TREASURER & FINANCE COMMITTEE

Marc Lackman, NAATS Treasurer, [email protected]

2003 Financial Reports
My preliminary review of our finances for 2003 shows we had a small deficit. I say preliminary because our accountant just finished our annual audit last week and I haven�t seen the final financial reports that will be used to file our income tax return with the IRS and our LM-2 report with the Department of Labor. Even though we are a tax-exempt, non-profit organization we are required to file a tax return. All labor Unions are required to file form LM-2 that provides a breakdown of income and expenses by various categories. Copies of these reports should be available through your Regional Directors by late April. Our accountant�s income and expense report will probably show a slightly larger loss because they will include depreciation on our office and equipment. There will also be some other minor differences because we keep our books on a cash basis and the accountants file their reports using the accrual basis. The main reason we spent more than we took in last year was due to expenses associated with A-76.

Members� Dues
Member�s dues calculation has been 1.25% of pay capped at GS-12 step 1 including locality pay. Since we are switching to core comp we may need to change that formula. Any change will need to be approved by the membership per our Constitution. The Board will be discussing possible alternatives at the April meeting. In the meantime dues have been frozen at the amount paid for the pay period ending February 7, 2004. The payroll people tell me that the retroactive pay raise and our late conversion to core comp will not impact that figure.

Personal Income Taxes
Due to the fact that we spend a certain amount of money on lobbying activity, only 80% of members� dues are deductible on personal income taxes for 2003. This deduction is reported on Form 1040 Schedule A line 20 (Unreimbursed Employee Expenses). In reality most members won�t be able to use this deduction since the total on that line must be more than 2% of adjusted gross income, which is quite a bit more than our dues.

Finance Committee
We have one opening on the Finance Committee. Committee members help develop the annual budget and make other recommendations on financial policies to the Board. Members are expected to attend the October Board meeting to present the annual budget and the annual member�s meeting in April. Anyone who wants to volunteer for the Committee or would like more information can contact me: Marc Lackman, (406) 761-0015.
 

 BIPARTISAN COALITION FORMS NEW CAUCUS DEVOTED TO FEDERAL WORKFORCE ISSUES

FPMI FedNews, February 9, 2004

Partnership for Public Service is hosting a reception to honor the new Congressional Public Service Caucus on Tuesday, Jan. 27 at 5:00 p.m. in the U.S. Capitol building.

The Caucus is a bipartisan, bicameral member organization committed to building and maintaining a civil service worthy of a great nation.

"From the creation of the new Department of Homeland Security to the personnel system overhaul at the Department of Defense, this is a time of monumental change for the federal workforce," said Partnership for Public Service President Max Stier. "The Congressional Public Service Caucus will provide a forum for lawmakers to learn about, and seek common ground on, the biggest issues affecting the men and women who do the nation�s work every day."

The challenges facing the federal government -- the nation�s largest employer -- are steep. More than 50 percent of the 1.8 million workers in the federal government may be eligible to retire by 2007. This includes 69 percent of the federal government's most experienced supervisors. At the same time, only one out of four college-educated workers expresses significant interest in working for the federal government, according to a public opinion study conducted by the Partnership in September 2002.

The reception is will be led by the following co-chairs:
 

   A-76 Update

Kate Breen, A-76 Representative -- [email protected]

FACILITY VISITS COMING
I�ve got a couple of things for you this week, mostly from contributions/questions from the field. First let me tell you about some visitors you may have in the coming weeks. It seems ACA is setting up site visits for potential service providers for the month of April, actually starting around the 30th of March. The information I have to date is that they will visit DCA, MIA, PNM, SJT, and OAK. According to ACA it has not been approved yet, but they have been advising facilities of the visits. There has been no coordination with NAATS on this. We will be getting more information out to you as this unfolds.

DOWN-SELECT COMPLETE
By now most of you should know that the "down-select" was done and the list of potential service providers are the MEO, CSC, Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman, Raytheon and Wade & Associates. The second draft of the PWS was sent out to the potential service providers and the MEO on the 5th of March for comment.

JOB ABOLISHMENT
I did get a response from HR on job abolishment, this is from Renee Anderson the HRA on this acquisition. "The only place I could find a definition of job abolishment is in the CSRS and FERS Handbook. An abolishment of position means the actual termination of the job, with the duties being eliminated entirely or combined with the duties of another position or positions. The positions in the FSS do not meet this definition because the duties are not being eliminated-they are being studied to be performed more efficiently. Here is the direct link to that document and you want pages 13 thru 16: http://www.opm.gov/asd/hod/pdf/C044.pdf"

GOOD NEWS
The next issue was from Carroll at BNA, in regards to an employee having 20 years "good time" but not having the age (50). If that employee goes to work for another government agency until they reach 50 they can take advantage of the ATC retirement benefits. From HR: "You don�t have to be in the position to be eligible to retire at age 50, you just need to be working for the federal government." So if you�re 48 and have your 20 years in, you could go to work for AF or TSA for the other two years and keep your early retirement benefits. From HR: "If you separate to go work in private industry with more than 20 years but less than 25 years, you can apply for a deferred retirement at age 62."

TSP LOAN PAYOFFS & PENALTIES
Next up is Richard from PIE. He wanted just to remind people that if you have TSP loans and you end up separating from government, there could be tax penalties. Here is what the TSP loan booklet says: "What happens if I leave Federal Civilian service or the uniformed services? If you separate from civilian employment or the uniformed services, you must repay your loan in full, including interest. When your agency or service reports that you have separated, you will be sent a notice with instructions to repay your loan within 90 days. If the TSP Service Office does not receive your repayment in full by the required date, the outstanding balance of your loan and any unpaid interest will be reported to the IRS as taxable distribution. (See Section VI.). An outstanding loan may delay the processing of a withdrawal from your TSP if you have requested one.

AGENCY FAQ
Like all of you I was disappointed with the FAA cutting the rest of the OASIS deployment, it seems once again the agency says one thing and does another. The question and answer below is one of the agencies frequently asked questions that sounds good but doesn�t seem to mean a whole lot. Let�s hope they don�t stop deployment of any other new equipment we need to do our jobs.

Should FAA stop current initiatives focused around performance improvement and innovation? No. Continuous improvement of all AFSS functions and processes is encouraged. Implementing even small innovations suggested by employees can often build momentum for additional ideas. Some innovations may be used in the development of the Most Efficient Organization (MEO). However, employees should be cautious about "advertising" such innovations, for the MEO could be placed at a disadvantage for the cost comparison should potential offerors learn of these innovations.

LET ME KNOW
If you hear anything like a bid was cancelled because of A-76 or you aren�t getting new equipment because of A-76 please let me know ASAP.

UPCOMING RIF TEAM MEETING
Hope to see a lot of you in Las Vegas we have a whole lot to talk about. The RIF team is getting together next week, so they may have some initial information to you and HR is supposed to attend so hopefully you�ll get some information from them as well.

VENDOR VISITS
This is the finalized site visit schedule, courtesy of Marilyn Jackson-Braeme and Mike Puffer.

Leesburg AFSS/FSDPS 3/30-4/1 Admin. Hours

Miami AFSS 4/6-4/8 12 pm - 9 pm

Seattle AFSS 4/13-15 Admin. Hours

Princeston AFSS 4/20-22 10 am - 7 pm

San Angelo AFSS 4/27-29 Admin. Hours

THE FAA FOLLIES
I�m going to end on what I hope will make you chuckle, it�s kind of pathetic and funny all at the same time. How about if we have a new ending called "FAA Follies"! This comes from George at IKK, he did as he was told, submitted his questions to his regional HR people and here is part of the email he received back. "...you mentioned A-76 on the horizon. What is A-76?" Need I say more?
 

   LIAISON UPDATES

ARS Report

Steve Pollok, ATP Liaison -- [email protected]

As you may have read in the newspapers, the budget and the federal deficit are big news. Money is in short supply for most domestic programs. This is having a big effect with most of the projects in the FAA. This has resulted in many of the programs being zeroed out in this year�s budget, as well as the proposed budget for 2005.

NOTAM Short Term Solution (NSTS)
The Office of System Architecture and Investment Analysis (ASD) conducted an independent assessment of the NSTS and OASIS NOTAM Solution (ONS) concept in January. The findings of this assessment were briefed to Jim Washington, ATO-FSS VP, and Linda Schessuler, ATO-Ops VP, on Feb. 9 as part of an Executive Oversight Committee (EOC) pre-brief. The EOC meeting scheduled for Feb. 11 was cancelled with the ATO VPs asking for more information from the parties involved.

The part of the assessment that should ultimately be the most important item toward reaching a decision, as to which system will go forward, is that of cost and schedule. ASD indicated that the ONS would cost around $25 million, which does not include communication costs or the cost of handling L NOTAMs. Communication costs could be substantial for the ONS, as it will require several lines capable of large bandwidths. ASD projected that NSTS stand-alone system would cost around $13.6 million, including communication costs. An NSTS/MILOPS version (carried on the SUA/ISE server) would be around $17.5 million.

ATP (Air Traffic Plans & Programs) has met with the developer of NSTS, along with ATP-200 (MILOPS). The NSTS cost was partially based on the deployment of NSTS to all 61 flight service facilities with approximately 22 monitors per facility. In actuality the system would go to the 35 non-OASIS facilities and would require less monitors because of the ones already committed to each facility from the TODS and SUA/ISE efforts. This has resulted in the NSTS cost being estimated at around $5 million. Efforts are currently under way to substantiate this cost estimate for presentation to the ATO VPs.

It has been rumored that the respective ATO VPs will make the final decision on the two systems and an EOC will not be convened. We are hoping that a decision will be reached in the next few weeks.

