NAATS News content -- 0701

Effective July 1 our bargaining unit became eligible for the Sick Leave Transfer Program. Please notify us of any problems.

We met with our lobbyist again on June 29th and reviewed our status. We are on schedule and making progress as we generate more support for our issue but there's still a lot of work to do. They put our odds of ultimate success the same as before. We ask that you continue to contact your congressional representatives and press our cause as we continue to meet with them here.

The meetings in Alaska have been postponed because neither Senator Stevens nor Chairman Young will be there until the August recess. We'll continue to work with them and their staffs in D.C. in the interim. In June, we mailed our informational package to every member of Congress and that has helped to increase their awareness. I'll keep you informed of our progress; thanks again for all the work you've done in contacting your representatives.

AT-1 Bill Peacock and I worked on some of the details of our video this week. July 9 is the scheduled production date and we should have it out to the field shortly thereafter.

No doubt you have seen the broadcast message from Administrator Jane Garvey regarding the rollout of the new Agency Performance Management System. The new PMS is not effective for our bargaining unit until negotiations are completed with NAATS. Please direct any concerns or questions to NAATS Chief Negotiator Bill Dolan.

I've had a number of meetings over the past few months with ACR-1 Fanny Rivera regarding Model Work Environment. MWE is not disciplinary in nature and no mention of conduct and discipline is appropriate for any MWE plan at any level. NAATS Southern Regional Director Craig Campbell is our national MWE representative; please contact him or me with any questions or concerns.

The FAA had decided to build a $100M facility called: Air Traffic Services Mission Needs Analysis Revalidation Special Project: New York ATS Mission Needs Statement 336. This building, commonly called the "Crystal Palace" will house the NY Center and Approach Control. The exact location hasn't been determined yet but there is at least a possibility that this facility will not be located on airport grounds. NAATS EA Regional Coordinator Pat Less has informed me that our membership at ISP AFSS would like to have the option of collocating with the other air traffic controllers in the new facility. Considering the fact that the FAA has done everything they can to discourage walk-in traffic at our facilities it would seem that our facility membership should at least have the option of taking advantage of a state-of-the-art facility. I've asked Chief Negotiator Bill Dolan to explore the possibility of accommodating our ISP membership and to also remove the standard building requirement that prohibits windows in our operations rooms.

I recently met with FacRep Billy Corbo and the members at BTV AFSS. I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to discuss issues and take input. Unfortunately NE Regional Director Kurt Comisky was unable to join us due to a personal matter. My thanks to Kurt and Billy for inviting me to BTV.

The intent of Section 6 is that a paper posting be done at each position so nothing falls through the cracks. If reps want to bargain additional places to put the information, as you have described, that has to be in addition to the paper posting. The only problem I see is if the controller starts to rely only on the electronic data and it ends up being incomplete or incorrect he/she may swing from the nearest tree if there is a TFR violation. This provision (Section 6) is intended to insure that all data is physically available. How it is utilized is the judgment of each individual. It's their job on the line, not mine. The Agency has agreed not to delegate this duty. Any more questions, let me know.

I need your help in educating Management that there is going to be an even greater problem with staffing due to retirements in the very near future. Management is telling Wally that we will end the year with 20 more people than we have this year. I think they are either that misinformed or they are lying! I don't think they have figured in the Supervisor/Manager retirements either - which would probably take even more people from our bargaining unit.

Here is where you come in: Can you please ask the bargaining unit members who are almost ready to retire when they are planning to do it. I don't need anything really specific, but as close to reality as possible. This includes controllers in AFSS/FSS/FSDPS. I know there are some people waiting to see what happens with the contract, but there are also those people who are going no matter what.

Please fill in the enclosed form and fax it back to me by July 31st. The FAX number at NAATS is 301-933-3902, and my phone number if you have any questions is 202-267-8028. Thanks for your help.

To the FacRep or Assistant FacRep - Please help educate Management on the impact of upcoming retirements on future staffing numbers. If you could get this done by July 31st, and faxed back to NAATS Headquarters it would be appreciated. The Fax number at NAATS is 301-933-3902, and my phone number if you have any questions is 202-267-8028.

