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Char·ac·ter; Public estimation of someone’s reputation as·sault; attack in speech or writing.
The above definitions, courtesy of dictionary.com, describe what your employer is attempting to inflict upon you. Or perhaps more accurately it would be more accurately stated as an attempted character assassination of air traffic controllers in the public media.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re bound to have heard at least snippets of what the FAA has been doing within the context of contract negotiations.
Val·ue; Worth in usefulness or importance to the possessor; utility or merit. The FAA has, before contract negotiations even began, launched a very public and expensive (while simultaneously crying poor) media effort to say in effect “we’re not sure what the value of what you do is other than it can’t be worth what we pay you to do it”. As ‘evidence’ they offer wildly inflated numbers which include benefits, insurance etc. and call it ‘salary’. Not only is that incredibly misleading but they couldn’t even keep their own BS straight when asked what your actual salary is. Additionally they are claiming that you are the cause of all things bad in the FAA. You are lazy and only work a few hours a day, you have the gall to earn extra Sunday pay and night differential when all you did for it was work Sundays and nights. You are causing harm with overtime costs because you are working mandatory overtime as a result of the Agency’s long time failure to address staffing and new hires. You are the cause of modernization delays because of your ridiculous insistence that new technology should not only work, but do what it was intended to do. You are merely another public servant who, while providing a valuable service, are providing just a service that is no different than what any other public servant does so the value of that is certainly not worth whatever the FAA believes they are compensating you. You are the reason that the cost savings from Supervisor attrition have not materialized in spite of the fact that the FAA not only did not reduce but actually increased the number of Supervisors. And they are attempting to sell this to the public so that when they go to impasse to attempt to shove a bad deal down your throat, they can cry the bad ole’ union left us no choice. I hope you’ve had the opportunity to read most of the original data on this but if you haven’t drop an email to me ganderson@natca.org and I’ll be happy to provide it to you.
To offer a bit of perspective, there is certainly always some amount of public posturing prior to any contract negotiations. To put it in military terms, an artillery prep is a conventionally good idea before any battle. But when that prep consists of nuclear weapons it is anything but conventional and what the FAA has been doing here is truly unprecedented.
So why is the legislative guy talking about contract negotiations? Aside from the fact that I, as any controller should be, am intensely interested in this process because of its potential for very real negative effects on my profession, the reason is simple; legislative affairs and contract negotiations are intertwined … now more than ever.
We have been remarkably successful, so far, in blunting the FAA’s media tactics. But will that mean anything in the end? We have assembled a group of skilled contract negotiators that would be the envy of any Union. If given even a slightly level playing field to work with, the job they would do on all of our behalves would be stellar. But in the current environment, the FAA feels it can disregard its statutory requirements to negotiate in good faith. It’s not that the laws have changed but the people entrusted with the duty to enforce them have. The FLRA, FSIP and other regulatory bodies have been populated with biased, ideological political appointees who are either refusing to act or worse, when they do act they busy themselves with reversing 60+ years of labor law and precedent. In essence, it’s as if a police were refusing to enforce the law so if a crime were committed against their answer is a big fat sorry… too bad. In the past, the FLRA or the FSIP or Congress or the White House has had to step in somewhere in the process and insist the FAA bargain fairly. Look at that previous list … when the FAA declares impasse without having actually attempted to bargain … who is going to step in? The only possible option left is Congress … and that’s if we can convince them to do so.
NATCA will be forced to spend a considerable amount on public affairs from its budget to combat the vitriol and diversion the FAA is bandying about. We will also need to address this all within Congress but the funding for that, by law, cannot come from Union dues. That is the purview of the NATCA PAC. We have been working with some great success over the past few years on relationships with members of both parties in Congress. The health of the NATCA PAC will probably be where we live or die with these contract negotiations.
So in conclusion a thought and a request; first I’d like to offer a big shout out of thanks to all of our members who selflessly contribute to the NATCA PAC. You’re investment pays huge dividends and as I said, will probably determine any ultimate successes in these dangerous times. Secondly I’d like to ask all of you who choose not to contribute to the PAC to take the opportunity to thank those who do. If you see someone with a current PAC pin, please take a moment to offer some appreciation of what they do for you. After all, it’s on their backs that your career is riding.
Grant Anderson ganderson@natca.org
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