NOTAM 55 Page Limitation
During a NOTAM Team meeting, on Feb. 25, one of the folks at the Tech Center made a statement that she did not believe that we had a 55 page limitation problem with the M1FC anymore since she had not received any recent discrepancy reports or ULPs from the field. I do not believe that the MIFC has magically "healed" itself. Therefore, I told her that NAATS could help her with the problem. So, if you are still experiencing the 55-page limitation on your weather briefs, please notify your FACREP and/or facility management and send a report to ATP-300. If you have a slow period enter a cross-country brief and use the WD command to bring up the briefing material. Check to see if all the information is available or if some of it is being dropped after 55 pages.

SUA/ISE
The program has run into a few problems as of late. The installation at Leesburg AFSS was halted after installing one monitor. This was due to some problems with the OASIS consoles and the bracket that had been designed for mounting the SUA/ISE monitor. The bracket has been redesigned and installation should resume on the remaining monitors.

The installation waterfall has been developed and will be sent to the respective regions to coordinate with the facilities. The SUA/ISE equipment should begin shipping within the next week. This is necessary due to the time involved with shipping, especially to the west coast, so that the installation waterfall remains intact. Equipment should arrive a week or so before the installation team is scheduled to be at the facility. This equipment will include an equipment rack and the various system components. If a facility cannot accept the equipment, due to lack of storage space, etc, it may result in the facility being moved to the bottom of the waterfall. LS Technologies, Crown, and the program office are all working with the regions to try to make sure that this does not become a problem for anyone.

Juneau Airport Wind System (JAWS)
Risk management meetings continue for the project. Display requirements are agreed on, but there are continuing talks as to who will develop different portions of the displays. Talks are also in progress as to what will be developed and provided to non-FAA users.

Stand Alone Weather System (SAWS)
This is another program suffering from the effects of the 2004 and 2005 budgets. Funds have been reduced to the project to the extent that any human factors testing at Gainesville AFSS will have to be shelved for the foreseeable future.

Air Traffic Reorganization (ATO)
By now, everyone should have had the opportunity to see what the next tier of the Flight Service line of business looks like. None of the people selected has actually worked in flight service. Some such as John Staples and Vanessa Waddy come from ARS (Systems Requirements) and have worked with Jim Washington for several years and have worked with flight service issues. Others such as Vicky Cox are pilots and have dealt with flight service in that capacity.

The various ATO VPs are discussing the union liaison issue. Jim Washington has been a strong supporter of the liaison program. He and Wally Pike are to discuss the future of the program.

There has been no announcement of the next level under the directors. There have been some indications of names and where in the structure different groups will reside, but it seems that changes are still being made. To keep up with the latest official word on the ATO, you can go to http://www.ato.faa.gov/.

Thanks to all
This will probably be my last report as the ARS Liaison as my detail is scheduled to end on March 17. I have enjoyed serving the union during the past year. I hope I have kept the Board of Directors and the NAATS membership informed of the various projects and efforts at FAA Headquarters and have represented the union well. I would like to thank Wally Pike, NAATS President; Dave Hoover, Southern Region Director; Tom Forte, Southern Region Coordinator; and the rest of the Board of Directors for giving me the opportunity to serve as one of the union�s liaisons. I would especially like to thank the Jackson, TN AFSS specialists, FACREP, and management for allowing me to take this detail. I know how even the loss of one body can effect schedules, leave, etc. A big thank you goes to Denise and Shirley at NAATS headquarters. They are often overlooked, but the union would have a hard time operating without them. I would also like to thank all of the other liaisons, CHI Team members, etc., that I have worked with during my time here. Some of the best benefits to a liaison detail are the friendships that are made with other NAATS members from around the country. It has been a very interesting and educational year.

FSOSC Report

Jim Meehan and Kevin Carl, Liaisons to FSOSC

[email protected] / [email protected]

Cleveland Presidential TFR
The Presidential TFR on March 10th for Cleveland resulted in at least 10 airspace violations. The FSOSC graphics for this TFR were sent out on March 5th as a proposal to all AFSS�s through TODS. The proposals are published after we QA it for ATP-200. On March 9th at 3:21 PM EDT we published the TFR with the FDC NOTAM number included. At that time it was also available to the public. Apparently some facilities were not getting the updated TFR�s due to a bad (ini) file. Had we been aware of this at the time, we could have rectified the problem. We have included instructions below (from Jeppesen Tech support) to correct this problem. Feel free to call us with any feedback whether it is positive or negative. Also, anytime a Presidential or National Security TFR comes out after FSOSC working hours please feel free to call us and we will publish the TFR. We are supposed to be notified anytime one those types of TFR�s are issued after FSOSC hours. But unfortunately that is not always the case.

Deleting the TFR.ini file (stores TFRs previously downloaded):

1. Close the FliteStar program

2. Go to the location where FliteStar was installed (default location is C:\Jeppesen\FliteStar )

3. Delete the file called TFR.ini (if the file extensions are not visible, then delete TFR)

4. Open FliteStar and download TFRs

Note: If your TFR list is not current, this process will correct that. If this issue is not a one time occurrence, then please report it to:

Sung Lee, Jeppesen Oregon, (503) 404-2738, [email protected]
 

    Voice Switch Report
Steve Glowacki, ICS Representiave -- [email protected]

NAS-Wide Voice Switching (NVS)
We�ve just released the first draft Mission Need Statement (MNS) and Initial Requirements Document (iRD) for the NAS-Wide Voice Switching (NVS) effort. These documents both have a lot of history behind them and are largely the result of efforts going back over three years. The culmination, of which, now focuses the FAA toward resolving the voice switching needs for all ATC domains in a single effort. However, this should not be interpreted as meaning that a single system one-size-fits-all approach is the only option.

Previously, each ATC domain were treated separately, as such, each had a different piece of equipment. One of the most important improvements during the past years has resulted from a comprehensive analysis of ALL domains and the actual functions each need in regard to voice switching. This Functional Analysis revealed an almost perfect correlation of the actual work functions performed among the three options. In short, what�s said after the microphone is keyed or after the ground call is initiated is irrelevant to the equipment. In this sense, the equipment all needs to perform the same functions regardless.

Why is this important? Well, too often each domain in the past has received different equipment, for Flight Service, this usually translated into second generation hand-me-downs with modifications. Never has Flight Service received equipment based on up-front specific involvement (as has been done with Terminal and Enroute.) The AFSSVS was the first time.

This unique effort by the AFSSVS team provided landmark results:

1. Screen Interface Design prior to vendor involvement: Initial screen design concept was created by one of our own (Dan Petlowany) and further developed by a focused Human Factors (HF) Team comprised of all AFSS personnel and HF experts. This concept was evaluated by the original OASIS Human Factors Team for validation and, with only minor changes, is now a standard for future Flight Service voice switching efforts. (As a note, during recent international trade shows this design was often displayed on new equipment by vendors from around the world.)

2. Dynamic sharing of communications resources (A/G and G/G): Current systems are still based on point-to-point (P2P) technology. AFSSVS bridged the gap in developing an OFFLOADING solution. This solution works in conjunction with current facility-communication P2P links and allows neighboring facilities full access and control of each others resources - in minutes. Flight Service lead the way as this same solution, now called Dynamic Resectorization, is being sought for ALL ATC domains.

3. Network based architecture: Some current system utilized aspects of basic networking, however, AFSSVS specifically called for virtual addressing of both positions and resources, rather than hard numbered or hard wired methods. Likewise, we also required any position to be able to perform any job function. Together these helped make the AFSSVS a fully dynamic and configurable system, something still not seen in current NAS equipment.

I don�t write about this to toot any horns, If there were any, there are some members of the old ATP-430, ARN-200, and AND-320 offices that would deserve the attention. Their ability to focus on the details rather than get swayed by the politics has been impressive and much appreciated.

I mention these, because I think it's important to recognize the initiatives and accomplishments that have led the FAA to it�s current NVS effort. Nothing is done in a vacuum and the NVS is no exception. There have been many hard discussions among many people from all disciplines within and outside the FAA. Some continue today, as they should. I find great value in challenging each others paradigms and pushing ourselves to reach our goals. The NVS is a result of all of this.

Headsets
Recently, the FAA has given the go ahead to purchase 61 headset testers for each of the AFSSs. These have been designed so that anyone can verify if the tone limiting circuitry inside the headset is functioning correctly. The intent of these testers is to allow anyone (non-technical) to test a headset that has been involved in a potential toning incident. These are not necessarily to be used as a pre-position check. (Although, the use of can be negotiated through standard I&I procedures if need be.) The FacReps should make sure proper policies and procedures exist regarding this equipment. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the equipment.

Unfortunately, we don�t have a Tone Policy to compliment this testing equipment. There has been a policy being reviewed by ATX for about two years now. The version they�re contemplating was provided by the Central Region and is currently in use by their facilities. It�s comprehensive and fully addresses the issues. We support this version and have assisted in every way possible to make it a reality.
 

   OASIS Update

Dennis Detrow, OASIS National Representative, [email protected]

My name is Dennis Detrow. I have replaced Jeff Barnes as the NAATS National OASIS Technical Rep. I am also the OASIS Human Factors Team (OHFT) co-lead. I have worked with OASIS since 1999 as a tester and am an original member of the OHFT.