1. How many controllers in your facility are expected to retire by January 1, 2002?

2. How many controllers in your facility are expected to retire between January 1, 2002 and June 30, 2002?

3. How many controllers in your facility are expected to retire between July 1, 2002 and January 1, 2003?

4. How many controllers can retire and are awaiting the outcome of the contract?

NAATS Room Rate: $79.00/night
Reservations Phone: (800) 288-1000
Deadline for NAATS Rate: September 14, 2001

There has been little activity of significance taking place in the OASIS program since the OASIS Human Factors Team meeting I reported on last week. In addition to the installation waterfall, the Team wrote problem statements to capture almost all the remaining problems and passed them off to Harris. We also worked on Harris Task Descriptions to make sure the fixes they planned would be appropriate solutions for us.

Last weekend, the ARS organization (Our Technical Rep, ARS Liaison, ARW Liaison, and I all work within this organization) completed its move from DOT headquarters to new offices off of Macpherson Square near the White House. Most peoples' attention this week has been devoted to getting their offices set up in the new space. I took the week off to rest and avoid the beehive. I will have a new office phone number and I will publish my contact information with the new number in my next update in two weeks.

By the middle of July, the 7110.10 rewrite draft will be going to the field for everyone to review and comment. It will be sent to all the facilities in E-mail format. Comments will be accepted from journeypersons, supervisors, staff specialists, managers etc. Please review the document carefully. If you have comments you may send them to NAATS Headquarters, FAX 301-933-6228 / E-mail [email protected]. Please reference the paragraph you are commenting on along with a short note with reason for why you want it changed or deleted. If you would like to add something to the 7110.10, please feel free to send that suggestion in as well.

The 7110.10 rewrite started with the Kenai AFSS Workgroup almost a year ago. They spent many months taking suggestions from the field as well as suggestions and changes from facilities which were assigned specific chapters. Individual NAATS representatives were assigned chapters as well. The Kenai Workgroup finished the initial stage of the rewrite early this year. It then went to all the members of the General Aviation Summit for their comments and suggestions. Now it is your turn!

As a service to the membership, national candidates' positions on issues that concern the rank and file members will be carried in the newsletter in the coming months. If you have a question you want answered by the candidates for NAATS President, please e-mail or fax it to me by August 5th. Two questions will be chosen from those received and the candidates' responses will be carried in the August edition of the NAATS News.

Recently, we had a member of long-standing pass away and he left his parents as beneficiaries on his life insurance policy. Unfortunately both his parents are deceased. I have worked with Boston Mutual and they are working with me to get his insurance to his sister, the only surviving blood relative. Otherwise the money goes to the state. This is not a rare thing. Many members have not changed their names when married, have not changed their beneficiaries when divorced or a death of the beneficiary preceded the member.

I urge all members to UPDATE their life insurance as soon as possible. If you are not sure what is on your card, you can call Headquarters and I will be glad to assist you in any way I can, or you can get a card from your FacRep, fill it out and send it to Headquarters, just to be sure that it is what you want it to be.

ALSO: Elections are coming! Is your CORRECT address on file with NAATS Headquarters? In order to ensure that you get your election material on time we need all current address, CALL TO CHECK.

The following SEA personnel have contributed to the NAATS Political Action Committee. We had many non-members, staff and supervisors even contribute, all in the hopes the Congressional game playing can make a real difference! We challenge all other stations to match that total - $4015.00!

Robert Pedraza	Bill Hamlin	Deanna MaGary Bennetts
Bill Colwell	Phil Connor	Larry Crane
Joan Boushey	Jake Tschida	Bill Turpen
Reggie Thornton	Warren Dickerson	Marty Pollreisz
Mel Brown	Tom Hume	Ron Schuerman
Ricky Morris	Wade Oien	Alan Masterson
Steve Prout (staff)	Todd Oldroyd (staff)	Gene Marx (supervisor)
Mark Watling (staff)	Dean Henderson	Eldon Taylor (supervisor)
Kevin Schmid (supervisor)	Kathryn Burks	Chris Wagner
Jack Perrizo (supervisor)	Dave Kohn (manager)	Kevin Hoyt (TDY from MMV)
Andy & Sandra McClure	Dale Spratt (supervisor)

Gayle Brady	Karen Ostrand	Nick Eberhard
Dave Haeck	John Elwood	Doug McCoy
Dave Watton	Craig Turner	Jay Wiser
Inez Bruce	Karl Wolthausen	Chris Beale

Also previous donations by: Andrea Chay, Alice Haines, Mike McAnaw, Patty Strnad and Lisa Hainsworth (TDY from MMV) were not included in the $4015.00 total.

