Good Evening all, tonight’s update is jointly crafted by Derek and Amy.
Schedules
Obviously the big topic is dynamic scheduling. This was a huge undertaking to get done in only a couple of days. Your area reps, alternate area reps and scheduling reps busted their butts to get this done so quickly and they deserve an elbow bump or air five or whatever the CDC says is ok. Seriously though, please thank them.
Everything basically comes down to keeping all overlap to an absolute minimum but here are the highlights:
If you are on days/swings/mids you must stay on that for the duration of your 5 days. If you want to trade with anyone, it needs to be done before your 5 days starts and encompass the entire 5 days.
If someone calls in sick, they will not be backfilled with overtime. The operation will just be curtailed to meet the staffing.
Recallability - That will only happen in an extreme circumstance such as a positive COVID-19 test. This is a high level decision to recall people and you should have plenty of notification (48 hours or more).
It is possible that you will go over two hours on position. Clearly not optimal, just the way it is right now. In addition to this we have asked management not to micromanage breaks. If it makes sense for the operation to do hour on/hour off or some other configuration that allows for longer breaks, that should be acceptable. On the same token, please be flexible if shorter breaks are required due to staffing constraints or periods of high traffic volume. The E-board will be keeping a close eye on this to ensure the go-getter sups out there are not using this as a time to shine.
“Spot Leave” will more than likely not happen. Pre-approved leave still stands. If you do have pre-approved leave, but are able to work your 5 day rotation and would like to have the 10 days of EA before and after in place of your bid leave, please notify your area rep ASAP so they can work that into the schedule.
You will get paid for 80 hours regardless of what you actually work. We know there will be questions about differentials and we ask that you please let us get into this new configuration and tackle any pay issues on the back end.
You probably heard that we won’t all go into the control room at the beginning of your shift. Some of you will start out on break. All the details should be in your area’s email but if you have any questions, please let us know. The last couple of minutes in your shift should be used to sanitize your area. Lastly, please do not play games with this. Hopefully we all realize that this was not the FAA’s idea, this was NATCA National finally beating it into their heads that action needed to be taken. It took a lot of convincing to even get this far, let’s not ruin this. That being said, if you’re sick, call in sick. No questions asked. We know that this situation is not ideal and we know that this can be a burden for all of us and our families, but we also know that this is the right thing to do. As always, we are continually proud of the dedication and professionalism that you all exhibit, especially when circumstances are the most taxing.
Members of the E-board that are able to continue controlling through this time will be placed on a crew just like everybody else. The expectation is that they comply with this new dynamic staffing including taking their ten days of EA (yes, even the FacRep). With that, please know that we will still be as available as we always are, but it will be via phone or email. If you need anything or have questions, please do not hesitate to reach out.
All Members Meeting
The All Members meeting will be held via Microsoft Teams on Monday the 30th at 2pm. The link to the meeting is below. If you are using an iPhone or iPad, you must download the app. Android has a free app as well. Devin sent out the links for that earlier but you should be able to find it in your respective app stores. If you’re using the newest versions of Chrome or Firefox, it will work just by clicking on the link. We won’t be using it to send out any information so you shouldn’t get a bunch of notifications. The phone number is below if you just want to call in.
Join Microsoft Teams Meeting <— click on this link when you’re ready to join the meeting
+1 253-240-0613 United States, Tacoma (Toll)
Conference ID: 432 314 6#
Northwest Mountain Live Stream
Tomorrow the Northwest Mountain Region will be holding another live stream event. You should’ve received that email yesterday afternoon from NNM Communications, if you didn’t just let us know, we’ll send it to you. Last week’s live stream was pretty cool and was packed with important information. We had Alex and Josh from our region and then a couple other RVPs that were able to give some other perspective on the current state of the COVID crisis. You will be able to send in any questions you might have, then they’ll read the answers online. Their email address is NNM-LEADERSHIP@NATCA.ORG.
In Solidarity,
Derek Adams & Amy Sizemore