and a half years, and these rumors flying are just adding to it. Please don't feed the rumor mill, put an end to it. The agency needs to bring this whole mess to a close and quickly.

Kate Breen

#3, Jan 18, 2005

I just got a message from a friend about the award announcement. It appears that the contract award announcement will happen at 2:00 pm EST either 1/26 or 1/27. There was supposed to be a press release put out by the FAA at 2:15 pm today (1/18/05), I haven't seen anything yet. This of course is subject to change, but it's the best guess right now.

The announcement will be made at 2:00 pm on either day with a 1-800# broadcast to employees. Once again I have to hear this from people outside the agency and the employees who will be affected by this will be given a 1-800 number to call. I'm so disgusted at this point I'll not say anything else.

Kate Breen

#4, Jan 20, 2005

Here is the latest information on public law 108-176. It looks like we will have to continue to work the issue on the "hill". I've passed this information along to Wally Pike and he will be working on this.

The first part of the law expands good time to certain second level supervisors. In order for a FERS employee to receive good time for their second level time, they must make a service deposit. OPM is working on implementing regulations that provide the process for making the service deposit.

The second part of the legislation, allows certain FERS ATCS who retire at their MRA+30 from a non-covered position and who have 5 years of terminal/en route service to have their good time service computed at an enhanced rate (this is the 1.7% provision). OPM is working on regulations that would tell how the enhanced annuity would be computed. However, they have not submitted any legislative changes to the original bill that would allow AFSS employees who did not have the five years to terminal/en route service to take advantage of this provision.

I have nothing new on the announcement date or any other details, I'll update as it becomes available.

Kate Breen

#5, Jan 30, 2005

By now you should have all received the message from the agency regarding the contract award on Tuesday February 1, 2005 at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The message is posted on the web site with instructions. I do not have a great deal of faith in the avenues the agency has set up to notify you, so we will do like we did with this announcement message. As soon as I know something concrete, either Denise or myself will call the directors and let them pass the information along to you as well as posting it on the NAATS website. I have not spoken to John yet, but I'm sure he'll be able to get the message on the website as soon as he receives it. We have our PR team working on press releases depending on the outcome and those will go out almost immediately.

From what I've been reading and hearing, I know people are very frustrated and on edge with this whole process. The only good thing about Tuesday is that it will close this chapter and we will know how to proceed from here.

The Board of Directors meeting was very busy this week. The way the Board worked together on some tough issues was encouraging and I look forward to working with them throughout the next term. The BOD is made up of a good mix of experienced members and new members please give them the opportunity to work for you before you judge them. They all have the member's best interest at heart and I'm proud to call them brothers. The minutes of the meeting will not be posted on the web site yet, we'll wait until April and see if all of the protests are over. They will be available through your directors in the next 7-10 days.

The RIF team is in town this week (1/31/05) and I've asked Scott to update you all as soon as he has some new information to pass along.

Please take care of yourselves this next week and know I will do everything in my power to help us all get through this.

Kate Breen

#6, Feb 1, 2005 

At this point I am at a loss for words to until I have more information.  The last thing I'll mention is the fact that I had to hear about this from an 866 number and the web site.  There wasn't anyone in the FAA who had the respect for this organization and the people we represent to at least give us a phone call before 4:06 p.m.  I'm sure Ms. Gibson's attempt was sincere, but certainly fell short of any professional courtesy I've ever experienced. 

I hope you all know that I am devoted to you and will do everything I can to help us all get through this.  Until tomorrow.

Kate Breen

#7, Feb 2, 2005

We have sent a letter into the contracting office Don King to request a debriefing of the source selection. I'll pass along the reply as soon as I get it. Some of the debriefings are happening in the first week of March which is a little later than normal according to the experts, not sure what that implies.

Spent a great deal of time on the phone today with the attorneys, reporters, and the FLRA on the ULP we have filed on the risk issue. I'll be working on questions for the debriefing that have to be submitted by next week.

The policy issues (age 31/priority placement/surplus status) you've been waiting for should be finalized within the next two weeks.