July 25-31
EAA National Fly In
Oshkosh, WI

July 31
TSP Open Season Ends

September 18-20
NBAA Convention
New Orleans, LA

October 15-16
NAATS Board Meeting
Las Vegas, NV

October 17-18
NAATS National
Membership Meeting
Las Vegas, NV

November 8-10
AOPA Convention
Fort Lauderdale, FL

The NAATS PAC poster was a collaborative effort by many controllers at BDR. It was Tina Fraughton that took the concept and gave it life. Not only is Tina a gifted artist, it is clear that she has the ability to develop an image that embodies the essence of the concept. At the onset, when discussing the PAC Campaign with several controllers it became evident that in each and every facility a consistent, non-verbal message was needed to keep the issue alive. Since the dawn of man, graphical images has been used for such a purpose with success. The discussions centered on what message was to be delivered, what was the goal of the NAATS PAC Campaign and how could the poster help achieve that goal. It was truly fascinating and entertaining to participate in the discussions, I have always found those in Flight Service a very intelligent and witty bunch; discussions on the PAC poster encompassed many diverse approaches. The subtle and obtuse approach gave way to the obvious and direct. It was Frank who cut to the real issue and made the point of what we are really trying to accomplish. After further discussion, the final concept took shape. The message of the poster should be very clear and obvious to all; it is what it is. Upon first glance, to some, the poster may be a bit offensive. But I believe, upon some thought and discussions with fellow controllers, the poster honestly depicts the challenge before us. If we are to access and use the political system to address our pay issue, this is what is needed to be successful. Everyone has their own views of what is acceptable and proper governance by our political leaders, however to be successful in addressing our pay issue, we must work within the current system.

I understand there are many facilities that have initiated efforts to increase participation in the PAC Fund Campaign within their facilities. For those who have begun PAC Fund drives or challenges, please write brief notes for the NAATS News so all can celebrate in your success.

We are getting closer to that critical time, we need to turn up our efforts; at some point there will be no tomorrow. I hold to the belief of 100 percent participation in the NAATS PAC Fund. Pay affects both members and non-members alike, I am unable to understand why one would not invest $60 to achieve parity. In the largest of context, the challenge before us will define who we are and our future.

Senator Max Cleland (D-GA) is currently sponsoring a bill in the U.S. Senate that could profoundly affect the thousands of 2152's covered by the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). The provisions in this bill would change the Sections of Title 5 of the U.S. Code governing the annuity computation for controllers covered by the Civil Service Retirement System, giving them an additional 2 percent annuity for years of service beyond twenty. This change would bring air traffic controllers' retirements under CSRS in line with existing provisions for federal firefighters and law enforcement officers. There are no provisions in this bill affecting employees covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS).

The bill has a bipartisan list of co-sponsors: Sen. Jon Corzine (D-NJ), Sen. Mark Dayton (D-MN), Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD), Sen. John F. Kerry (D-MA), Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT), Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN), Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), and Sen. Harry M. Reid (D-NV). It has been read twice on the floor of the Senate and is currently in the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs chaired by Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT).

The up side of this legislation is that it could also provide a disincentive to early retirements among air traffic controllers who at age 50 have accumulated 20 years of working live traffic or who are of any age with 25 years on the Operations floor. This is particularly important as we approach August 3rd, the 20th anniversary of the firing of 11,350 air traffic controllers during the 1981 PATCO strike. The down side of the situation is, despite the potential savings to be derived from staving off a mass exodus from the air traffic controller ranks, the bill is not widely supported in this cost-conscious 107th Congress and faces an uphill battle for passage by both Houses.

What recourse action will victims of WMSD face? Congress says it will revisit the issue and investigate repetitive-motion injuries. Key points to ponder:

At this point, I would like to interject that if you do suffer from carpal tunnel or a similar repetitive injury from the job and have been diagnosed with this illness, then please fill out the OWCP paperwork needed to document your illness.