March has not been a very good month for OASIS. There is a $150 million shortfall for FY 2004 in the FAA. This required across the board budget cuts. The 2004 FY OASIS budget was cut by $4.2 million on March 2nd. This was a devastating blow to the OASIS program. It stopped deployment of OASIS dead in its tracks. OASIS will only be deployed to 2 of the 12 sites scheduled for FY04. Those 2 sites are Leesburg AFSS and Lansing AFSS. These sites were already deployed and training at these sites had already begun. Columbia AFSS was the next site to be deployed and the equipment was already loaded on the trucks. There was discussion to see if Columbia AFSS could still be deployed and the decision was made by Jim Washington not to do so.

The end result is that OASIS will be deployed at only 16 AFSS sites. The money for further deployment in FY 2005 and FY 2006 had already been cut. This means that unless things change there will be no further deployment of OASIS until FY 2007, after A76 has taken its course. 7 of our 10 busiest AFSSs scheduled to receive OASIS will now not do so. The 10 sites that will not receive OASIS due to the latest budget cuts include MIA AFSS, PIE AFSS, MCN AFSS, FTW AFSS, DEN AFSS and others. The 10 AFSSs that will not receive OASIS did over 6.1 million flight services during January thru September of 2003. This is better than 25% of all flight services during the same time period (data according to ATX).

There is still money to support the OASIS sites already deployed. The current software update (ISD003) will also continue to be installed at all OASIS sites. There is also ongoing development of very limited ISD004/005 software. This was partially paid for and will continue.

Wally Pike had a meeting with Jim Washington and was told the budget cuts were out of his control. He stated Russ Chew mandated the cuts. Mr. Chew is the person that can reverse the budget cuts to OASIS. If nothing comes of this meeting, NAATS leadership will determine what course of action to take (ULP, national grievance, etc). Wally has already made our position known on the Hill and put the above information into our Congressional testimony.

Now I�ll try to stop some of the rumors flying rampant around the country. The budget cuts and the 16 sites that have OASIS are in no way associated with the MEO. No one on OASIS or anyone associated with OASIS has any idea what the MEO bid will be or the results of that bid if it should be successful, nor do we know what any of the other bids might contain. There is nothing that says: just because a site has OASIS, it will be site of the future. There is nothing that says: we will only have 16 sites in the future. There is nothing that says that this is the first step in consolidation. There was a shortage of funds and various projects and programs had their budgets cut. The budget cut hurts OASIS and everyone that was scheduled to get it, but no one should make any assumptions as to what our future will be.
 

   EDITOR�S NOTES

Eli Morrissy, Editor

First, the Southwest Region Coordinator is Jim Hale, not Kevin F. Kelley. Kevin is the New England Regional Coordinator. My sincere apologies to both gentlemen. Second, I didn�t include the January Board of Director�s Minutes in the last issue. That omission is rectified in this issue.
 

   NEW DRUG SCREENING PROCEDURES CONTINUE ON TRACK

FPMI FedNews, March 15, 2004

Federal agencies may soon be able to implement new drug testing for its workers that will include testing hair, sweat and saliva to detect drug abuse.

Health and Human Services is currently reviewing the proposed guidelines for the new drug testing procedures for federal employees. The new types of drug tests being reviewed include: testing hair, oral fluid, sweat and urine and using point-of-collection tests.

Army Col. Mick Smith, senior staff officer for drug demand reduction at DoD�s counternarcotics office, said the new procedures will go into effect after the HHS approves proposed guidelines for the test and agencies complete a subsequent internal approval process. Then, the guidelines will be posted in the Federal Register for a 90-day comment period and on the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration website.

After this comment period, SAMHSA will review the comments, probably make changes to the guidelines, and then start them through the final process of internal review and release by the secretary of HHS, said Smith.
 

   NAATS ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING AGENDA

April 6
8 am - 6 pm: Information, training and briefings on the Federal Labor Relations Program. This is in accordance with Article 8 Section 9 of the NAATS/FAA Agreement.

April 7
9 am: FAA Administrator Marion Blakey (invited).
10 am: FAA Chief Operation Officer Russell Chew (invited).
11 am: Flight Service Station Vice President James Washington (confirmed).
1 pm: FSS Area Operations Directors - William Yuknewicz, Paul Sheridan and Judith Heckl (invited).
3 pm: Associate Administrator Human Resource Management Division Ventris Gibson (invited).
4 pm: AHP-300 Renee Anderson (invited), Grace Styling (invited), Sue Nason (invited).

Please note:
Depending on their availability to attend, this agenda may be adjusted. However, the entire day of April 7 (8 hours) will be devoted to briefings and questions and answers by FAA management representatives entitling bargaining unit members to duty time for this day.

April 8
9 am: President�s Report Wally Pike
10 am: A76 Report

Kate Breen
Dave Hoover
Donna Holmes
Mark Jaffe

1 pm: Chief Negotiator�s Report Scott Malon
2 pm: RIF Negotiations Bill Dolan
3 pm: Liaison & Technical Representative Report
4 pm: Q & A With the Regional Directors
5 pm: Close Out Wally Pike
 

    RIF UPDATE

Bill Dolan, Special Representative, [email protected]

There has been a large amount of speculation among the members in the field regarding Reduction-in-Force.

"How will it affect me?".... "Will the FAA follow the RIF procedures contained in the law?".... "Will there be buyouts?".... "Will I have �bump� or �retreat� rights?".... "Is the FAA going to steal my retirement from me? I�m close to being eligible but I�ll be -- weeks/months short."

The good news is, RIF negotiations have finally begun and answers will be forthcoming. Now for the bad news.....RIF negotiations have finally begun and answers will be forthcoming.

The NAATS team for RIF negotiations consists of Kurt Comisky (ANE Director), Mike Puffer (AWP Director), and Kile Pitts (LAN AFSS FacRep), and me. The first three team members have one thing in common. They are not eligible to retire and are all FERS employees. I felt these two things were very important. That they cannot retire gives them a serious stake in the outcome. Being FERS means they should have a much better understanding of that system than I have being CSRS. Also, the vast majority of bargaining unit members unable to retire are also FERS employees.

The Agency notified NAATS on Feb. 20th that they proposed to use FAA Order 3350.2C, Staffing Adjustments and Reductions in Force, 10/17/94 as the procedures to be followed for a RIF of our workforce. A 2 day meeting (Mar 23-24) was scheduled in accordance with Article 7 of the CBA, to provide a briefing and possible negotiations.

We met on the 23rd and, as they say, the rest is history. I don�t know if much has gotten out already but the meeting did not go well to say the least. The management team was not prepared to provide a briefing. They did not seem to understand that a briefing is intended to explain their proposal and answer our questions so that we had an understanding of what it was they wanted to do. We could then begin to negotiate procedures regarding how it would be done and the accommodations they would make for adversely affected employees. When asked to begin we received the response "Do you want me to read it to you?"

At that point I had a couple of options. I could have said "yes" and we all could have suffered through two days of listening to her read the order (waste of our time). I didn�t. I could notify them that they were not in compliance with the contract and schedule another Article 7 briefing (waste of our time). I didn�t. I could have the team members ask any questions they had in an attempt to get something useful from management. I did ....and we didn�t!

We asked our questions but any time the answer would require them to commit to anything they would dance around the subject and when pressed they would respond with "make a proposal."

You get the picture. I won�t waste any more of your time on the meeting.

The team spent the next day and a half brainstorming proposals for our Union 1 response. We got a pretty good start on things and I should have some additional information for you at the meeting next week in Las Vegas.

As a side note, I completed the final (I hope) proofreading of the contract. Once the required changes have been made it will go to the printer.

See you in �Vegas.
 

    NATCA FILES SUIT AGAINST FSIP AND FLRA

FPMI FedNews, February 2, 2004

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association recently filed a lawsuit against both the Federal Service Impasses Panel and the Federal Labor Relations Authority to resolve bargaining impasses between NATCA and the Federal Aviation Administration affecting employees in 11 of NATCA�s non-controller bargaining units.

NATCA�s move was prompted by a recent FSIP decision not to get involved in the impasses. But the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, asks the court to rule the FSIP does have the jurisdiction and authority to resolve the impasses.

"We attempted to get the FSIP to resolve these impasses, under our understanding of the law, and this lawsuit seeks to ensure that happens," NATCA President John Carr said.

NATCA and the FAA have been at impasse since last July. Among the hundreds of FAA employees whose contracts are affected are budget and policy analysts, financial management accountants, computer specialists and nurses who help administer physicals for FAA employees.
 

 NAATS Board of Directors Meeting

January 27-29, 2004
Residence Inn
Bethesda, MD

Day One -- January 27, 2004

9:00 am - Call to Order 

All Directors present. 

Executive Session 

President�s Report 

Motion - Have Bill Dolan act for the president while Pike is out on sick leave for his surgery and short term recovery.  Motion - Mr. O�Connell, Second by Mr. Brown.  Discussion - none.  BOD decision. All in favor - Unanimous.  

IOUs from last BOD meeting. 
Names of CRU-X reps will be forwarded to Mr. Malon.
Staffing numbers to be forwarded to Mr. Malon by 2/4/04.
Notification of new OASIS HRT member-closed.
Names of regional OSHA reps to Mr. Glowacki - on hold.
Advertise and recommend National OSHA Representative - Recommendation by Mr. Pike for George Kelley of GFK AFSS to be the National OSHA representative, all in favor.
Contingency plans - talks are on-going, no negotiations yet.
Oasis cadre training team - closed.
Changes to the travel TAU, article 74 - closed.
Contingency plan for ATX and retirement issue, ATX doesn�t want to talk about it-closed.
Staffing issues at FSDPSs - Telcon this Thursday 1/29/04 to discuss re-alignment Mr. Malon is working the issue with Mr. Robinson.
AISR failure - back negotiating the issue - Mr. Malon will handle-closed.
Send policies out to the Directors - will be done - closed

Official time package on the two national officer�s stipend/subsistence issue - Ms. Holmes would like to see stipend increased from 2200.00 per month to 3600.00 per month. 