The RIF team is working on Union 5 and will get an update out in the next day or so.

No word today from Lockheed, I was supposed to get a call but that didn't happen. Hope they aren't to busy with AOPA to talk to us!

Wish I had more information to pass along, it should start to unfold by the weekend.

Kate Breen

#8, Feb 3, 2005

We started the day by sending an email to the Department of Labor on the announcement being made and it going to an outside vendor. Waiting on a response and will update you on any information surrounding the wage determination as it becomes available.

Now that the dust has settled a little bit and we start to look at things more closely, I would like to offer some words of caution. Please do not rush into signing anything or filling out applications until you've had time to research and understand what your rights are. If you should be presented with any kind of an employment contract, please have an attorney look at it. The fact that Lockheed put on the web site that bids are considered on a first come first serve basis is nothing more than a ploy to rush you into a decision. In fact it smacks of intimidation, don't let them rush you into anything. Wait to talk to them one on one and ask questions.

I spoke with Mr. Carr again today and he assures me that if there are no NATCA controllers applying for higher level tower or center jobs, he has no problem with our controllers bid on them.

We will have a project for the facility representatives to do in the next day or two, hope they're up to the task!

I'm working on some questions for the debriefing, so tomorrow and the weekend will be tied up doing that. I'll try to answer as many phone calls and emails that I can, just please be patient as I get this time critical work done. Hopefully things will ease a bit next week and I'll be more available to you all.

Kate Breen

#9, Feb 4, 2005  (posted late. I apologize - John)

The big news you've all been waiting so patiently for is NAATS is filling a class action age discrimination suit with the EEOC on Monday morning. From there it will be sent over to the FAA. Your directors have the instructions and letters that need to be filled out and they will forward that information out to your FacRep. Every one is welcome to participate in this, if you are a NAATS dues paying member your costs are covered by the union. Every one else will have to pay their own share of the legal fees directly to the attorneys. This is a long process and I will update you as it progresses. I will get a signed copy of the Notice posted the beginning of next week.

There are a couple of items I've asked John to post on the web site that Wally has developed to help you talk with your elected representatives. One is a single page document on NAATS and the other is a sample letter for your representative to send Administrator Blakey.

Alvin Robinson and Scott Malon are working to set up a telcon for the FSDPS members to talk about where they are and how we can help you all. I know you along with our brothers and sisters in Alaska don't get mentioned much, but it's not that we have forgotten about you.

Alaska has had a real struggle up there with LMR and getting arbitrations set up, hopefully Phil has made some head way and things will start to happen. Just because we are engaged in this fight in the lower 48, doesn't mean we won't still fight to protect your rights in Alaska.

The agency has been falling a little short on briefings lately, so below is a new program that is out there that we've never been briefed on. This is not a briefing to you, but simply a heads up if you have a pilot ask you about the GAAP program, tell him you have no idea, and pass him along to your supervisor or manager!

The FAA has instituted a new program called General Aviation Airport Program (GAAP). The apparent purpose of this new program is to replace the STMP setup. I say apparent because NAATS has not been briefed that GAAP even exists. Besides not being briefed the other problem that we see is that a user would call STMP and get a slot time, up to 72 hours prior to arrival and file accordingly, however with GAAP the slot is issued when the flight plan is sent to the HOST, usually 1 hour prior to the P-time. Users would then be able to log on to the FAA web site at http://www.fly.faa.gov/gaap to see there EDCT.

I'll have more for you on Monday, but until then can you say go NEW ENGLAND!!

Kate Breen

#10, Feb 9, 2005


The questions are put together for the debriefing of the contract award which is scheduled for March 9, 2005. Due to procurement sensitivity, I cannot release any of that information at this time. As soon as the protest period is over and I get the go ahead from the attorneys, I post everything. Understand I'm not trying to play "agency" on you and hide things, it's for the sake of our own good right now. For those who have tried to reach me the past few days, I apologize, but there was a great deal of information to go through and these questions have to be in by 12 noon tomorrow.