Cherie K. Berry, elected Commissioner of the NC State Labor Department, recently declared the state's version of the ergonomics standard void "because it was promulgated prior to the effective date of the federal ergonomics program." So North Carolina is now without an ergonomic standard.

A Norwegian study conducted recently has found that workers with more control over their jobs have less musculo-skeletal pain. The study was conducted in Norway and utilized 721 workers at 226 automobile repair garages. Researchers studied the effects of psychological demands, decision authority, social support, and management support on the occurrences of neck, lower back and musculo-skeletal pain. Reseachers found a strong correlation between reported pain and low decision making authority. They linked low management support and a poor physical work environment with both low back and musculo-skeletal pain. Researchers said the ability to make decisions and receive support from management encourages workers to adjust work demands, tools and environment when they are under physical and psychological stress. These factors might also help prevent cardio-vascular disease as well as increase workers sense of well-being and job satisfaction.

A financial company in Toronto has proven that early intervention in short-term disability claims can cut employee absences and prevent long-term disability claims. The company tracked approximately 1,000 short-term disability claims across a range of industries. It found that employees who received early intervention returned to work 20% earlier than expected. Intervention services included physician coaching, employer education, and job site modifications.

(Note: Information from the above articles was gathered from the National Safety Council's Safety and Health Magazine, May 2001)

There is, unfortunately, more at risk than just dollars in the current pay negotiations. As you know, we are currently mired in the mediation process, which has not done anything to bring us closer to agreement. Our position of comparability with the former GS-12-2152's in the NATCA Bargaining Unit, which by the Agency's numbers would be 17.3% including ATRA, is clear. So why would the Agency be so reluctant to come to agreement concerning the equitable treatment of its' employees. It's not just a matter of dollars; it's a matter of RESPECT.

For years the Agency has discounted the value of the Flight Service Option to the Air Traffic System for reasons that remain unknown to me. I'm sure it's not a conspiracy, but rather an attitude that exists in the hearts and minds of people that do not understand what we do, what we know, and the value we bring to the safety of the system. This attitude may have evolved from the demise of combined station/towers, from the consolidation to the AFSS, or more likely, some primal need to establish a hierarchy whereby one group can feel superior to another. The reasons, however, are not nearly as important as the result. During recent pay negotiations with the American Federation of State and Municipal Employees (AFSME) the Agency's response to the Union proposal to move all the 2152's at FAA Headquarters to a higher pay band was, OK except for the forty-four 2152's with a Flight Service background. The Union membership, being primarily staff and support personnel, accepted the disparate treatment of the Flight Service 2152's. Why would the Agency choose to identify 44 individuals doing the same work as other 2152's to be paid differently?

While the Agency would choose to discriminate among 2152's by focusing on contrived differences, we continue to focus on that which makes us alike. Medical Standards, Drug and Alcohol Testing, Early Retirement, and Performance Accountability, not to mention Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and History all go toward making us comparable with other 2152's. In the business of Bargaining it is understood, you don't get what you deserve, you get what you agree to.

The House Appropriations Committee last week called the Federal Aviation Administration's personnel reform "experiment" a failure and slashed nearly $60 million from the Bush Administration's fiscal 2002 budget request for hiring new employees in all lines of business at the agency. The committee Wednesday approved the fiscal 2002 transportation appropriations bill, which provides some $13.3 billion for FAA (BA, June 18/286).

In report language accompanying the bill, the Appropriations Committee cited "severe levels" of employee dissatisfaction and said it "concludes that FAA's personnel reform has been a failure." In 1996 Congress authorized FAA to develop its own personnel and compensation system "to give the agency more flexibility because of its daily interaction with the fast-paced and rapidly-growing aviation industry," the committee said.

In recent employee attitude surveys, however, less than 10 percent of the employees believed personnel reform successfully eliminated bureaucracy or helped accomplish FAA's mission, the committee said. The reform has not been used to place employees where they are most needed, it added. Existing pay disparities "support the view that pay is based more upon negotiation than need or individual contribution," it added. A National Academy of Public Administration study found that FAA has not met key goals of personnel reform, the committee noted, and said, "Congress should carefully review the effects of personnel reform leading up to re-authorizing of AIR-21 in fiscal year 2004 to gauge whether the experiment should be continued."

