|
Yet another fun filled week has gone into the record books. And while there isn’t exactly a dearth of activity legislatively, most is just at the hearing level and concerning recommended reforms a la the 9-11 report. And much of that has a partisan enhancement greater than the norm due to the Presidential (as well as Senate and Congressional) campaigns. We are in a situation where we should have been in recess so what little that is occurring through the grandiose rhetoric does not concern our main issues of authorization and appropriations for government, FAA or ATC/ATC support with a couple of exceptions.
One item that absolutely is in our interests, and arguably the most important for our future as an organization and profession, are those same campaigns for President, Senate and Congress, the results of which will potentially have a more serious impact on our membership than any previous election in our Unions history. The Hatch act prevents me from going in to great detail while writing in this forum but I can say this; the venom and subterfuge coming out of many if not most of the publicity and grandstanding surrounding these campaigns has the result of intentionally leading us away from the real issues. I urge all of you to gather information from multiple sources (since I have yet to find any one source that gives it straight) and in the process don’t lose sight of the threats that ATC and our jobs have come under in the recent past. Things can certainly get much worse for our profession and paychecks if some of the poorly thought out initiatives that we have barely defended ourselves against recently come to fruition. As a reminder, we are backing and/or providing PAC funds to the campaigns of those who are friendly to our core ATC, ATC support, Union and federal employee issues. There are many other significant issues occurring at home and abroad but as far as the decision making process to determine who gets support from this Union, it’s important to remember we only take into consideration their views and actions on our core issues.
If you ever get (and perhaps already are) totally disgusted with all the negative campaigning during the next couple of months there is one thing you might try to inject some much needed humor back into the process. This has been around for a month or so but I was just re-introduced to it. If you need a good laugh about it all, go to www.jibjab.com and play the animated video. It hilariously lampoons both of the major presidential candidates and the production values are pretty slick too. Don’t go playing this on a work computer, but I highly recommend it for an emergency chuckle.
The following articles may be of interest. The first refers to the upcoming annual pay raise recommendations from the White House. As I’m sure you recall, this White House has, while occasionally stating publicly how valuable we are to them, has year after year said the opposite with the pen by lowballing us and trying to create a caste system between military and civilian employees. Needless to say we will be watching this closely. The second article concerns our colleagues in Flight Service, who have been less successful than us in staving off the contracting out of their jobs, and are now in an outsourcing competition. AOPA felt the need to have Congress act to insist that the FAA, in awarding this contract, ensure that the same service is provided. Duh! This tends to bring forth the question that if this is such a great idea and if the FAA is so deftly fair about all this as they profess to be, why would this even be a concern? Things that make you go hmmm.
If you have any questions on these or any other legislative matters feel free to call or drop me a line.
Grant Anderson Pin# 50501
Fedweek Aug 11, 2004
Another Raise Recommendation Could Be Coming: The White House has another opportunity coming to stake out its position on the January 2005 federal pay raise, since under federal pay law the President may recommend by the end of August an "alternative" pay raise. Last year in a similar situation the White House repeated its budget proposal from the beginning of the year, favoring a 2 percent raise that took effect in January 2004 only to be overridden by later legislation boosting that increase to 4.1 percent. This year the administration might use its opportunity to recommend an "alternative" raise to once again advocate 1.5 percent. That would be one more factor at play in the appropriations process, which could be contentious as Congress works after reconvening following Labor Day on spending bills for the budget year that starts October 1.
Warning: Potential Confusion Ahead: If the White House does repeat its 1.5 percent raise recommendation, there could be potential for a repeat of the confusion that arose last year when it reiterated an earlier-recommended 2 percent raise. Some news outlets unfamiliar with the federal pay-setting process publicized the President's announcement as the final action of the year, definitely setting the raise at that amount. Also, the Office of Personnel Management followed the announcement by releasing a fact sheet that led some to the conclusion that the matter had been settled; OPM further posted on its Web site pay tables incorporating a 2 percent increase. A similar sequence of events could occur this year, but employees should remember that the raise will be set, as always, in the budget process, which has yet to fully play out for the year.
AOPA NEWS: Congress makes sure FSS service levels continue
August 6, 2004
Congress makes sure FSS service levels continue
FREDERICK, MD (AOPA News Service) - At AOPA's urging, Congress this week directed the FAA to ensure that pilots continue to get the best possible flight briefing and en route information services without user fees. The committee that holds the agency's purse strings told the FAA to have specific, comprehensive customer service standards for maintaining the quality of pilot briefings.
AOPA's legislative affairs staff worked with the House Appropriations Committee to add the FSS service directive to the report accompanying next year's funding bill for the FAA. The bill has been approved by the committee and now goes to the full House and Senate.
"This guidance from Congress is a very pointed reminder to the agency that pilots need a high level of service, whether the briefers work directly for the government or indirectly through a contractor," said AOPA President Phil Boyer. " Flight service station functions are safety-of-flight issues, and pilot service and safety can't be shortchanged. Just like inbound call centers used by businesses, the government's flight service stations must have metrics for on-hold times, abandon rates, and time to answer calls from pilots."
The issue is important because the FAA is currently conducting a so-called "A-76" study to determine whether it should contract out some FSS functions, much as it does already with the DUAT service. (See AOPA President Phil Boyer's editorial, "Modernizing flight service," at www.aopa.org/prez/prespos/2004/pp0408.html)
The congressional report says, "In order to maintain a high level of safety and efficiency in the provision of flight service activities, the Committee urges FAA to ensure that the flight service station competitive sourcing effort require bidders to provide comprehensive and specific customer service standards for providing flight briefings to pilots as well as a process for ongoing customer service monitoring and evaluation."
"That's really more than a suggestion," explained Andy Cebula, AOPA senior vice president of Government and Technical Affairs. "When the people who write the checks tell a government agency to do something, the bureaucrats usually pay attention."
This week was the deadline for bids to outsource the FSS system. The bidders include aerospace companies such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon. While some think this process always leads to contracting out the government service, that's not true.
The FAA itself, in partnership with FSS equipment manufacturer Harris Corporation, is also in the bidding. It's making its own business case that the FAA is the most efficient organization (MEO) to run flight services. In most other A-76 studies, the government agency, or MEO, continues to provide the service. But no previous A-76 process has been for something as big as the flight service system, which costs some $550 million a year to run.
AOPA has been part of the A-76 process from the beginning to make sure pilots have a voice in the outcome. For example, the association's technical staff had significant input in describing the services pilots need from FSS (www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsitems/2003/03-2-034x.html).
And AOPA will have a voice in the performance standards that the future FSS will have to meet whether the service is provided by government employees or contractors.
"Rest assured, as both a heavy user of FSS for more than three decades, and as I lead your association in addressing this change, pilot needs and a government-funded service, without user fees, will be of utmost importance," said Boyer.
|