EEOC has the class action complaint and we have been getting some phone calls from radio and press to include the Washington Post. It will sit with the EEOC for 30 days and then Mr. Gebhardt will file it in U.S. District Court.

Scott and the RIF team are still at it, and he should have some information for you by the weekend.

The BOD is in town for the next two days to discuss issues and lay out some plans for the future.

Scott and I will meet with Administrator Blakey this Friday at 10:00 a.m., I'll pass along what happens at the end of the day Friday or first thing Saturday morning.

Have spoken with the Vice-President of Lockheed about briefing the BOD and he would like to wait until the protest period is over.

One thing I was curious about was the facilities selected by Lockheed and if they were owned or leased facilities. Out of 8 facilities the FAA owns (DEN, HNL, MIA, BNA, OAK, RDU, SEA), Lockheed has selected 7 of those, the only one left out was BOI. The other facilities selected, their leases have either expired or are expiring within the next 3-5 years. The only one with a long lease is DCA they have a lease until 2018. Not that I have any information on the length of time in which these legacy stations would stay open, but the lease might give you an idea. Understand this is pure speculation on my part, but when considering your decision, you may only want to move once. All of the lease information can be found in technical exhibit B-3 Government Furnished Facility Contract Information. I'm not sure if that information is still available on the ACA website.

No news from DOL on the wage determination as of yet.

Let me end today's update with the latest FAA Folly. The FAA has been saying how much money this A-76 is going to save the tax payer, here is something to think about. We have about 50% of our bargaining unit that is eligible for retirement, and from what I hear a good part of those individuals are going to work for Lockheed Martin if things continue down this road. So the taxpayer is now going to pay that individuals retirement, plus pay Lockheed Martin through this contract their full salary and then either severance pay or full salaries through the contract to the rest of the bargaining unit members. Remember LM promised all incumbents a job. How does this save the taxpayer money? If the MEO had won, those eligible to retire would have gone out probably with a one time buy out and the agency would only be paying the remaining employees to staff the facilities. Now the agency is going to pay retirement and salaries to those eligible plus the salaries of those fired and we are going to save the tax payers money. I know it's the old "pot" story the retirements come out of a different "pot" so they don't count. Have I totally confused you, it's been a long week and it's only Wednesday!

011, Feb 12, 2005

I�ve got a number of issues to update you on today, and I�ll start with the meeting on Friday morning with the Administrator. Scott Malon and I met with the Administrator, Assoc. Administrator, AHR-1, Administrator�s Assistant, and an FAA attorney. The Administrator wanted to know how you were after the announcement and from what I�ve heard and seen, I told her you were devastated. We then talked about RIF negotiations and where they were, Scott was articulate as always and put everything on the table. He will go into more details in his update which he will get out by Monday, I will tell you that no agreement was reached this week. Here are a few concerns talked about in the meeting, the number of career counselors the agency has hired is 6, possibly 9 FPMI employees. we do not feel that is sufficient to handle over 2000 employees. We were assured that if we needed more the agency would put more on, but right now the HR help desk is getting only a few calls and they don�t feel they need more than 6 people to handle career transition activities. According to Ms. Gibson the FAA HR people will be out to the field in April and that will run into the beginning of May. When or should I say if I get some kind of a schedule, I�ll pass it along. You all need to go to the Lockheed Martin open houses scheduled within the next few weeks, ask questions and see what they have to offer. I want you to then either contact the HR help desk, or have your questions ready for the FAA HR people when they come into your facilities shortly after that. This time is going to go by fast and the Lockheed plan is to offer you jobs in May or early June. The age 31 waiver and priority placement programs are still not ready to go, they were supposed to be ready by the first of February, now it looks like the end of February. There goes another month,

As things stand right now you will have March and April to take advantage of the age 31 waiver and priority placement program. These issues should have been in place a long time ago, the agency is hanging its hat on getting approval from OPM/OMB. Its one more example of the agency being reactive instead of proactive, all of these policies should have been explored and ready to roll a year ago. The answer I got was the agency was waiting to see what the outcome was, come on folks you had two choices it was either going to be the MEO or a vendor. One would think that the agency would have had two plans in the wings waiting for the announcement, not waiting for the announcement and then get approval to put a plan into affect. They are aware of the EEOC complaint but made no mention of it other than that was the reason for the attorney being there. Bottom line, they know our issues surrounding placement and retirements, like I said before Scott was very articulate. The ball is clearly in their court, if they respect you as employees and truly want to do the right thing, they will take care of the priority placement and retirement issues this upcoming week.