The committee called for nearly $7 million less in human resource program funding than the Administration requested, saying that "even though personnel reform was expected to streamline human resource management administrative costs, the opposite seems to have occurred." The growth in human resource activity has done little to boost employee morale, protect training resources, or ensure parity in compensation. "With this track record, the committee believes a slower growth in budgetary resources is justified in order to foster accountability and stronger performance."

The appropriations bill also would provide $57.9 million less for new agency hiring than FAA had sought, a move that reflects a slowdown in hiring at the agency this year, the committee said. FAA's employment as of March was 930 positions below the level the agency had projected in its fiscal 2001 budget request. The fiscal 2002 budget request seeks an additional 1,457 positions over the current level, but "the committee does not believe this level of hiring is credible over the next several months."

The committee was critical of the agency's handling of controller pay. The average controller will earn $135,000 next year, the panel said, equal to 93 percent of what FAA Administrator Jane Garvey is paid. More than 9,500 controllers next year will earn more than $100,000. Meanwhile, FAA decided to limit pay increases for air traffic managerial, supervisory and specialist employees, creating "huge and disconcerting pay inequities within the air traffic line of business, as well as recruitment difficulties." The committee directed FAA to report by the end of the year on how to resolve the disparities in pay and "strongly encouraged" the agency to take measures to boost productivity and lower cost.

The committee also gave little credence to FAA and controller union claims that air traffic controllers are on the verge of a major turnover with a number of retirements. "Although there has been speculation this year about an impending wave of retirements, the committee sees little evidence to suggest such an event." Controller retirements dropped in the past two years, and controllers work on average more than six years beyond their retirement eligibility date, it said.

Overall the committee provided $5.5 billion for air traffic services in fiscal 2002, the largest piece of the $6.9 billion set aside for the agency's operations. The bill calls for the Airport and Airway Trust Fund to cover nearly $5.8 billion of the operations budget, with the general fund of the U.S. Treasury accounting for the rest. The committee's proposed budget calls for a $32.9 million, or less than five percent, increase over fiscal 2001 levels in regulation and certification funding, but falls $21 million short of the Administration request.

The bill includes $750,000 to continue the Centennial of Flight Commission, $8.5 million for the redesign of the New Jersey/New York airspace and $1.3 million for FAA to continue its investigation of technology that would bring more accurate airport and flight status information directly to the passenger. The committee praised FAA's contract tower cost-sharing effort as a "valuable program which provides safety benefits to small communities" and included $6 million to cover the costs.

Other provisions in the bill would provide $6 million to FAA to begin forming air tour management plans at national parks. Congress called for the establishment of such management plans in comprehensive aviation reauthorization legislation, AIR-21, and FAA this spring released the proposed regulation to govern their creation. The bill further prohibits FAA from using funds to operate manned auxiliary flight service stations in the contiguous U.S. This measure came at the request of FAA, which did not seek any funding for manned AFSS.

In other FAA accounts, the committee called for $2.9 billion for facilities and equipment, matching FAA's request, $3.3 billion for the Airport Improvement Program and $191 million for research, engineering and development. The committee provided $75.9 million for FAA's continued development of the wide area augmentation system (WAAS). This matched FAA's request and comes despite last year's series of technical glitches, cost overruns and delays. The committee also set aside $42.4 million for the local area augmentation system (LAAS). The committee, however, called FAA's request for improving aviation weather services "excessive" and reduced the funding by $1.7 million.

The committee further set aside $1 million for FAA to transfer notice to airmen (NOTAM) services to its special use airspace management system (SAMS). The committee cited the recent Gulfstream III crash in Aspen, Colo., in which tower controllers had not received a NOTAM prohibiting a certain type of instrument approach at the airport at night. "Presently, NOTAMs are disseminated by 1950s-era teletype machines," the committee said. "To ensure that NOTAMS are properly disseminated in the short term, the FAA should take the central NOTAM processing function and rehost it on the SAMS platform." The committee also encouraged FAA to transition to a digital platform "before the system exceeds its capacity and becomes unsupportable."

By now the nomination period is over and you should be getting the ballots shortly. Good luck to all that will be seeking an office. Like we all learned from the past presidential election every vote does count. Please vote.

