It appears as though our administrator was less than forthcoming about her pledge to not proceed with any new contracting out for this fiscal year.  In a bah humbug surprise for PASS it seems that the members of that Union who work on Flight Service equipment will get FAA coal in their stockings as, and in conflict with her letter, Marion Blakey has announced those job functions will be contracted out.  You can see their press release at the end of this update.

In what other little legislative news I can convey, the President did sign the FAA reauthorization bill this last week.  The appropriations omnibus, which includes the dept. of transportation, still faces an uphill climb as I mentioned in my last update (if my gray matter serves me correctly I believe it will be January 19^th before that is taken up again.  Speaking of previous updates I was asked how this would affect our federal pay raise for this year (shame on you, that was also in an earlier update.)  But for those who didn’t catch it the first time, it is expected that the President will sign off on a 2% raise initially (what he requested in the first place) and then, like last year, once the omnibus is signed we will see the remainder as backpay in the new year.  That amount should be the remaining 2.6% of the average raise plus locality of 4.6% (your locality mileage may vary) contained in the omnibus.

By the way, the Senate not only held up FAA reauthorization awaiting affirmation from Blakey that she would not contract out ATC or AF jobs for the rest of the year (oops) but the 50 or so judicial nominees were held up awaiting that letter as well.  We have powerful allies in congress who are plenty pissed about things and this new news concerning PASS from Marion won’t give them any warm fuzzies either.  We’ll remember to support these folks with our PAC but please make sure you also support them in the ballot box and you might even consider volunteering to help with a campaign.  On that subject, if anyone receives news of a fundraiser and would like to use PAC funds to attend, the new procedure is to contact me directly.  You will need to provide the details of the fundraiser and who will be attending.  I can also send to anyone who is interested one the newest and greatest NATCA grassroots guide which is very informative and hot of the presses.  The procedure is the same, give me a call or drop me a line.

Grant Anderson
ganderson@natca.org
pin 50501
417-894-6887

Privatization

PASS Press Release: FAA BREAKS PROMISE ON PRIVATIZATION OF AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL JOBS

PASS Begins Legal Action Against FAA

WASHINGTON, DC- Professional Airways Systems Specialists (PASS) responded today to the Federal Aviation Administration's plans to break its word and privatize maintenance of air traffic equipment at Automated Flight Service Stations. 

In a recent briefing on the status of the FAA's A-76 study of Automated Flight Service Stations, PASS learned that the FAA plans to hand over maintenance of the air traffic systems used at Flight Service Stations to the winner of that study. The FAA previously stated that the A-76 study would not impact the employees they represent. 

"The FAA is well-known for saying one thing while quietly doing another," said PASS President Tom Brantley.  "The FAA planned all along to privatize maintenance at Flight Service Stations and was not forthcoming about those plans last month when making a promise to the Senate not to contract out jobs."

Brantley explained that the FAA's promise to Senators is only good to the end of FY 2004 and the Flight Service Station contract will not be awarded until early 2005. "The FAA should have been up-front about their plans," he said. "They have definitely violated the spirit of the promise they made to Congress."

According to the FAA's briefing, approximately 450 FAA employees across the country could be impacted if maintenance at Flight Service Stations is privatized.

"We filed a national grievance this week and are making plans to fight this ill-advised idea," Brantley said. "We will not allow the agency to get away with their back-handed scheming without a fight."

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PASS represents more than 11,000 employees of the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Defense who install, maintain, support and certify air traffic control and national defense equipment, inspect and oversee the commercial and general aviation industries, develop flight procedures and perform quality analyses of the aviation systems.  For more information, visit the PASS website at www.passnational.org.