Please do all you can to gather information and have documents ready so you can make an informed decision in the upcoming weeks and months. Do not wait for the agency to do the right thing, make sure you are prepared to take care of yourselves. Understand we are not giving up we are still exploring every option and are working hard to mitigate this misguided process and decision, I just want you to do all you can to make an informed decision if need be.

The BOD was in town on Thursday and Friday to get briefings from our lawyers and make some decisions. All 3 law firms were represented and did a great job answering questions and updating the BOD, I will not go into detail in this update for obvious reasons. Please check with your Director if you have any specific questions.

One of the questions I�ve been asked a lot lately is what happens to NAATS and its funds with the decision going to Lockheed Martin. Nothing, the BOD made the decision to work with NAGE/SEIU (afl/cio affiliate) to help us get ready to represent you if we have to go into the private sector. NAATS will work with NAGE right now to get up to speed on what needs to happen next, and we will be coming to the membership for a vote on the possible affiliation with NAGE/SEIU in the immediate future. This will ultimately be your decision to make, but I commend the BOD for being proactive and looking to protect your rights and offer you more benefits at the same time. This decision was not made lightly and went through lengthy debate, but the BOD unanimously agreed to move forward and put it out to the membership for a vote. Phil Brown has been the lead of the NAATS Reorganization Team (NRT) and will provide more information on this in the next day or so. I will tell you that we would keep our autonomy and our treasury. So basically NAATS is not going anywhere, we are here to represent you and fight for you regardless if you are in Alaska and stay in the government of if we end up going to Lockheed in the lower 48 and end up in the private sector. This will all be worked out with out an increase in dues and will offer our members greater protections, benefits, and services. NAATS will also be able to use the legal, lobbying, training, and organizing staff of NAGE. I know you will have a ton of questions, and that leads me to the next topic.

We are going forward with the convention, it is important to get you as much information as possible right now and that includes being able provide you with briefings, a forum to ask questions of the BOD, myself, and our attorneys. I know there are some that will say, it�s just an excuse to party in New Orleans, that couldn�t be farther from the truth. We did look at canceling and bringing the meeting to DC, but we would incur a significant penalty for the late cancellation at the New Orleans hotel and when we started to check availability for that week in DC found it was Cherry Blossom week so space was very limited and the prices were outrageous. The most important factor in my mind is that we need to continue business as usual and meeting at this point is vital. This will give us an opportunity to provide you with as much information as possible. I will work on the agenda including a list of invited guests this week.

There have also been questions surrounding the EEOC age discrimination complaint, let me try to answer a few of them here. Some people are afraid to fill out the forms because the FAA will receive the list and there will be retaliation. This is from the attorney � The FAA will see the names of all those who file as part of the class action. However, retaliation is illegal, and we will challenge any retaliation with the press and media. If it becomes a problem, we also have the option of filing a separate complaint letter to address the retaliation issues.

If you are someone who is not filling out the paperwork because you believe you�ll be taken care of in the end, I would just like to remind you there is strength in numbers. If you chose not to do anything and hope that you may be taken care of, you may be disappointed. Please think about your decision, it costs dues paying members nothing to join and non-dues paying members a very small amount.

There have also been questions about dues paying members being liable for additional costs. NAATS is funding this complaint as a service to all dues paying members, dues paying members do not have any personal liability.

The February 16th date can slip if you need more time to get the letters in, just do the best you can to get them in within the next week or so.

The BOD meeting this week was productive and we will continue this fight, I�ll say again NAATS is not going anywhere we will do everything we can for our members.