Nothing new between FAA and NAATS. Wally is in constant contact with our lobbyist and busy attending fund-raisers and meetings with the Congresspersons. Don't hesitate to talk to your FacRep about the discussion about pay at the GA Summit meeting to get more details.

Welcome to the union Steve Garcia, James Stonerock and Bernadette Dionne from St. Louis, Robert Chapman and Harold Brooks from Fort Dodge.

Make your reservations now for the National Membership meeting on October 17-18. Call 800 288-1000 before the deadline which is September 14th. We had a great turnout last year and hope to have a better one this year. I hope to see you there.

The quarterly meeting was held in Kansas City on June 12-13. The minutes were sent out on June 25th. If you have any questions talk to your FacRep or give me a call. The evening of the 12th we, along with other people, attended the KC Royals game. Good time was had by all.

I'm sure you have heard by now how the GA Summit meeting went. It was an interesting meeting and we look forward to next year if they can find the money to make it happen.

Unfortunately, the union/management relationship at Wichita appears to be getting worse. There have been numerous grievances filed in the last month. I have been talking to the region about the problems. I can't put a finger on where the problem is, but I have a feeling. We have one grievance at the national level, one at the regional level. St. Louis has one at the local level.

Dean Cox, Columbia AFSS has been selected for a position at the ROC. His reporting date is July 15th. I would like to thank him for being the NTSB representative for NAATS and wish him well in his new endeavor. With him leaving, there is a vacancy for the NTSB rep. for MO, IA and Southern IL. If you are interested let me know.

I have selected Rebecca Shelby, Wichita AFSS to be the regional representative for this.

It has been a busy period since my last contribution to the newsletter. I have been able to visit some of the facilities in the region. Kankakee has been a popular location. In April they needed representation during the election. That gave me a chance to visit the facility again, and meet with the members and management. In the middle of May I visited them again, and met with Jon Anderson to set up their computer, and load software in it. At the end of May, while on a trip to the Region, I was able to get a printer installed for them during a short visit.

Princeton was visited during May while I was picking up papers, and equipment for the Director's position. This also allowed me to install a computer system for Judy Bauer, and visit with some of the members while I was there. Check with Judy as to the information stored in her computer now. I am working on converting everything over to an IBM format for all of our facilities.

After leaving Princeton, I stopped by Green Bay to pick up equipment from Bill Dolan. Again that allowed me to meet with some of their members while I was there.

I will be in the Cleveland area soon for a briefing on The Cru-X system. While there, area I will be setting up a meeting with the facility with Doug Kirchner. Alvin Robinson our Regional Coordinator should also be with me.

As you all know the first Flight Service Renaissance Conference was held in St. Louis, MO., the first part of June. This conference brought a new viewpoint on our option. We have received a strong commitment from headquarters on our survival and growth. For more information contact your facilities representative to the conference.

After the conference, your Board of Directors learned the full meaning of Article 34, Section 02. Working more than six consecutive days without a day off burns anyone out. Even by my choice, twelve days in a row, including travel, is too much for anyone.

At the end of May I attended a meeting in the Region. We met to develop a Model Work Environment plan for the Great Lakes Region. The plan was developed by the workgroup, with representative from NAATS, NATCA, and Management. All of our facilities have sent the region their plans to improve the work environments in their facilities. We intend over the next year to visit each facility to meet with the employees and verify that the facility's plan reflects solutions to any problems identified for that facility. All of you will be given an opportunity to give us your input about your facility's plan. You will allow us to find out if it is a true positive effort to improve your working conditions, or just a "pencil whipped" plan to fill a check box.

On June 27th, a quarterly meeting was held with the Region. Some of the subjects covered were Representational time on a Sunday, or Holidays. I will give specific information on this to all our facilities' representatives. We also covered staffing for our AFSSs. A long discussion was held on Sick Leave, Leave With Out Pay, and the Federal Employees Family Friendly Leave Act.

Again NAATS discussed the "secret" monitoring phones in some of our facilities back offices, off the Operations floor. Previous discussions have been held by NAATS with ATO-2 on this subject. ATO-2 assured NAATS that this was not the intended purpose of the silent monitoring system. They issued a letter to all facilities instructing them to disable the "secret" monitoring capability of any ACD unit not in Operations, or the Quality Assurance office. The Great Lakes Region will again instruct all facilities that have not disabled that capability to do so. Please advise me of any facilities that are still "secretly" monitoring in the back offices.

