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In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the ongoing revelations of where the breakdowns occurred there seems to be plenty of blame at multiple levels to go around. But as an employee of a federal agency I can’t help but wonder about the condition of FEMA. And if you will indulge me for a few more sentences on the subject, I promise to bring some points of relevance to your job.
When you are confronted with the current condition of FEMA, an organization that historically has had its ups and downs, but up until recently was regarded as a fairly well funded and operating organization with a critically important mission, you can’t help but wonder what happened. Taken outside of the context of the immediacy of finger pointing in regards to the post-Katrina world, FEMA has been victimized by an ideological and budgetary process which amounted to rolling the dice, betting that nothing seriously bad would happen. In spite of the supposed nationally critical disaster response priorities bandied about after 9-11, FEMA was rolled into a new organizational structure (Homeland Security) blurring the lines of authority as well as its mission priorities, starved of appropriate funding for critical infrastructure and supply, stacked at the top with political appointees whose placement was more for political reward than qualification, had employee protections and representational rights removed, endured policies that involved outsourcing of functions with the idea of private entities being able to profit, and saw a significant exodus of qualified personnel disgusted by the new “paradigm”.
Does the recent history of FEMA sound eerily familiar to you? Much of this sounds like what we have been suffering through in the FAA for the past few years. Not that FEMA and the FAA are unique amongst federal agencies with these problems, but both share critical missions of public interest. The FAA is currently struggling with mission ambiguity in regards to whether the Airlines are our customers or are we their regulators. Are the rest of the users equal in status still or should they be relegated to a lesser priority. The FAA is also dealing with a government wide application of a “starve the beast” ideology that theorizes, correctly, that there is some waste in the use of taxpayer funds requiring better overall stewardship. But more questionably the outsourcing of functions, a process which may have some usefulness, yet with an implementation which suffers from insufficient analysis and worse, an ideological assumption that not only will private interests act in the best interests of the citizens, but that they will somehow ALWAYS be less expensive and more efficient ... and that additionally this can throw some lucrative contracts to your business allies. This ideology is being applied equally to nearly all government functions without regard to critical mission, actual performance, and continuity of service or wisdom of interference. Knocking 10, 20 30 percent of funding from most non-military functions is a grand scheme which assumes equal waste and equal priority amongst government entities. I’m not arguing that there isn’t bloat in the government. But withholding funds until an Agency either miraculously obtains efficiencies without degradation of service, or ultimately fails, earning it a front row seat on the outsourcing chopping block, is far from good public policy.
Now the “FEMA-tization” of the FAA is not complete, or at least I don’t think it is. I base this on the fact that we have to demonstrate our capabilities every day making the largest, most complex, most unique and still the safest air traffic system in the world function … with aging equipment, pitiful staffing, and occasionally a little luck but mostly due to the dedication and professionalism of the hands on “doers” such as yourselves under far from ideal conditions. FEMA on the other hand was reduced over the past few years to a shell of its former self, a paper tiger if you will, which only became apparent to those who did not know or refused to listen to the warnings, when disaster struck.
As employees, many of you are experiencing great uncertainty regarding the hurricane like maelstrom created by the current course of our employer, the FAA. The NAS still functions but the fissures are starting to show. In addition to the misplaced ideological and questionably motivated government wide actions discussed above, the FAA has found a new scapegoat to attempt to explain why we are having so many problems. It’s your fault … the actual people on the front lines holding this operation together. You’re treated to generously or you’re paid to well or you don’t understand your job. You’re expertise, while effective, only highlights the lack of expertise and knowledge at higher levels and their lack of short term or strategic vision. Their mismanagement will require someone to pay and in the near term, they want that to be you.
Are you tired of being demonized? Does your professional interest and dedication make you recoil at the direction of this organization? Are the current threats to your own economic livelihood untenable?
How you can help in 5 minutes or less.
NATCA will be launching a large scale public relations and grassroots effort soon to take the reality of this to the users, the flying public and, not least of which, your real employer, Congress.
This will involve several strategies but what I am asking everyone to do is make sure you are signed up with NATCA’s grassroots network. When you do this you will receive emails and information that you can reply to transmitting yours and your union’s views to your elected representatives. The sign up is easy; the follow up required in the next few months will be simple.
If you are reading an electronic copy of this update, the direct web address is http://www.unionvoice.org/natca/home.html . Alternatively, you can get there by typing www.natca.net into your browsers address bar, selecting “legislative center” on the left and then selecting “legislative activism”. You simply fill out a few lines on a form, give your email address (one you actually check) and then any future involvement is tailored just to you and your members of Congress. And don’t forget to encourage your coworkers (members or not), your friends, family, or anybody else to do the same. The great thing about this is that it makes it easy for you and even better … it really works, it really does have an impact on Congress. Feel free to contact me for help.
Grant Anderson 417.894.6887 pin# 50501 |