I realize that I have an IOU to get the minutes of last months BOD meeting out as well as this week�s. Give me this week to get caught up and I�ll get them approved and out by the beginning of next week.

Kate Breen

#12, Feb16, 2005

In my last update, I put out a piece on the HR help desk and them not receiving many calls. I think I�ve finally figured that out, there was no phone number distributed! When I look through the pamphlets that the FAA handed everyone on the day of the announcement, I thought it was in there, it wasn�t.

So the number for the HR help desk is 404-305-5333.

Please use this number for questions surrounding your individual situations, I would love to be able to give you answers, but I just can�t. The only thing I�d be giving you right now is my best guess. If you have problems getting through or getting responses let me know and I�ll pass the information along for follow up. I�ll need dates, times, names, and any other information you think pertinent to pass along complaints.

So go to the Lockheed open houses ask questions and use the help desk to answer FAA questions. The HR regional folks are still scheduled to come out to the facilities, but getting as much information before they come will only help.

I�ll have another update for you Friday at the latest.

Kate Breen

#13, Feb 16, 2005

Let me correct my earlier update, I was under the impression that there was one national help desk for employees to call. There is not, you need to call your regional offices, let me know if you have problems with these numbers. Sorry for the confusion.

HRMD HELP DESK CONTACT

New England (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT)
Robert Duggan (781) 238-7276)

Eastern (DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA, VA, WV)
Yvonne McCartney (718) 553-4575

Southern (AL, GA, FL, KY, MS, NC, PR, SC, TN)
Marilyn Ragland (404) 305-5333)

Great Lakes (IL, IN, MI, MN, ND, OH, SD, WI,)
Curtis Boyd (847) 294-7787

Central (IA, KS, MO, NE)
Danny Sadler (816) 329-2650

Southwest (AR, LA, NM, OK, TX)
Mary Basaldu (817) 222-5886

Northwest Mountain (CO, ID, MT, OR, UT, WA, WY)
Cindy Grantham (425) 227-2094

Western Pacific (AZ, CA, HI, NV)
Jacalyn Murray (310) 725-7847

Alaskan (AK)
Gary Couture (907) 271-5757

William J. Hughes Technical Center
(Located in Atlantic City, NJ)
Kathy Henuset (609) 485-6682

Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center
(Located in Oklahoma City, OK)
Brenda Rogers (405) 954-6376

FAA Headquarters
(Located in Washington, DC)
Paulette Randolph (202) 267-8012

Kate Breen

#14, Feb 19, 2005


Welcome to the almost 100 new members who joined the NAATS family in the past week! Looking forward to more coming in this week for those who were off or on leave, you can still get those 1187s in this week. People have signed approximately 1,000 letter and we are in the process of getting all your information in a data base to ship over to the attorneys by Wednesday. If you should talk to Denise in the office, thank her, she has been doing an outstanding job for all of you. She never questions a task, always steps up and gets things done quickly and professionally, we�re lucky to have her.

The EEOC complaint is expected to be pulled out of EEOC sometime around mid-March, unless the agency sees the errors of there ways and settles before we get to that point. That being said, we are planning on pulling the complaint out of EEOC around March 15th and placing it in US District Court for further action. We will get all of your information over to the attorney who will submit it to the EEOC and begin working on the paperwork for the submission to Court.

There was no final offer from the FAA this week on RIF negotiations, Scott will update you on what is happening there.

Wally has been very busy on the �Hill� this week. He put together a briefing paper that was sent to quite a few of your elected representatives. John should be posting it on the web site as soon as he gets a chance. If you need a copy right away, check with your Director. Wally is working on the retirement issues (vesting and 1.7% calculation) with the committee staffers in both the Senate and House. Both issues will probably require legislation and we are exploring the appropriations bill as a vehicle to accomplish this. He has received many congressional calls on these and there is a lot of interest in correcting these. There are other issues being worked, which I will get out to you as soon as Wally gives me the OK.

