My apologies to everyone for not getting an update out last week. I was on a fam-trip and the day got away from me.
Congratulations
To start on a positive note, congratulations to Ariana Antonopoulos, our newest CPC in the B -Area.
COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
I know one of the hottest topics on everyones mind is COVID-19 and what the FAA is doing to prepare for a potential outbreak. This is particularly important to our facility, because it seems Washington State has wound up as a hotbed for the virus. As many of you probably already guessed, the preparation in this matter is less than adequate. We are finding ourselves in short supply of both sanitizing wipes as well as hand sanitizer. You would think as much as Robert Clear hoarded that stuff, we’d have an endless supply. There was a TELCON today and I later followed up with the front office to figure out where we are and what we need to do. The first thing I will say, is if you have symptoms or are exposed to the virus, you should take sick leave. We need to do anything we can to limit potential exposure and spread. One of my asks of management today was to allow us the option to take advanced sick leave since the duration of the neccesary quarantine is so long. They are going to look into this as a possibility. Another ask was to allow the use of sick leave to stay home with our children if they must miss school or childcare due to closures. I was told this had to be treated the same way it is today which means sick leave is not approved for these purposes. This seems extremely short-sighted and I will continue to press the issue. The final thing I was told is that there is some kind of spray sanitizer that is safe to use on the equipment and there is an order on the way. I’m not sure if this would be a tech-ops function or if anyone can use it, but I will follow up next week. I know non of this seems to be good news, but please be assured that NATCA will continue to pressure the agency to take every precaution we can to prevent the spread of this virus.
More to Come
I have a few other things that I can update, but with COVID-19 being of such high priority, I will have more for you next week. As I find out more measures that the FAA is going to take, I will try my best to get it out to the membership. I apologize for the apparent short-sighted approach that is being taken, but at this point, it seems like all I have the ability to do is continue to be the squeaky wheel.
In Solidarity,
Derek Adams