New pay article Easter Eggs

ericbutske Newcomer

Having read most of the posts within this thread there are a couple of items that have not been mentioned. They're towards the end of Article 108. The first one involves pay raises for senior controllers who are currently above the pay band. It reads:

Pay Retention: Employees, whose basic rate of pay exceeds the CPC band maximum, shall receive 50% of all annual increases, as an adjustment to basic pay, and 50% will be paid in lump sum. Locality Pay shall always be an adjustment to basic pay.

So, instead of a 4% (3% annual + 1% bonus) increase to their base, it'll only be 2% with a 2% cash bonus. I know most of you will probably say they make enough already, but, they deserve a pay raise just like everyone else. Also, I know alot of these controllers were sitting on retirement paperwork waiting to see what would happen. I don't know if a 2% annual pay increase will keep many onboard. If your facility is already short, this has the potential to make it even worse once they start retiring.


Second, there was a tidbit in pay about seniority which may or may not have an impact. It reads:

B. A Temporary Promotion is defined as movement from a CPC to MSS-2 or higher position for a temporary period of time. Consistent with its temporary nature, following the conclusion of a temporary promotion, the BUE?s preexisting basic pay and Union determined seniority (A83) will be reinstated as though the employee had never left the bargaining unit position previously assigned without accruing seniority for the duration of the temporary promotion. Pay during a temporary promotion has no influence on permanent pay when returned to position of record, regardless of the duration of the temporary promotion.

This seems to contradict the change NATCA made involving seniority for Temp sups. Then again, it may mean absotely nothing since it references article 83 (A83). Any thoughts on this?

Matty13 Senior Member

I think the key is "NATCA determined seniority". Seniority is under the sole purview of the union, and is not negotiable nor up for arbitration. All "B." does is specify that leaving the bargaining unit means one cannot accrue seniority.

I could be full of shit here, but I don't see how arbitrators could take away the union's rights on seniority.

As far as pay goes, with the max's going up significantly the number of controllers this affects is far lower than the number whose pay was frozen by the IWR's. That said, for the first time in a long time their pension payments look to increase. And 2% of a big number is kinda big, $3k a year for a $150k salary.

CenterTMC Newcomer

Pay Retention: Employees, whose basic rate of pay exceeds the CPC band maximum, shall receive 50% of all annual increases, as an adjustment to basic pay, and 50% will be paid in lump sum. Locality Pay shall always be an adjustment to basic pay.
This part you are quoting is from a different section. Section 10 deals with pay retention for BUE's whose pay level is decreased. A controller who is eligible to retire will receive the 3% increase plus 1% retirement eligible bonus on their base pay.

otterstrom Trusted Member of NATCA

happy easter

klkm Senior Member

That is correct. Senior controllers, able to retire, above the pay bands will get the 3% + 1% bonus + increases to locality. This could make it a 5% increase for the next 3 years. This year I believe the presidential raise is 2%, 1% goes to locality, 1% to standard raises. We will get the 1% to locality, not the other 1%. The only thing holding any of the senior controllers back will be the congressional limit, which is something like 171,000. If you hit that point you wont get any more raises in base pay, unless that limit is increased at some point, which I doubt will happen until the economy improves. (I don't think congress is going to give themselves a raise during a recession)

Cirrus12 Epic Member So. NH

Can someone clarify this for me. What exactly does, plus 1% retirement eligible bonus on their base pay., mean?

klkm Senior Member

What it means, is that if you are eligible to retire, meaning you have 20 years in and are over 50, or 25 years in at any age, but still working, you will get an additional 1% bonus to stick around. If you get in at say age 23 and work 25 years, you could retire at 48, most won't at this age and will keep working. So anyone falling under that will get 1% extra.

Cirrus12 Epic Member So. NH

After looking at someones explination of the pension a couple of months ago I think I need to ask a slightly different question. Is this 1% anything new or is the retirement policy exactly as it was a couple of months ago.

klkm Senior Member

The retirement pension is still the same, the 1% goes into the base pay of the employee who could be retiring. This could raise their high 3 which will then factor in for pension. But it is not an extra 1% towards the percentage they will get in a pension when they retire. If that made sense.

Cirrus12 Epic Member So. NH

So, it was explained to me as:

From my understanding retirement is 1.7% of your high-3 average salary multiplied by your years of service which do not exceed 20, plus 1% of your high-3 average salary multiplied by your service exceeding 20 years.

Is that accurate?