We have received no communication from the agency that the age waivers, priority placement program, and surplus status. I have heard through the grape vine that these will be put in place on Tuesday February 22nd. In my 14 years in this agency I have never seen communications this poor. Not only are they failing to notify us on procedures, like opening airports in the DC area, but at a time when communication on personnel policy is critical to all of us they fall down. Yet, Mr. Lavey puts out in his update that the Administrator is working on communication by meeting with the Unions. When you�re making those calls to your elected officials, you might want to pass along that the employees are not being notified of changes in procedures and personnel issues in a timely manner. This not only leads to added stress and anxiety, but could have safety repercussions.

Just heard from a Southern region facility that employees received letters saying they were at moderate risk to be hired by Lockheed because of security issues. That�s about all I know for right now, another case of poor communication from the FAA. I have no idea what that means for people at this point.

There was a question from a couple of people about talking to the press and retribution from the agency and possibly Lockheed Martin. Please send them my way, if you feel the least bit uncomfortable or you get too deep in an interview. Try to keep anything you say �temperate�. That was the advice from the attorney when I asked. You elected me to this position for issues just like this, let me take the heat if there is any to take.

Still working with the FLRA on the ULP filed against the agency on the MEO bid being high risk because unfinished negotiations. Have another telephone appointment set up with the investigator for Tuesday afternoon.

Sent out the letters inviting speakers to the annual meeting this year, they include:

President George W. Bush
Secretary Norman Y. Mineta
Administrator Marion C. Blakey
Assistant Administrator HR Management Ventris Gibson
COO Russ Chew
VP Acquisition and Business Services Dennis DeGaetano
VP Flight Services Jim Washington
Director ACA Joann Kansier
Lockheed Martin
President of AOPA Phil Boyer

The only one I know that will be there so far is Mr. Washington. As I get responses, I�ll pass them along.

Try to get to the meeting this year, there are a lot of issues to discuss and it�s much more effective to do that in person. Let your Director know if you are having trouble getting the time off to attend.

Kate Breen

#15, Feb 25, 2005


The Priority Placement Program and Age 31 Waiver policies have just been issued. I have not had a chance to look at them yet so take a look and see if they are going to help your individual situation. I also forwarded out to the Directors and RegCos the HR facility visit list.

The Directors also have a copy of the approved minutes from the BOD meeting in January. We are still not posting the minutes on the web site, check with your Director or FacRep for a copy. My hope is to be able to go back to posting them once the protest period is complete. The minutes do not reflect all discussions held in the meeting, this is not done to keep things from the membership. This is done to keep from exposing our strategy and internal business from the agency and anyone who would want to use that information against the membership. My job is to protect you all and the last thing I want to see happen is information put out that would harm our position in any regard. We have enough stacked against us at the moment without giving others a leg up. I encourage all Directors to have telcons with their FacReps to keep the lines of communication open.


Which leads me to the next topic, please try to make the convention where we can talk candidly and it will give you the opportunity to ask questions. You need to book your hotel rooms ASAP, we will have to reevaluate the block of rooms by the end of next week so please call if you plan on coming. We did get confirmation on one more speaker this week Ventris Gibson has accepted the invitation to speak to you all.

The RIF team is going to make what looks like its last trip into DC next week, as soon as there is information there Scott or I will pass it along.

Some of the LM open houses are happening, mine at Bridgeport is in a couple of weeks. Right now the only people being allowed into the briefings are the people assigned to the facility where the briefings are being conducted.

There isn�t much to tell you this week, everything is still being worked. The retirement issues, including the 1.7%. In fact Wally met with Conrad Burns Chairman of the Aviation Subcommittee and he is supportive of the retirement issues. There will also be some language introduced next week in the house that may be a shot in the dark, but we�ll continue to do everything we can. Once that is introduced, I will give you all the information on it so you can contact your representatives. The attorneys are still working on all other avenues, no changes to date on anything there.

Next week we expect several announcements with the RIF team in town and the Managers meeting happening.

Have a good weekend and I�ll get something out as soon as we have news.

Kate Breen