One of our new members to Flight Service, Jeana Bunn from LAN, has been diagnosed with a rare cancer. She has only been with the FAA for 21/2 years and has used up all her Sick, and Annual Leave while she is recovering. We expect to have her back to work this year. I thank all of you who have contributed leave to her. I am asking our NAATS members to all consider contributing some leave. This will allow her to continue her medical insurance as well as pay her bills while she recovers. Anyone wishing to contribute leave should submit the Leave Transfer Form to AGL-18B for processing.

If you need to reach me, my cell phone number is 248-219-9979, FAX 810-229-9966. The E-mail address is [email protected] . I can still be reached at LAN AFSS 517-327-7900, FAX 517-321-0803. Voice mail is also available there at 517-327-7917. Please use these numbers if you need to reach me.

The dog days of summer have arrived, so has the workload. Spot leave is almost non-existent and the call-waiting triangle is constantly on. But we will muddle through this summer a little better than last, we have a few more controllers on board than in summers of past. Staffing is still the premier issue in New England. We are still struggling to achieve our pro-rated quota, somewhere else in the system there are controllers working that should be here in New England. For the short term we are striving to achieve our pro-rated staffing, but we can not lose sight of the need to achieve the necessary long term staffing, which is even greater than the pro-rated number.

Last month there was the General Aviation Summit. There have been several articles written on this meeting, however I would like to add my thoughts. I approached the meeting with considerable skepticism. I viewed this meeting as a dog and pony show, the real purpose was for Jane Garvey to be able to parade in front of Congress and extol her greatness. As we look back, on Friday afternoon we drew a line, what did the meeting accomplish?

To start, it was a meeting of the Facility Managers and the Facility Representatives, in a national forum. There are many managers that have a greater interest in their careers than an interest in the success of Flight Service and there are some Representatives that lack the experience or training to have a successful relationship. However, by the end of the week, it was clear that most Facility Managers and Representatives have the same common interests. Interaction with AOPA, our customers, gave us an opportunity to talk to them and for AOPA to talk to us. I hope this point does not get lost in the bureaucratic mess in Washington.

For New England, we achieved our own success. We had the opportunity to address the Bangor International issue with ATP and AOPA. The final product from New England will be sent to ATP the second week of July. I suspect the issue will come down to who will fund the additional data, regional or national, hopefully we will have that resolved within this fiscal year. We also came back with the DFW ISE/SUA Program. By now this program should be up and running in the facility, somewhere off the floor. We have a few issues to address, training, I&I and obtaining equipment, PCs. We have a two-prong approach, first, for immediate use, to reallocate current PCs to the floor, also to submit nationally our needs. I hope to have the equipment in place and running by the end of July.

Our ATM, in his weekly TIBS "33" update, has informed us that we'll soon be getting new anti-static floor mats for our positions. The mats that were originally put in place to protect the carpet tiles from fraying and though billed as anti-static, they seem to do just the opposite. This has been a shocking experience for many of us, particularly when working at the Watch desk and Coordinator positions. The "shock therapy" has been severe enough at times to cause swear words to emanate from even our nicest co-workers. Needless to say, we're looking forward to the new mats' arrival.

The FAA's stated intent in 1996, when Congress freed it from most Federal personnel regulations, was to "create new performance-based compensation plans directly linking pay to performance." All it seems to have created is the same old "A Scale/B Scale" that the airlines abandoned over a decade ago. In light of that, it was very interesting to read the Memorandum from the Office of the Inspector General detailing its investigation into the pay disparities created by the NATCA agreement versus the Core Pay plan for FAA employees. When Core Pay was originally announced, many of us - controllers and supervisors alike - saw trouble on the horizon. It doesn't require a CPA degree to figure out that vast differences in pay for people doing the same or closely similar work creates serious friction on the job. But FAA Management refused to see the obvious and continues, even now, to stay the course, refusing to place all 2152's in the same pay system.

