Hey guys,
I'll try not to make this too long but we do have a few things to talk about.
- All Members Meetings
A reminder about next weeks upcoming All Members Meetings.
Monday Aug 15th 3pm at the Rainbow Cafe next to Safeway in Auburn and Friday August 19th at 3pm at the spunky monkey in Auburn. This is your pre-convention meeting where you can make your voice heard and let your delegates know how you want them to vote regarding important topics including:
- Changes to seniority based on Military Time, FCT (Federal Contract Time), and previously held supervisor roles
- Privitization efforts/language
- Term Limits
- Frequency of the convention 2/3 years
We will also discuss the new contract, credit hours, next years schedules and leave bidding.
- 2016 Bidding
There are a few individuals who are still wanting to bid leave this year. Most of the FLM's are over it by now and its not necessarily their priority. Help your brothers and sisters out by helping to move the bid along. (Next year will be better with a last round where one can bid out their accrued leave)
- Credit Hours
Speaking of helping your brothers and sisters out, credit hours are back!
There are quite a few newer controllers who have never worked with credit hours and I won't get into all of the details here but the beauty of credit hours is being able to get a day off that you may not otherwise would have been able to by securing a replacement to work for you. (I.E. You are requesting AL but we are already below guides, you ask XX on an RDO if they can work for you, you get your AL and they get 8 hours of Credit Hours that can be used as leave another time)
One caveat is that FLM's/CIC's are still required to go by order of request in webschedules. So if you secure a replacement for your shift, you will still have to get agreement from anyone in front of you to allow you to "skip" them. That being said it is my belief that the employee who does the leg work deserves the day off. Just remember we are all in this together and this can be a great tool if we help each other out.
I expect growing pains as we transition back into credit hours and issues will arise so please bring them to me so we can all get on the same page.
Employees are expected to manage their own balances with a maximum of 24 hours banked.
One other note is that Credit Hours cannot be substituted for any Bid Leave. (Credit hours are not supposed to cost the agency money and with guaranteed leave they may backfill OT)
- 2017 Schedule
Its about that time. Jeff Enticknap is helping again this year with building the schedule and we are going to try something new this year and are asking everyone to fill out a "dream schedule sheet." You will find them in the area soon. Please do your best to be realistic based on your previous years RDO opportunities and realizing that not everyone can work 5 day shifts. The more realistic you are the more helpful/meaningful it will be on the schedule we attempt to build. Feel free to put down more than one option if you are flexible. CWS and 5-4-9's don't look promising since we are looking at bidding 31 lines but again feel free to write them in as an option and we will explore every avenue.
Also if you have general suggestions or ideas regarding next years schedule feel free to either add them to the forms or talk to Jeff and I directly. Once you have completed the form please put it in Jeff's (DL) headset box.
- Volunteer Solicitation (keep reading its minimal commitment)
Looking for two volunteers to serve on SRM panels (Risk analysis). Both should be one day deals probably a couple of hours. The bigger one is in regards to the Sector 5 redesign and its impact, the other is regarding a new UAS operation at TMK. If you're looking to try something new this is your chance to try something out without much commitment.
- New Faces
Lastly there are two new faces in the B area. Brandon McGorty and Jonathon Burton both just completed Stage 3 in the back and have come to the floor. Congrats, welcome, and good luck to them.
Thanks for reading this far and hope to see everyone at one of the upcoming meetings :)
Kip