Motion - The two national 80 hour positions get paid equal to the FAA Long Term Per Diem, no tax liability to NAATS.  This will be paid if these two individuals are located in the DC area with no additional stipend, effective 2/1/04 and cancels the previous presidential stipend.  Motion - Ms. Holmes, Second - Mr. Comisky.  Policy. Discussion. In Favor -  Ms. Holmes, Mr. Jaffe, Mr. Comisky, and Mr. Mounts.  Opposed -  Mr. Puffer, Mr. Van Vacter, Mr. Hoover, Mr. O�Connell, and Mr. Brown.  Motion fails.    

Should the BOD policies be distributed differently to the membership and how?  Discussion. Policy.  Those in favor - Ms. Holmes, Mr. Jaffe, Mr. Hoover, Mr. Mounts, and Mr. Brown.  Those opposed - Mr. Comisky, Mr. VanVacter, Mr. O�Connell, Mr. Puffer.  Change in policy fails.  Policies will remain available to the membership through their Directors. 

Mr. Lackman did provide a package for the Directors - closed.
The HR update to the members was done - closed.
Personnet was looked into - closed
Old office computers - closed
FTW AFSS web site information to directors - closed.
Eastern Region did purchase the domain name of airtrafficcontrol.com.  Need to work on the web site and get it up and running.
Contingency plans for Alaska, Mr. Brown is working on it.  Is working with other unions and elected officials on issue for Alaska - work in progress. Mr. Pike and Mr. Brown will work with General Counsel Arthur Fox to finalize a BOD proposal. 

President�s Report

Not much work happening with the unions over the holidays but we are going to stay in touch with them. 

Our A-76 lawyer is staying plugged in to all current lawsuits currently filed on behalf of the other unions.  No action needed at this time. 

Mr. Pike still in touch with our lobbyist and will be meeting with officials on the hill in the very near future.  The support on the hill is still very strong for us.   

Mr. Pike has had a few meetings with Mr. Washington and looks forward to working with him in the future.  Nothing new with the Administrator or the DOT Secretary.

Recommendations for liaisons/tech reps., Mr. Pike would like to change out the voice switch and old ARS positions.  Mr. Pike is still waiting to see how many liaisons we will fill, but the first name is Bart Gray from MCN.  On hold until Mr. Pike can get some answers from Mr. Washington.   

Liaison and Tech Rep Reports   

Steve Glowacki - Voice Switch.  Now call NAS VCOM, put all three air traffic options into one procurement.  In the middle of writing the con ops and requirements document.  The current install for FSS have not been developed yet.   

Steve Pollok - Old ARS liaison.  His report was given to the BOD and it�s included in the packages.  IIDS, budget line was zeroed out, so there is no way to get IDS into OASIS as required in the MOU.  SUA/ISE is not installed currently at DCA AFSS like it�s supposed too.  Mr. Pollok will check on it.   

Kevin Carl/Jim Meehan - FSOSC Liaisons.  The end of June is when the contract runs out with Jeppesen.  The agency needs to continue the contract both AOPA and FSDO agree and like the current work being done by the FSOSC.  The automated systems are putting the information into the system wrong and the FSOSC team has to correct it.  The graphical TFR�s that AOPA is using on their web site is the work that the FSOSC liaisons are doing.  Action Item - A briefing may need to be developed for Mr. Washington to get him up to speed on the issue to include errors by other sites and also an MOU saying all presidential TFRs need to be done by the FSOSC.  Mr. Dolan/Mr. Malon.   

FSOSC is a NAATS function and the work being done by the Mr. Carl and Mr. Meehan is invaluable.

Action Item - Mr. Pike will mention it in his update with Mr. Washington and follow up with Russell Chew if need be. 

Chief Negotiator�s Report

Bill Dolan handed matters over to Scott Malon.  Does the BOD want Mr. Dolan to continue the RIF negotiations, he thinks we need a team of 3 people.  Mr. Dolan would like to see Mr. Comisky be one of the individuals to be part of the team.  The BOD should think about it and will address it tomorrow. 

The rationale needs to be written for the contract, Mr. Dolan would do it.  Mr. Hoover has already written one and will send it for Mr. Dolan and Mr. Pike will look it over.  There has been some work done, it may be complete by the end of February.  Mr. Dolan went through the contract looking for workgroups that need to be set up.  NTSB reps, Seniority policy union sets it, may want to have FacReps review process with directors, delegates able to go to convention, distribution of staffing, national EEO representative/committee, and PMS are all articles that need to be looked at.  CISD reps need to be named.  Traffic Management workgroup within 120 days.  Flexible spending accounts and gain sharing workgroup.  NAATS can bring 3 people in for a CIP briefing.  Within 30 days the agency is supposed to get the FacReps an electronic copy, if not provide hard copies.  No idea on the time frame of the contract books yet, we should be getting the prints to look at soon.  The last contract took 3 months to get printed.  

The agency will not give people a conversion worksheet on the core comp calculations.  Most regions will not provide a briefing to people on the conversion.   

There will be one opportunity effective in the new contract for members to drop from the union and that is October. 

Scott Malon-Staffing, there is now a freeze, we still need a double class at the academy to cover 139 losses last year.  The regions also need to make sure the lists are ready to go when the academy starts up again. 

AISR, may need to file a grievance or a ULP due to a unilateral change without notification. 

CRU-X, the agency intends to re-open the MOU.  Need keysites in ANE, ANM, ASW which requires regional negotiations.  Still need to decide who is going to be doing the position rotation/on-break information, ATCS or supes.  CBI courses contradict the MOU. 

We need to identify a part time rep for SUA/ISE, still waiting on a letter from ATX to make it official.  Waterfall being developed, seems to be a bit aggressive. 

International Pilot WX Briefing, MOU U2 submitted waiting for response.  Do we want to do international weather briefings for nothing, what would be the reward.  Are we really in a performance based organization? 

PWB evaluators have differences in FAA standards and NWS standards which ones apply.  Mr. Malon will follow up to find out what the answer it.   

The issues surrounding Nepotism should be status quo according to ATX-1, Mr. Malon will follow up with ATX-1 that some regions are still having problems. 

Day Two - January 28, 2004  

9:00 am � Call to Order 

All directors present. 

Office Administrator�s Report

The summer and fall BOD meeting locations are up in the air with moving this meeting to DC.  Mr. Jaffe will check with the hotel in New Orleans to see what he can do with the rate for October and get back to the BOD. 

Special Elections being held in Alaska and Western Pacific will be completed in the middle of March. 

The next contract FacRep training will be held the week of March 8^th, travel on Monday/Thursday, training on Tuesday and Wednesday.  First location choice is Baltimore, back up is Leesburg. Dolan/Malon to conduct training. 

National meeting, FacRep training on Tuesday, Speakers on Wednesday, and other business on Thursday.  Mr. Pike will put together a list of speakers for the Wednesday meeting. 

Last years imprest fund accounts need to be into NAATS HQ by mid-February, because the auditors are due in the beginning of March. 

Mr. Malon will check with ATX on the drug and alcohol briefing to see if it can be done in Las Vegas as not only a briefing, but part of the FacRep training. 

National election-The election committee needs to be named by April 15. NAATS HQ will check to see who the other members were and how long they were in.  Do we need to appoint new committee members? Will review when data is available.  

Political Action (Mr. O�Connell)

NAATS HQ will put together bullets and message for postcards for the field to use ASAP.  The grassroots effort is still alive and well, people still need to be contacting their elected representatives. 

Post cards are effective, letters are good, phone calls are better, and the personal visit is the best way to get their attention.  Make sure to thank the officials for their help and support. 

Need the reps for Oshkosh named by the directors by April 1, 2004, or Mr. O�Connell will select the individuals.  The dates for Oshkosh July 26^th-August 2^nd. 

Do we need to revisit going to AOPA meetings/conventions?  To get the political message out.  It will be put under open topics and discussed during open topics. 

Press Releases, Joint Meeting, Change and how to deal with it (Mr. Puffer)

We need to do a better job of getting press releases out although getting them picked up by the national press is beyond our control..  There needs to be a procedure set up to get the job done.  Action item: Mr. Pike. 

Canvas the membership to see if they have a PR background. 

Have stock footage available for distribution to press. 

There needs to be a joint meeting set up between the FAA/NAATS to discuss HR issues.  The issue will be discussed tomorrow when Mr. Washington visits.  Ms. Breen has been pushing this meeting for months and will continue to ask for a joint meeting to take place. 

We may need to look the way we do business and how we need to deal with change. 

Treasurer�s Report

Changes to the LM-2 from department of labor will change the way imprest funds are done or actually the directors will have to report how they spend their time and money.  The directors will have to give NAATS HQ a report quarterly on how much time was spent on different categories, to report for imprest funds.   

Guidance from GC Arthur Fox on the LM-2 changes. 

There have been lawsuits surrounding the changes, but it appears they will not change the law at this point. 

New director packages to include the policy, how to do quarterly imprest reports, travel vouchers, and instructions to help in coming directors.  They should be done shortly. 

Imprest accounts need to be set up as business accounts, not personal accounts. 

Sharing regional financial information with membership; discussion that this should be done with members coming to the directors for the information.  If the director cannot satisfy the request, the member can go to the Treasurer.  Members must go to their directors for the imprest fund information.   The constitution does not specifically say the imprest fund information can be released.  The Treasurer will check with the department of labor on any restrictions.   

NAATS HQ send tax number to directors. 