The up side of the pay debacle - beyond a sense of satisfaction that we all were right - is the investigation shows that grassroots political action works. The review took place in response to requests from Representatives Wolf of Virginia and Manzullo or Illinois. But its text also stated, "We received similar requests from Representatives Tierney, Crane, Sununu, Thornberry, Calvert, LaTourette, Crowley, Lewis, Moran, LoBiondo, Davis, Morella, and Armey; and Senators Mikulski, Warner, and Inhofe."

The entire Memorandum is available on the NAATS web site at www.naats.org or for those who want to read all the specific details of it, the complete OIG report on 2152 pay disparity go to www.oig.dot.gov/audits.htm. It's a PDF file and you'll need Acrobat Reader to read it.

In closing I want to remind everyone that while NAATS can lobby effectively on our behalf, we make those efforts even better when we support them with our own personal letters to our elected representatives. So keep in touch with your Congressional Representatives and Senators. It's in all our best interests.

Last month, Rob Erlick wrote about the disrespectful way Regional Management forced us to distribute an incorrectly formatted NOTAM. Well, more information has been coming to light on the matter.

It seems that despite official explanations of unreliable radar coverage in the area, there's more sinister side to the story. Here are some of the strange incidents we have uncovered that have taken place in that area rapidly becoming known as the Bermuda Dunes Trap-ezoid.

Staffing. It's been written about to death in the NAATS News and in many other places. I'm going to try to shed a different light on the subject. We are understaffed and we are getting more understaffed each year. It's a simple fact. It can't be argued - or can it? We are doing the job of keeping "dropped calls" down and, overall, doing almost the same job with less people. But at what cost?

Our job is safety related. I'll use the firefighter analogy. They staff to handle emergencies. They may spend hour upon hour doing nothing, but when needed, they are there to do the job. We are also not busy all the time, but we should be staffed to handle emergencies. On a Sunday evening shift, three controllers cannot possibly be enough (a real situation recently here at HHR). We had one at Preflight, one at Flight Watch/Inflight combined, one in Broadcast, and the supervisor was working the desk and Coordinator/Flight Data combined. Luckily, nothing out of the ordinary happened. No emergencies, lost aircraft, overdue aircraft, not many briefs, and no walk-ins. If any of these lucky circumstances were changed, we wouldn't have been able to handle it. This is unacceptable! No Overtime was called in as the manager was afraid to stand up to the Region and say he need Overtime. And the Region doesn't think we're important enough to warrant Overtime.

What happens when we get the emergency situation and simply can't handle it, due to lack of staffing? Just because it hasn't happened yet doesn't mean it's not going to happen. The FAA, as an entity, waits until disaster happens before changes are made. We need change to prevent disaster.

Along the lines of keeping the "dropped calls" down, we here at Hawthorne have been known to have Coordinator/Flight Data combined, see a call waiting, and pick it up. Now, we have no graphics at FD or CO, and are not really keeping up with on the weather. Those are customers waiting - so get that call. Are you really giving the best briefing? Oh, no, a call at FD! Now one at CO! But you're briefing... Did you miss that cell that just popped up on the radar? All of this can be serious. Normally nothing happens. But what if a plane goes down? Who's going to be at fault? The Region, for not approving Overtime? We are all confident in our abilities, but we can't do everything at once. All it takes is that one time we rush something...

Another trick that's being used deals with the fact that there's no lost call counter at Inflight (seen firsthand frequently at Bridgeport). Calls are waiting: What can a supervisor do to prevent the unspeakable "dropped call" from occurring? Take the controller off the Inflight position, combine it with Flight Watch, and place that controller at Preflight. Problem solved! The trackable statistic is handled, but at what cost? Show me in any book where traffic on the ground takes priority over traffic in the air. Again, do we wait until the disaster happens, or do we prevent it from happening?

What about the supervisor who's forced to work an operational position for his/her entire shift? Doesn't sound too bad at first, but they actually do (contrary to popular belief) have a lot pf paper work to do. This paper work mounts up and they are forced to work Comp Time to get it done. (See what happens without a Union.) Supervisors can burn out, too. It's not fair to anyone when this happens. I'm not even going to mention the lack of Spot Leave...

Yes, we're doing the same job on paper with less staffing. The quality is suffering and our ability to handle emergencies, or just anomalies, is in question. Do we have to wait for the usual FAA trigger - death?