NAATS HEADQUARTERS EMAIL UPDATE

Volume 3, #16

January 11, 2002

The Administrator has agreed to petition the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) to hear our pay dispute and make a recommended settlement. This is much more like the course that traditional negotiations follow and is the one preferred by Chairman Young and his staff. Since binding arbitration from the Federal Service Impasses Panel (FSIP) is not considered an option because of the '96 appropriations language, the recommendation is just that - a recommendation - but I believe both parties recognize and agree that it will provide the basis for an agreement. Again, since it is a recommendation it will be subject to BOD approval as well as membership ratification. Many details remain to be worked out, including the timetables, but this is the first step toward resolving the impasse. Again, we are working with the FMCS so the recent firings at the FSIP have no bearing on this matter. All of this will be discussed at the NAATS BOD meeting next week. I'll keep you advised of the details as they develop.

I visited DEN, SEA and BOI this week to meet with the members and take their input. I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to exchange views and I appreciated all the hospitality.

It appears likely that FAM trips will be authorized again beginning February 1 although I haven't been able to confirm this with AT-1 or 2 yet.

I've included an OASIS Update from National Representative Jeff Barnes.

Wally Pike

01/10/02 - I hope your Holiday Season was safe and wonderful. The OASIS Human Factors Team returned to its work this week with a meeting at Harris Corporation. We worked with the Harris engineers to make sure that they understood what we perceived various problems to be, and they worked with us to make sure that their proposed solutions to other problems met our needs and expectations. We are working on problems that will be scheduled for the St. Louis In Service Decision primarily, but some of what we worked on might be seen at the 10th site ISD. We won't know until Harris can take everything and schedule it to get the maximum use out of their resources.

We got our first look at the Anderson software and at first glance it looks like another significant improvement in OASIS capabilities. The Human Factors Team will test it next week at the Tech Center, followed by the NAS Operational Test and Evaluation Team in early February also at the Tech Center with the last round of testing scheduled to take place at AND AFSS in March. We plan to wring this system out and find any problems that are in it early enough that they can be evaluated and resolved as quickly as possible. We already know of a few problems that appear to be minor from our first look. We'll test those areas thoroughly at the Tech Center next week and write Program Trouble Reports as appropriate.

The Human Factors Team's next two meetings are planned to be held at AFSS's unless events force a change in location. Tentatively the Team has selected FTW AFSS as our January meeting site so that a few of our members who have never seen SUA/ISE can see it in use, and in February RAL AFSS. Both of these are tentative and depend on the facilities being able to support us meeting there. Whenever we meet in an AFSS we will plan to demonstrate OASIS using our remote connection capability to the system at the Tech Center. I hope to be on hand to run a couple demos at the ASO quarterly in BNA AFSS in February, and Arnie Holmes from the Human Factors Team and IPT AFSS has been doing demos at facilities in AEA. I also plan to have a full remote workstation set up at the NAATS National Meeting for the Human Factors Team members to give demos.

It seems amazing to us on the Human Factors Team, but we can actually start to perceive a time when we won't have to be meeting continually to work on problems in OASIS. When the frequency of our meetings die down I will push for Team members to continue traveling to AFSS's to demonstrate OASIS. I feel it is vital for you to see what is coming your way before it actually gets dumped into your facility. This is especially true for those of you who saw it back when it was scary to think of having to do your job on it. I am proud of the work that the Human Factors Team has put into making this sway back nag into a sturdy horse...now they are working to turn it from that workhorse into a thoroughbred, and I have every confidence they will succeed.

Fraternally,
Jeff Barnes
National OASIS Rep