OASIS/NSTS update 

Mr. Detrow briefed the BOD on the latest news.  Budget for OASIS for FY05 is $0.00, which means no more improvements or deployments.  Being in a performance based organization do we need to take on additional duties surrounding local NOTAMS.  The support should be put behind any equipment upgrades, but not additional duties.  Get the most out of OASIS and we�ll deal with additional duties.  Deploy SUA/ISE.  

The BOD�s decision was and is to make the last site to be deployed San Angelo. 

Some issues with OASIS training in Eastern Region, mostly with back fill overtime.  Mr. Detrow is working with ATP and AEA to resolve the issue.  Training is supposed to start in two weeks and nothing has been resolved yet.  Seems to be the way ATP is operating lately, waiting until the last minute to put pressure on the facility.  Also some problems noted in Central at COU.   

Administrator�s report cont�d

Election Committee for the 2004-2007 time frame is Paul McDonald, Mike Zeman, Cathy Campbell, and Denise DeStefano as the alternate.  All in favor.  

NAATS paid $1900.00 for AOPA booth last year. 

The three directors that left the last BOD meeting still have not refunded the money to NAATS national.  Mr. Stafford and Mr. Comisky agreed to pay, Mr. Hoover doesn�t feels he needs to because he came back to the meeting.   

Mr. Hoover appeals the President�s interpretation to the policy.  Second - Mr. Brown. In support of the ruling of the chair - Mr. Puffer, Mr. Jaffe, Mr. VanVacter, and Mr. O�Connell.  Opposed - Ms. Holmes and Mr. Brown.  Abstained - Mr. Hoover and Mr. Mounts.  Interpretation stands, Directors owe NAATS National the fines. 

Legal Updates

We are working with the attorney�s on the time frame for appeals and protests.  We are continuing to explore other avenues.  There is a telcon set up for next week with our attorneys to clarify some things.  Mr. Pike asked BOD permission to explore additional A76 help. The BOD is in favor - Unanimous. 

The appeal from the MCN arbitration is still in the works and nothing completed yet.   

4:45 pm - List of Issues to discuss with Mr. Washington tomorrow morning: 

Liaison assignments

Speaking at the National Meeting

Joint FacRep/Managers meeting

Performance based organization/Incentives/Morale/Management rites/Interest based bargaining

Placing a freeze on all temporary/permanent staff and supervisory positions/bring support specialists back to the floor

Alternatives to hiring, ramifications of (local, part-time, temporary) and training initiatives (double classes at the academy)

FSOSC Issues with the Jeppesen contract ending in June

International PWB

Move people to critically staffed facilities (regional push back) look at the CPP list

Have management/supervisors get back in the rotation

Traffic Management workgroup

Flight Service hanger (joint) at AOPA/OSH/airshows

FSDPS issues

Workgroup to list the order of priorities for next summer

Open topics

NAATS National funding of arbitration for a removal case in Southern Region - Mr. Hoover.  Requests permission to hire Mike Doring to do the arbitration. It was noted that the arbitration committee has not yet approved this grievance.  Discussion that a reasonable cap on expenses would be $5,000.00 for the total expense, $3,000.00 cap for Doring. If the arbitration committee agrees to arbitrate this, Mr. Hoover could hire Doring and National would pay if the BOD agrees.   

Motion - The BOD support hiring of Mike Doring to take the lead in the arbitration concerning the removal of Larry Schultz with a cap of $3,000.00, upon approval of the arbitration committee.  Mr. Hoover, Second - Mr. O�Connell.  BOD Decision. Discussion. In Favor - Ms. Holmes, Mr. VanVacter, Mr. Hoover, Mr. O�Connell, Mr. Mounts, Mr. Brown.  Opposed - Mr. Puffer, Mr. Comisky, and Mr. Jaffe.  Motion passes 6-3.    

Re-visit the AOPA support issue.  Chair rules that this issue is not properly before the BOD due to funding issues are handled solely in October.  Mr. Brown would like to appeal the ruling of the chair, Mr. Hoover seconds. Discussion. In favor of the chair - Mr. Comisky, Mr. Jaffe, Mr. VanVacter, and Mr. Hoover.  Opposed - Ms. Holmes, Mr. Puffer, Mr. O�Connell, Mr. Mounts, and Mr. Brown.  Chair ruling is overturned. 

Discussion - This is a standing rule, not a policy.  Has Mr. Boyer changed his position and do we need to look at supporting AOPA? 

Motion - Overturn the current standing rule on AOPA attendance, the benefit to the membership outweighs the cost to the union.  Mr. Brown, second Ms. Holmes.  Discussion.  In favor - Ms. Holmes, Mr. Comisky, Mr. Hoover, Mr. O�Connell, Mr. Mounts, and Mr. Brown.  Abstaining Mr. puffer, Mr. VanVacter, and Mr. Jaffe.  Motion Passes 6-0-3.  

Need runway safety reps - Mr. Jaffe.  Each facility needs a runway safety representative in each facility and they would like the reps to have FTI training if possible, not required.  Send in your names to Martha Grimsley. 

Southern Region Arbitration - Mr. Comisky.  This recent arbitration loss could have significant impact to bargaining unit members and he had to find out through facility management.  Three problems, one that this issue went this far and two that he didn�t hear about it, then it goes to the arbitration committee to approve.  Will this issue be appealed?  It was a past practice, even if it was illegal, failure to negotiate.  We need a better process to distribute arbitration results.   

Day Three - January 29, 2004  

9:00 am - Call to Order 

All directors present 

Open Topics

Mr. Hoover would like to revisit the motion below: no second, does not get revisited.

Any Director that voluntarily leaves the BOD meeting early, without reasonable cause, will forfeit the last day of per diem and the previous nights lodging    

Mr. Washington

Liaison assignments - Have there been any decisions been made yet?  By Monday of next week, the rest of the boxes will be filled in the structure right now shows management layers will be cut from 11 down to 6.  Mr. Washington�s experience with the liaison program has been very positive and he feels he has benefited from the program. They have to figure out how many liaisons that are needed, but how to split them up in the different domains.  For the immediate transition nothing will change, the current liaisons will stay in place.  With the ATP Liaison position being currently vacant, can we do something now to help with the workload?  Programs will suffer if we don�t have some help in ATP, the ATX liaison will be busy with the new contract.  Mr. Washington will get back to Mr. Pike, on the ATP liaison issue. 

Headquarters/Regional Offices-No change in locations, there will still be 9 regions, 3 directors of operations who will have responsibility for 3 regions each.  The new structure is Vice President, Director of Operations, Air Traffic Manager, Operations Manager, Operations Supervisor, Controller. This could have a significant impact on how the union does business.  Changing from the Directors dealing with a 500 now, the Director will be negotiating with the Director of Operations who will be responsible for three regions.  This structure may change as the plan unfolds, so this is not cast in stone.  In 6 months after a review there could be more changes.  February 9^th the ATO will stand up.      

Speaking at the NAATS National Meeting - Mr. Washington will try to clear his schedule for the 9^th of April. 

Joint FacRep/Managers meeting-Can the meeting be supported by the budget and location, Mr. Washington will push for such a meeting.  It should be done sooner rather than later possibly within the next 60 days. 

Performance based organization/Incentives/Morale/Management rites/Interest based bargaining.  Looking to set up a centralized LR structure, after February 9^th it will be handled under Dennis Degaitano�s organization.  There is still a lot to be worked out on the communication end.  The bargaining unit has been asked to do more with less under management�s rite to assign work, is there something that can be done?  A Performance Based Organization has to be a two way street.  Need to reevaluate the need for staffing, putting together a better staffing standard.  We need help to get some of the HR issues answered, some sort of a plan put together.  There are negotiable issues that need to be decided and worked on.   

Workgroup/attention to list the order of priorities for next summer with the lower staffing and  A-76 issues.  We will have some serious staffing issues this summer as the traffic increases.  Will we still have a traffic management program after the new contract comes into effect.  The critical staffing issues need to be addressed ASAP, a joint Union/empowered management workgroup.     

Alternatives to hiring, ramifications of (local, part-time, temporary) and training initiatives (double classes at the academy).  The agency only hired about 60 last year before the freeze happened.  Maybe we need to look at temporary appointments for 2 years with the A-76 looming.  Can we start to look at duties to see what we can cut in order to alleviate some of the pressure on the workforce?  One option maybe to do away with EFAS training and use those instructors and money for basic classes.  Placing a freeze on all temporary/permanent staff and supervisory positions/bring support specialists back to the floor.  There are things that can be done now to help the staffing situation.     

Move people to critically staffed facilities (regional push back) look at the CPP moves that are available.  Name the critically staffed facilities and see if we can get volunteers to move to those facilities.  No give and take in some of the facilities/regions.  Have management and supervisors get back into the rotation.  

FSOSC Issues with the Jeppesen contract ending in June.  If that happens it could cause operational errors.  The graphics on the FAA web page is inferior, the AOPA graphics come directly from the work done in FSOSC.  It�s a natural fit for AFSS controllers to continue to work with this issue.  It may take some additional funds but it�s a very important tool for controllers use. 

International PWB, we keep getting asked to do more with less.  The agency has not defined what exactly goes into an international briefing.  We haven�t been given the tools or guidance to do the job properly.  When is the test period over, it started last spring?  Our workforce continues to make things like this work.  Employees want support.  This could also effect the MEO and or final bids, it was not in the PWS.   

FSDPS issues - Need to look at the transition plan with changes that have happened, including waterfalls, lack of staffing.   

Flight Service hanger (joint) at AOPA/OSH/airshows,  it would be good PR.  Run it like a flight service forum. 

