FAA Bill

jackto Newcomer

Doug,

What are some of the bigger benefits from this FAA bill specifically toward air traffic controllers, and more specifically for NATCA? It seems that NATCA is really pushing for passage.

Thanks.

-jack

Doug Church Director of Communications Washington, D.C.

Hi Jack,

Thanks very much for your excellent question.

There is one big issue in this legislation that is most important to NATCA and that is the change in the law -- Title 49, U.S. Code -- that is needed to secure a permanent fair process for our collective bargaining with the FAA on future contracts. Both the House and the Senate, in bipartisan fashion, have passed their own FAA bills with this important-to-NATCA Title 49 language included in it. What's missing now is the final piece of the legislative process -- passage of a compromise bill. That's what we're pressing for.

We had a fair process last year with the ATC/NOTAM/TMU bargaining units, as you know, but it was only because the Obama Administration made it a priority and made it happen. Title 49 still needs amending, so there is a permanent solution to this issue that is not beholden to politics or ideological agendas. Should the White House ever be occupied again by an administration that does not believe we should have fair collective bargaining rights, we need to have our fair collective bargaining rights protected under law with no ambiguity.

NATCA believes Title 49 is a safety issue. NATCA President Paul Rinaldi details this in an op/ed column that ran in Aviation Daily last week. Read below:

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No More Excuses On FAA Bill
Aviation Daily, Aug. 4, 2010

By NATCA President Paul Rinaldi

Congress, in separate House and Senate votes over the past 15 months, has passed FAA reauthorization by a combined total of 370-136. That’s a solid 73% majority of lawmakers, which made a strong, bipartisan statement in favor of a safer, more efficient and technologically advanced National Airspace System (NAS) that also provides needed jobs for Americans.

Yet a disagreement over the proposed addition of long-distance slots at Reagan Washington National Airport tripped up the Senate last week in the final stage of the nearly four-year-long legislative process on this critical aviation safety and technology bill. A 15th extension to the previous FAA reauthorization was passed. Once again, the bill is unfinished, leaving a large coalition of stakeholders, including air traffic controllers, frustrated but determined to keep fighting for the safe future of the flying public.

While last week’s extension included important safety provisions on pilot training, the larger bill includes many other safety-related measures that must now also be enacted to truly address the safety of the system as a whole. NATCA is most concerned with one such provision, the stability of the air traffic controller workforce, which has a direct and profound impact on the safe movement and separation of aircraft in the NAS.
This week marks 29 years since the PATCO controllers’ strike. In the years following that event, thousands of new hires entered the FAA. This group of the most experienced, veteran controllers began to reach retirement eligibility (25 years of service or 20 years of service and 50 years of age) in large numbers between 2005 and 2008. Then, the FAA under the last administration gave them an incentive to retire—taking a combined 46,000 years of experience with them—by imposing draconian work rules and pay cuts.

In fiscal 2008 alone, at the height of this mass exodus, nearly 10% of the workforce was lost to attrition. But in fiscal year 2009, veteran controllers watched as President Obama won the election, took office and brought NATCA and the FAA back to the contract table under a fair collective bargaining process, and total attrition dropped by 58%.

The percentage of retirement-eligible controllers who left the job also dropped 58% from FY2008 to FY2009. This workforce stabilization translates into increased safety margins because the most experienced controllers are electing to stay on the job longer and are now seeing the FAA, under the fairly negotiated terms of the current contract, invite them back into a collaborative partnership to improve the safety of the system and to safely develop and deploy NextGen. These veterans are also working with and teaching the more-than-4,000 trainees, passing along their experiences and wisdom.
When the current fiscal year began, more than one in six controllers was eligible to retire, according to the FAA. By 2014, 25% of the workforce will join them in becoming eligible to retire, further necessitating a permanent process to ensure stability in their safety-critical workplaces.

Again, nearly three-fourths of the lawmakers voting on House and Senate versions of the FAA bill have already agreed that the way to permanently ensure a fair NATCA-FAA collective bargaining process and avoid future disputes and future disruptions to the stability of the workforce is to change the law—Title 49 of the U.S. Code. All that’s missing is final passage of the compromise version of the FAA reauthorization bill.
But there are only 57 days left until the clock runs out on the latest extension. This is the final countdown to ensure that our NAS becomes even safer and more efficient. This bill affects all segments of aviation, from general aviation to airports to manufacturers and, most of all, the flying public. We, as aviation community members, are seeing our patience depleted, but our determination is soaring. We will not stop pushing for this bill because the safety and the future of the NAS is far too important.

The time for excuses is over. Once and for all, it’s time for this bill to be sent to the President. The future of the NAS is most definitely at stake.

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-Doug