Numerous editorials, countless phone calls and meetings, press conferences at many of the 69 towers on the chopping block (SUS held one last Wednesday and it was tremendous … they deserve a lot of praise), grassroots campaigning, press releases, in district meetings with members of Congress, tours arranged for them of affected facilities, the list goes on and on.

The August recess in Congress is usually uneventful with few issues generating significant press and debate.  But with the timing of this conference report for early September and thanks to the activism of our defenders, privatization of ATC has become the issue and the debate!

One area that has been a little anemic is the grassroots emailing by NATCA members.  If you had signed up for this service you would have received an email to direct you how to easily send your thoughts to your elected representatives (and hopefully you did).  If you haven’t signed up for this service, what the heck are you waiting for?  The current campaign, which ends today, got only about 12% participation from the membership.  This issue is bigger than the 69 towers.  It will affect us for years to come in both our job security and our relationship with those who want to turn the LMR and progress clock back many years.  If you think the phrase “safety was never compromised” is a joke when you hear it now, just do nothing about this and see how much worse it can get.  At the turn of the last century, critic George John Nathan said, “Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote”.  Well, those same officials will make bad policy decisions if good Union members choose to not act.

It may seem as though privatization and this conference report are the extent of our legislative concerns.  Unfortunately that is not the case.  Hear are some of the “greatest hits” from the upcoming appropriations bill (which directs our funding) that we will be working to eliminate or modify.

The bill provides $6,076,724,000 for air traffic services. Recommended adjustments to the budget estimate are listed and described below:

Controller staffing- The Committee recommendation deletes the proposed $14,095,000 to hire 328 additional air traffic controllers. The budget requested funding to hire 302 controllers for FAA facilities assuming a surge (or `bubble') in retirements beginning in fiscal year 2007, and 26 `liaison officers' to serve Department of Defense facilities at the request of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). The Committee is not convinced the additional FAA controllers are needed at the present time for the following reasons:

(Well of course we don’t need more controllers, I know nobody works in short staffed facilities.  Give me a break!)

FAA's baseline staffing does not reflect the most recent air traffic trends and forecasts. According to the Administrator, due to the drop in air traffic, FAA's staffing standard calculates that the agency needs 694 fewer controllers than are currently budgeted. Clearly if staffing is rebaselined to the most current traffic forecast, released in March 2003, there is flexibility to address any retirements without new hires. The Committee also notes that, according to hearing data, 75% of the FAA's en route centers--the largest air traffic facilities--are currently overstaffed.

(What a crock of BS.  If traffic is down 10% that day do you open up 10% fewer sectors?  And the numbers are skewed in only referring to air carrier ops at the major airports.  GA and military apparently have no effect on the system workload.  And hey by this theory, we are nearly 75% understaffed since we are working with well below pre-strike staffing and traffic has increased tremendously.  I guess the staff to traffic level theory doesn’t quite go that far.)

Attrition in the controller workforce has been very low for the past five years--between 1.77% and 2.27% annually. The number of retirees has ranged from 190 to 334, although the number has been rising over the past 2 years. This trend does not provide compelling evidence of an impending surge in retirements.

(Other than the fact that folks are staying around for their high 3 after reclass and a larger percentage are eligible every year with no replacements.  The GAO did an in depth analysis for congress and they determined an impending crisis.  What are they thinking?)

Hiring today is not necessary to address retirements occurring three years from now. FAA's statement that it takes three years to create a certified professional controller (CPC) fails to acknowledge that many controllers working traffic today are not CPCs. FAA data indicates that new controllers are sent to an operational facility within four months of initial qualification training, not three years. FAA's staffing estimates do not take into consideration the thousands of operational hours performed by controllers certified to handle traffic, but not at the CPC level.

(So let me get this straight.  As long as someone can check out on clearance delivery or a sector, the need to train them ceases since they can work a position?  I guess those other positions they won’t be able to train on since they are in the count now should be the first to close since we have so much less traffic?)

FAA estimates that mandatory retirement as currently structured, would account for a significant proportion of the surge in retirements (875 retirements over the next 5 years). The Committee notes that existing law authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to issue regulations allowing waivers of mandatory retirement on a case-by-case basis, but, thirty years after enactment of the provisions, the regulations still have not been issued. The Committee believes that, as a hedge against the possible retirement surge in future years, these regulations must be issued without further delay. For this reason, the bill includes language directing the Secretary of Transportation to issue such regulations no later than March 1, 2004. Implementation of this provision--authorized by the Congress for three decades--would reduce the need for an estimated 110 new controllers over fiscal years 2007 and 2008 if twenty percent of those affected by mandatory retirement were authorized to remain in the workforce.

(Uh oh.  Now we see the retirement age changed, retirement provisions changed, benefits redefined.  This chills me.  I hope you are up to plugging in for a rush when you are 60.) 

First line operational supervisors- In 1998, FAA began a policy of replacing first line operational supervisors with air traffic controllers by significantly expanding a program known as `controller in charge'. The agency reduced its supervisory workforce, and air traffic controllers received differential pay for those shifts they worked as a `CIC'. The Committee approved this initiative reluctantly, and only after assurances from the FAA and the Office of Inspector General that adequate quality controls were in place so that aviation safety would not be affected. However, when the IG discovered weak quality controls in this program, and operational errors began to rise, the Committee froze the CIC program, restored funding for supervisory positions, and directed FAA to hire back up to the level of supervisors on board at the end of fiscal year 2001, which was 1,726. The Committee is disappointed that FAA has not followed this direction, and that stronger measures have become necessary. FAA data indicate that at the end of fiscal year 2002, the agency had 1,609 supervisors, and the actual on board number as of March 21, 2003 was 1,606. Although FAA claims there is insufficient funding to honor the Committee's direction, this ignores the fact that funds were restored to the base budget for this purpose, and that the agency's costs to pay air traffic controllers to perform this function under the CIC program continue to rise. The Committee insists that FAA honor the previous direction--and funding--to build the supervisory level back up to 1,726. To ensure that this direction is implemented, the bill provides an additional $4,000,000 solely for the purpose of increasing the level of operational supervisors to the level of 1,726. This increase is partially offset by assuming a reduction in CIC payments of $1,250,000. This recommendation would freeze those costs at the estimated fiscal year 2003 level rather than provide an increase exceeding 11 percent. With the additional supervisors on board, fewer CIC hours will be required.

(Isn’t that sweet.  Remove all new hire provisions for controllers and then pull from the ranks for more Supes.  Remember we are being blamed for the lack of cost savings from Supe attrition because the Agency refuses to allow it.)

 Next week I’ll continue with more excerpts.  Needless to say, there is a massive misunderstanding with some in Congress about how the US ATC system works and the FAA is glad to exploit this for the appearance of a fix in several areas.