Final thoughts, we need to keep the fire walls in tact between the MEO/PWS to ensure fairness in the process.  It was a significant event to have the Administrator extend the schedule for the MEO to submit bid and the final decision to March 2005.  AFSS evaluations will be starting up again within the next few weeks.  Mr. Washington and Mr. Pike will start to travel to facilities as soon as he is able, Mr. Washington will be going to Kankakee next week.  During his visits, he would like to do an all hands meeting and possibly plug in with people to get a better understanding of what we do.  It�s frustrating not to be able to have answers, he will be better off once he stands up his organization.  Watch the ATO website for the names 

Harris

Briefed the BOD on their history and let them know they will do everything they can to help the MEO win the bid. 

Open Topics

Negotiable items for A-76, the main ones are pay and reasonable accommodations.  Mr. Dolan will start on negotiations.  Arthur Fox needs to give an opinion on pay scales.  

Virtual Flight Surgeons - Mr. Brown will send the BOD a power point presentation on the issue and they can discuss it at a later date. 

Liaison Issues - How are we going to structure are liaisons with the changes in the ATO?  We need to wait until there is a commitment, before we make any decisions.  However, the BOD needs to put the right liaison to the right position.   

Motion - As it pertains to union members serving as elected or appointed union officers and/or representatives.  No union funded stipends and/or subsistence shall be increased without a majority vote of the members voting or a majority vote at the delegate convention.  Mr. Hoover, Second - Mr. VanVacter.  Policy.  Point of order, the constitution states the BOD handle the budget, chair rules this is a valid motion.  Discussion - It�s about union members only and the membership should be able to decide that.  The elected officials should have the responsibility of making those decisions the membership have already given them that authority according to the constitution.  

Point of order, Mr. Comisky, Second Mr. Puffer.  Uphold the ruling of the chair to discuss the motion - Mr. Puffer, Ms. Holmes, Mr. Jaffe, Mr. VanVacter, Mr. Hoover, Mr. Mounts, Mr. Brown.  Against - Mr. Comisky.  Abstain - Mr. O�Connell.  Ruling of the chair is upheld and the motion will be discussed. 

Discussion.  In favor - Mr. Hoover, Mr. VanVacter.  Opposed - Ms. Holmes, Mr. Jaffe, Mr. Puffer, Mr. O�Connell, Mr. Brown, Mr. Comisky, Mr. Mounts.  Motion fails 2-7.   

FSDPS telcon - Regions have to keep an eye what�s happening with the transition plan.   

The July BOD meeting will be held in San Francisco the week of July 12th.  The October BOD meeting will be held in New Orleans on the week of October 18^th.   

Discussion on the need to have a special BOD meeting the beginning of March. 

List of invitees for the national meeting: 

Russ Chew

Jim Washington

Marion Blakey

HR panel to include Renee Anderson and Marita Johnson

3-New Area FAA Directors

NTEU President/Competitive Sourcing Representative

Motion to adjourn Mr. Mounts, offered second Mr. Comisky. Unanimous.
All directors present.

    HEALTH AND SAFETY UPDATES

George Kelley, OSHECOM Representative, [email protected]

My name is George Kelley, and I am the new national Occupational Safety, Health, and Environment Compliance Committee (OSHECCOM) representative for NAATS. I am honored that the Board of Directors selected me for this position, and I will do my best to insure a safe, healthy, and environmentally sound workplace for us all.

Allow me to give you a little background information on myself. I have been an air traffic controller for 15 years, 13 of those at the Grand Forks AFSS. I have been the Grand Forks NAATS OSHECCOM rep since 1997, where we have identified, documented, and resolved 77 OSHA violations. I have also served as the Grand Forks FacRep since 2000.

Currently, there are three priorities for our national OSHECCOM: Air quality issues (including both "sick building" syndrome and contaminated heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems), loud tones coming into headsets from the ACD and ICSS, and developing a coordinated method of tracking all the identified OSHA violations across the Flight Service system. I will be working with the regional OSHECCOM representatives to insure that these and any other workplace safety issues are addressed.

I�d like to thank interim OSHECCOM rep Steve Glowacki for bringing me up to speed on these duties. If anyone has any questions or wants to elevate any workplace safety issues, please contact me by phone at 701-792-4300 or by e-mail at [email protected].
 

   WALLY PIKE'S STATEMENT TO CONGRESS ON THE PROPOSED FY 2005 FAA BUDGET

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:

My name is Walter W. ("Wally") Pike. I am completing my fifth year as President of the National Association of Air Traffic Specialists (NAATS). I have worked for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for thirty-five years and in air traffic control continuously since 1973, with assignments at Fort Worth, Childress, and San Antonio, Texas, and at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

At the same time, I have been a NAATS union official since 1979, serving in various capacities.

NAATS is the exclusive representative of the more than 2,100 controllers and automation specialists who work at the Flight Service Stations throughout the United States, and I am here today to give you their views. I want to note that these dedicated men and women continued to work during the 1981 strike providing vital safety functions to the flying public.

My testimony will focus on our recommendations for the FAA�s FY 2005 budget. I respectfully request that my entire written statement be made part of the record.

THE FAA�S BUDGET
A-76 Outsourcing Process
Mr. Chairman, our major concern for you and the Subcommittee to consider this year is the fact that the FAA will, once again, continue the unnecessary and ill-considered A-76 outsourcing process that was initiated in May, 2002.

By the FAA�s own estimate, the cost of conducting this A76 process will exceed $20 million. All of this is unnecessary and constitutes a colossal waste of resources in these times of budgetary constraints.

NAATS made a very innovative proposal to the FAA last year. Projected savings were $70 million over the seven year transition period of this proposal. Unfortunately the FAA rejected the offer without even discussing it in detail with NAATS. We continue to be willing to move to these efficiencies without this misguided outsourcing process. That the FAA continues to mismanage its budget will come as no surprise to this subcommittee but this A-76 process is particularly wasteful.

Notwithstanding the above, the NAATS workforce is the wrong group to out-source. OMB has stated that we are the most complex workforce ever to be studied for outsourcing. It is important to note that we do not disagree with the concept of outsourcing. In fact, we feel it makes good economic sense in some instances. Our workforce, however, is clearly the wrong one to contract out to the lowest bidder. Even the National Weather Service, the certifying agency for pilot weather briefing (PWB), has stated that "PWB is a federal government responsibility." PWB is one of the many essential and critical services our controllers provide to ensure aviation safety and security.

There are 75 Flight Service Stations (FSS) throughout our country. Last year over 30 million services were provided by this professional air traffic work force. These services are provided to the pilot flying a single engine Cessna who might be flying his family on a vacation trip, or to the airline captain on a flight that you or I could be on. Below is a brief description of what these men and women do:

• Our air traffic controllers provide briefings of weather conditions along a pilot�s route of flight. Although this is done with mostly general aviation pilots, we also work with a number of corporate and military pilots, and often with airline pilots. This is done either with the pilot on the telephone before they depart, or on the radio while they are airborne after they have departed.

• Particularly after a pilot departs, they will call our controllers and receive information about severe weather conditions such as icing and thunderstorms. Instructions are passed on to them by our controllers on new routes they can deviate to in order to avoid these conditions.

• Traffic conditions are given to pilots, by our controllers, who are landing and departing at airports where there is no control tower, or at airports where the control tower has closed for the day.

• The FSS air traffic controllers maintain the nationwide information system that has data on the conditions of runways, significant restricted areas as well as the national enroute navigational system used by pilots to safely guide them along their route of flight.

• FSS controllers are responsible for providing the temporary flight restriction (TFR) information to pilots so that they do not stray into prohibited, restricted or special use airspace. Examples of these are the restrictions during the President�s State of the Union Address, the unfortunate tragedy of the space shuttle debris and the Air Defense Identification Zone restrictions, implemented here in our nation�s capital and planned for other areas across the US. When President Bush travels by air his location is frequently identified in advance using TFR�s. It�s hard to imagine a more inherently governmental operation relating to national security. Without doubt the duties performed by FSS controllers are central to the core mission of the FAA.

The FAA has acknowledged that the remarkable air traffic control efforts in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks could not have taken place without the FSS controllers. The FAA has stated that all of air traffic control (FSS, enroute, terminal) is interrelated and interdependent. Already critically short-staffed, the FSS employees absorbed a fourfold or greater increase in workload and were instrumental in accomplishing the agency mission during the trying days that followed. FSS controllers should be included in any legislation identifying inherently governmental air traffic operations. In the interim we ask that this subcommittee withhold funding to the FAA to continue this outsourcing process in FY2005.

Alaska
Mr. Chairman, as you know Alaska is exempt from the A-76 process being conducted by the FAA. This doesn�t mean, however, that we don�t have serious issues for the Subcommittee to consider.

Alaska is an extraordinary State with very unique aviation needs. In Alaska, perhaps more than any other state, the communities and villages rely upon aviation for their way of life and quite often their very survival. Unfortunately, even our remote sites in Alaska are suffering as a result of the outsourcing study being conducted in the contiguous United States. Even though exempt from this ill-conceived outsourcing effort, the Alaska aviation community is suffering as Flight Service Station staffing levels fall perilously low due to a "wait and see" attitude. In some cases, staffing levels are so low in Alaska that a Flight Service Station must be closed or part-timed if even one controller becomes ill and calls in sick. Undoubtedly this equates to a degradation of service because hiring new employees is simply not a high enough budget priority for the agency. Clearly, the number one concern for Alaska is our lack of human capital. In 1994 Congress mandated the establishment and implementation of an Alaskan rotational staffing program. This wise congressional decision served the Alaska aviation community well for many years but now it too is on the decline in the current A-76 climate. Adequate staffing is a top priority for all Flight Service Stations and Alaska is no different. Unfortunately this is yet another example of FAA mismanagement.

The FAA is famous for its new and improved technology. Very few of these projects, however, have served the Alaska aviation community as well as the basic Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS), Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) and Weather Cameras (WXCAM). The AWOS and ASOS locations across Alaska provide the FSS controllers with weather information that can be interpreted and relayed directly to the pilot. The Alaska Weather Cameras (WXCAM) also provide near real-time pictures of weather conditions at actual locations. These invaluable tools have been tested and proven by both Alaskan pilots and Alaskan FSS controllers. We simply do not have enough of them where we need them. Quite simply, this equipment saves lives and we need more of them throughout Alaska.

Basic facility conditions at Alaska Flight Service Stations are austere at best. In many locations FSSs are located in WWII vintage dilapidated buildings with non-potable water running though the pipes and wind blowing through the poorly insulated walls. Often, our controllers must where coats at work and can see their breath as they speak into the microphones. Due to budget cuts, however, numerous Alaska FSS building projects have been canceled and/or cut back.

Alaska needs the men and women needed to provide our life-saving services to Alaska�s pilots, the equipment to do it, and a safe, secure location to do it from.

OASIS
The FAA decision to cut the Operational and Supportability Implementation System (OASIS) budget by $4.2M in FY 2004 is devastating to the program. It not only hurts the Flight Service controller and their capability to do their job, but also the flying public that depends on FSS to receive information needed for a safe flight.

As the Subcommittee members know, OASIS is the program that brings new, updated equipment and capabilities to the Flight Service controller. It replaces dated and worn equipment and brings Flight Service into the 21st century. The Windows based system allows the FSS controller to use latest technology to accomplish their job. Multi-tasking, quicker access to more information, more user friendly data displays, more graphics and enhancements to those graphics are just some of the advantages of OASIS. With OASIS, Flight Service controllers provide quicker and better services to the pilot, both in the air and on the ground. This service includes flight planning and weather information used by the pilot to get a better picture of what will affect their flight.

The FAA cut in the program will stop deployment of OASIS to 10 of the 12 Flight Service Stations scheduled to receive OASIS based on the 2004 FY budget. Only 16 Flight Service Stations around the country will have OASIS. Seven of our ten busiest Flight Service Stations are among those that were scheduled to receive OASIS this year and now will not. These include MIAMI AFSS, ST PETERSBURG AFSS, FT WORTH AFSS, MACON AFSS and DENVER AFSS. The 10 Flight Service Stations affected by this budget cut performed over 6 million flight service operations in the 1st nine months (Jan -- Sept) of 2003. That equals over 25% of total flight service operations nationally for that same period.

The FAA decision to cut OASIS funding, thus denying the benefits of OASIS to these Flight Service Stations, their controllers, and the flying public that use these facilities is absolutely unacceptable. The better the service to the pilot, the safer the flight; the pilot has come to expect this from the FAA. We ask the Subcommittee to direct the FAA to install OASIS at the ten additional sites in FY05.

I would be pleased to respond to any questions. Thank you.
 

  OPINION

The opinions expressed here are strictly those of the authors and in no way reflects
the position of the Union or its elected or appointed officials or liaisons.

Feedback on the PWS SIR2
By Stephan Shackleford, SATCS HHR AFSS *

1. Section 4.2.2.1 Citizenship Requirements
This section says, "Operational personnel shall be either native-born or naturalized U.S. citizens, or possess an Immigration and Naturalization Service Alien Registration Card (INS Form I-151/551 -- commonly known as a �Green Card�)."

This means that immigrants with just a "Green Card" can now become the Flight Service Station Specialists of the future. Even worse, this section goes on to say that, "The Government may allow for exception (to the above requirements) if there are an insufficient number of well-qualified applicants or in an emergency." This could easily be interpreted to mean that the lesser qualified or very minimally qualified or perhaps even non-U.S. citizens or persons who don�t even possess a Green Card could be pressed into service in an emergency. Who determines what exactly constitutes an emergency is not specifically detailed. Perhaps the SP (Service Provider) might determine that the lack of sufficiently qualified applicants constitutes and emergency. In any case, it boils down to a "dumbing down" of Flight Service. Nothing in the PWS requires the pilot weather briefer to be conversant with local weather conditions or knowledgeable about the area in detail, as exists today. The pilot weather briefers would become nothing more than "weather readers," something that most pilots could easily do for themselves. What pilots call Flight Service for today is for a whole variety of items, services, experience and explanations that are the hallmark of their [the briefers] expertise.

There was nothing in the PWS that delineated to what level these contractors would have to be trained to be operationally acceptable. There is nothing in the PWS that requires recurrent or refresher training. There is nothing mentioned in the PWS that even alludes to the necessity to have a facility checkout or be local area rated.

I didn�t see anything in the PWS that prohibited the Service Provider from further subcontracting out various functions and operations. I didn�t see anything in the PWS that disallowed telecommuting pilot weather briefers. For example, if a Service Provider desired to, could he further contract out the pilot weather briefing functions out of the country? Could the calling pilot of the future be confronted with someone named "Roy"in Bombay, India providing his pilot weather briefing? This may sound farfetched, but AOL (America On Line) already does this for their technical assistance functions. Obviously, the technology already exists for this to be done. All you have to do is give the briefer a satellite linked phone line.

2. Section 4.2.2.4 Entry Level Employee Education Requirements
In this section it says, "Operational entry-level personnel shall obtain basic air traffic control training at the FAA Academy or other Government approved facility prior to performing work under the contract."

A. The PWS doesn�t make it clear exactly who is going to be paying for that required training. For example, if a student pays for is or her own CTI (College Training Initiative) course work at an "approved facility," would that qualify them for an entry-level position?

B. What exactly is meant by the wording "or other Government approved facility?"

C. Who approves or inspects these educational facilities?

FAA Handbook 7110.10, Section 3-2-1 describes the conduct of a standard weather briefing as follows, "Brief by translating, interpreting and summarizing available data for the intended flight." I don�t see anything in the PWS that required anything other than just reading the available weather on the screen to the calling pilot. The words "translating, interpreting and summarizing" are never even mentioned.

3. Section 4.8.8 Facility Operational Availability
In this section it says, "The SP�s (Service Provider�s) facilities shall be operationally available TBD."I presume that TBD means "To Be Determined," but exactly what does this mean? Whatever happened to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year?

I could go on and on with other objections to the obvious attempt to "gut Flight Service" into some sort of pabulum weather provider. The PWS is an embarrassing effort to somehow list what functions are done without any insistence on the quality of the product. I say only one reference to National Weather Service (NWS) certification. After that is done, who is going to do any checking? There is no mention of the existing FAA Handbook 7110.10 being used as any sort of benchmark in performance appraisal. How could anyone know whether "Amy from Amarillo" or "Roy from Bombay" provided an acceptable pilot weather briefing?

If Flight Service were to be contracted out instead of becoming the Most Efficient Organization (MEO), services would begin to slide down a very slippery slope. This is because of the very nature of contracting a function out. In fact, this is academically old plowed ground and well documented in many studies. It is not even controversial anymore. A contractor will not do any function that is not specifically required to be done. This is because they have no incentive to do this whatsoever. In fact, going beyond the scope of the contract can invite liability and economic disaster for the contractor.

When a function is contracted out, a recognized series of events inevitably result. First, the facility will be staffed to a minimum level. Staffing to anything other than the minimum level would not make any economic sense. If traffic were to become heavy for a protracted amount of time, well, somebody is going to have to wait for a protracted amount of time or hang up and go without. A contractor will ultimately establish staffing levels to maximize his profit. Secondly, training is usually the next thing to be minimized or eliminated. Not only is it expensive, but it takes people away from performing those tasks that they ARE paid for. In any case, any contractor with an eye to his or her bottom line will minimize to the fullest extent possible anything that is not absolutely required. Further, anything that is left open to interpretation will also be minimized or eliminated. Thirdly, the next thing to be minimized will be the maintenance of the facility and the infrastructure of the system. If very specific maintenance of the infrastructure is not required of the contractor, it will not be done. Why should the contractor do something that is outside of the contract and is also not required? In fact, as a general rule, contract employees often are prohibited from doing anything outside of what is in the contract. Again, the guiding principles to the contractor are liability and plain old profit and loss.

I am amazed and disappointed that FAA upper management doesn�t understand the basic difference between what the current Flight Service Specialist provides and what a contractor would provide. Anybody who has any grasp of Economics 101 understands that, literally, the bottom line for a contractor is that portion of the quarterly statement that shows his profit or loss. In fact, that�s exactly where the term comes from. Conversely, the bottom line for a present day Flight Service Station Specialist is safety.

>From the viewpoint of a Performance Based Organization, consider this situation from that of a pilot calling for a weather briefing. By the way, a pilot should be viewed in today�s performance based context as the all important client or customer. So, if you were that pilot, would you want to receive your pilot weather briefing from a minimally qualified, poorly trained contract employee whose bottom line is his profit? Or would you want to receive your pilot weather briefing from a trained, experienced FAA Flight Service Station Specialist whose bottom line is your safety? This, in a nutshell, is the essential reason why you would NOT want to talk to a contract pilot weather briefer and also why Flight Service is essentially governmental in nature.

* The above is Mr. Shackleford�s reply to Management�s request for feedback on the PWS SIR2. He gave this to me to ensure it was shared with all interested parties, including NAATS� membership.
 

  FEDERAL EMPLOYEE NEWS

Brought to you by FedWeek.com

New TSP Fund Idea Moves Ahead
The Thrift Savings Plan governing board is continuing to push ahead with the idea of adding a new fund or funds to the program that would create desired percentage mixes of the existing five investment funds, with automatic adjustments to maintain that ratio. The main reason for adding the new funds is that after studying TSP investor behavior officials have concluded that many participants invest too conservatively -- 35 percent have all their money in the low risk but low potential return government securities fund -- while others take excessive risks -- about 11 percent have all of their money in one or more of the stock funds. Only 6 percent of investors have money spread among all five funds. Further, TSP data show, investors tend not to rebalance their portfolios to take investment results into account -- only about 16 percent of investors made an interfund transfer in the most recent year studied, 2002 -- and when they do, they tend to chase returns by shifting money to funds that have performed well recently.

The result, according to an analysis prepared for the board, is that investors are getting too little return for the risk they are taking on; or, looked at another way, they are taking on too much risk for the returns they are getting.

Lifestyle versus Lifecycle Funds
One type of fund under consideration would be a lifestyle fund, in which the investor would decide a preferred level of investment risk and a portfolio would be crafted among the TSP stock and bond funds to reflect that risk. In the other, called a lifecycle fund, investors would project when they expect to withdraw the funds -- not necessarily at retirement -- and a portfolio would be crafted and then adjusted to become more conservative as the withdrawal date approached. According to an analysis prepared for the board, the latter type of fund has several advantages in that it is easier for investors to understand and does not require the investor to reconsider the desired mix of investments over time. Whether the TSP will add one or both likely wont be decided for several months, and it likely would be months after that before any new fund or funds became available.

Regional Supplements

ALASKA REGION

CENTRAL REGION

EASTERN REGION

GREAT LAKES REGION

NEW ENGLAND REGION

NORTHWEST MOUNTAIN REGION

SOUTHERN REGION

SOUTHWEST REGION

Mark Jaffe, Director and Jim Hale, Coordinator

Hello NAATS Members,

There�s not much happening, regionally, right now. Thanks to the great work of the FacReps there are very few problems that are not solved at the facility level. For good reason, most everyone seems to be fixated on A-76 and what it means to us.

A-76 Down Select Deemed Unnecessary
If you haven't heard, the down select process was unnecessary because five more contractors gave up and went home. That only left five contractors to compete against the MEO for the right to provide flight services. If you're keeping count, I think that means that about 14 to 16 contractors that originally thought that they wanted to do our jobs have changed their minds. I believe that most dropped out after they realized the complexity of what we do and others couldn't stand to deal with ACA any longer.

ACA Seeks to Ignore Age & Citizenship
The latest conflict in the PWS process is ACA�s need to ignore the age and citizenship requirements that we currently operate under. If ACA has their way, a person will no longer needed to be a U.S. citizen to be an Air Traffic Controller. Evidently, Joann Kansier would like to see anyone with a green card be eligible to replace us as controllers. ACA is also trying very hard to find a way to ignore the mandatory retirement age of 56 even though it is public law. I guess that they think that they can ignore the law. I stated above that ACA has a need to ignore these requirements because I believe that they are getting guidance from some of the contractors that are bidding on our jobs. The contractors realize that if they can ignore the age and citizenship requirements then they will have a significantly larger pool of prospective employees to pick from. That's my opinion. It would explain ACA�s illogical attempts to sacrifice national security.

Executive Order Signed
The president finally signed the Executive Order that gives us the remainder of our raise. I believe that we it will take payroll 2 or 3 months to get everything sorted out and for us to actually see more money in ours checks.

Staffing: AKA Squeezing Blood from a Turnip
Staffing continues to be a major problem and we can expect the situation to get worse before it gets better. Our region has several people cleared to go to the academy but can�t get clearance, from HQ, to hire. I have heard rumors that there is a plan to hire employees on a 2 year term but don't have anything firm. I let you know if I hear something definite. Meanwhile, management will continue to try to squeeze blood from a turnip and get as much work as possible out of our very shorthanded workforce.

We have filed a national grievance on the credit hour accumulation issue. Be patient as it works it's way through the system.

RIF Negotiations
Our NAATS RIF negotiations team will meet late in March to begin talking about what will happen to us as we go through the A-76 process. None of the options are all that great and our best chance continues to be winning a legislative battle to kill or delay A-76.

Kerry Disagrees with Contracting AT
Kerry has stated that he does not agree with contracting out AT and will stop our A-76 study if he is elected. That makes deciding who to vote for in November real simple.

Keeping in Touch

The FacReps, Jim Hale, and I will hold a telecon in mid April to discuss the April BOD meeting. I will also continue to visit as many facilities as time allows and keep everyone informed about as much as possible.

Hope to see you in Las Vegas.
 

WESTERN-PACIFIC REGION

 Mike Puffer, Director and Tom Avalos, Coordinator

New Contract Issues
The new contract is in place. In the Western Pacific region, we are having a couple issues around credit hours. Management refuses to code any one not on a negotiated flex schedule, as flexible in violation of Article 25. By now everyone who wants to earn credit hours should have submitted a written request to management asking to be coded as flexible for the purpose of earning, using, and, carrying a balance of credit hours. If they refuse to allow you to earn credit hours, file a grievance. On the national level, there is an issue with allowing employees to earn and carry a balance of more than 24 credit hours.

Wally has sent a letter to the FAA asking that members be made whole and receive interest on the back pay because of the delay in implementing core comp conversion on time. He also requested a printout for every member.

Informational Picketing
In late February, I joined six members from HHR in picketing the regional offices. Although this was not sponsored by NAATS it did generate some attention. Steven Killgore (organizer), Steve Rusk, David Graham, Rob Erlick, Mike Masotto, and Scott Morrissy, took initiative and their own time to plan and participate in an informational picketing. Out of this event, specialists out of HHR developed an idea for a National day of picketing. It is presently before the BOD, when I hear the decision of the BOD, I will let you know. If anyone has any ideas on how we should fight this, please forward them to me so we can analyze them. This is your union; you should be active in it.

Congressional Letters
The facility A-76 reps have been tasked with writing sample letters to congress, by March 19. I plan on taking those letters and combing important points and putting out three or four sample letters for members to use. I cannot stress enough he importance the letter writing campaign will have on stopping or delaying the A-76.

Facility Visits
I visited RNO, RIU, and OAK, addressed issues around the A-76, and received feedback on what you, the members, want and what is important to you. I will be visiting PRC next. There are many unknowns at this point.

"Be Prepared"
I know there is a lot of concern over your futures. I share this concern as well. I am asking you all to join me in fighting this thing. There things you can do to ensure you are prepared regardless of the outcome. Check your OPF, make sure your TSP loans will be paid off by March 2005, make a goal to have six months salary in the bank, and pay off debt. Finishing a degree or brushing up on skills through college courses will only benefit you. I believe that the MEO will win. There are changes that will come either way.

On a professional level, we need to be educating pilots, and the public on the FAA�s plan to decimate Flight Service. That means you, as a union member, taking your own time to go talk to pilots at meetings.
I have contacted some of the employee groups to see where the stand. The groups and their positions are stated below.

• PWC -- support our position and they are willing to work with us.

• GLOBE- feels issue is outside the scope of its charter.

• NBCFAE, NAPA, and NHCFAE have not responded.

If you are a member of any of these groups, let your leadership know how you feel. Ask them to support our diverse workforce. We need everyone we can get to be on our side.

HAWTHORNE AFSS NEWS
Eli Morrissy, HHR AFSS

AWP Elections
Congratulations to Mike Puffer on his victory in the recent AWP Regional Director election. The race was close enough to make it interesting. My only disappointment was with the turnout. Out of 159 eligible NAATS members in the Western-Pacific Region, only 83 actually mailed in ballots. While some would say that a turnout over 50 percent was good, all I can do is wonder how many of us would be pleased if our cars only ran just over 50 percent of the time. Hopefully, we�ll all be able to make a better showing this fall during the NAATS national elections.

Bender in Alabama
Kevin Bender (KB) is still enjoying the comforts of Ft. Rucker, AL. Despite being an experienced rotary wing pilot, he�s had to spend weeks in the flight simulator. I hear his instructors are finally going to let him actually fly the King Air soon. The good news is, much to everyone�s relief, KB�s orders to go to Iraq right after training have been rescinded.

Flight Watch Training
Mike Dassaro (NY) is off to the Academy for Flight Watch training. Best of luck. Watch out for those spring thunderbumpers!

Informational Picketing
Kudos to Steve Killgore (SY) for spearheading an informational picketing effort in front of the Regional Office. HHR FacRep Scott Morrissy (SM) made up the signs and other participants included Alternate FacRep Rob Erlick (LO), Steve Rusk (RU), David Graham (DG) Mike Masotto (RN) and AWP RegDir Mike Puffer. Everything went well according to the guys. They had at least one visit from the local police, who departed right after they determined the action was confined to the public sidewalk and that no one was trespassing on government property. AWP Administrator Bill Withecombe even stepped out for a visit.

The only rough spots came when SY attempted to enter the building to use the Men�s Room. Apparently the security guards briefly were concerned that he posed some type of security risk. RN and DG were also closely scrutinized when they attempted to enter the building to take care of personal business at the credit union. Fortunately those matters were settled quickly and amicably for all.
 

NAATS News Editorial Policy

Nothing that is inflammatory or scurrilous, libelous, attacks members by name or which contains words or phrases that are in poor taste and likely to be unnecessarily offensive, should be printed in the NAATS News or Regional Supplements. Individual(s) views expressed in the newsletter do not necessarily reflect the position of the Union.