Hey everybody! The minutes from the All Members meeting last week are below.
Chico
All Members Meeting 5/23/22 Rail Hop’n Brewery
Start time: 3:06 PM Attendance: See attached
Food: Costco Pizza, sandwiches, and pretzels, provided by ZSE Natca Local
To start the meeting, it was brought up that we need to officially adopt the minutes from the prior All Members Meeting. This is to make sure there is nothing in the official minutes that is inaccurate, omitted, or otherwise incorrect. With that being explained, the minutes from the previous All Members Meeting were unanimously adopted.
Constitution -
Drew talked about how the process for amending our local constitution currently works. There is a small window of time for nominations of members to the E-board. We are going to try and change that to make that window bigger. We are also looking at changing the wording for the term limits for the E-board to make it start and end on January 1st, rather than what it says currently which is tied to the federal pay periods. If you have any ideas for other changes, bring them to Drew. If you want to access the local constitution you can find it in the member portal, or also on our website: natca-zse.com
Overtime Assignments -
We are being assigned a lot of overtime recently, throughout the building, so we wanted to discuss a few things about it. If you are trying to get out of an overtime assignment the best thing to do is to find a replacement. Another potential option is if you have scheduled travel that was booked prior to the overtime being scheduled, you can potentially use that to have the overtime taken off of your schedule.
Dan mentions that the A-area in particular has a lot of overtime being assigned currently. There are people using sick leave all the time. It is hard on the rest of that crew that is working short. Amy says that Pro Standards can be one option to steer a supervisor towards if they are intent on pursuing discipline when there is a chronic problem with people calling in sick for overtime. That really falls on management to decide when they are going to look into discipline for it, and the union will be there to make sure it is legitimate and that the process is followed.
One last note about overtime is that once overtime is determined to be needed for a shift, it must then actually be overtime. It can’t be somebody working credit or some other solution.
Representation Rights -
We want to try and do some more education at these meetings, on topics like certain articles in the contract, how certain processes work, benefits that the union provides, etc. That is why we wanted to cover representation rights today. There are a lot of supervisors who like to talk behind the sector and ask questions about a session, about a trainee, about the schedule, etc. You do need to be careful in these types of meetings where you are “pulled aside for a moment” because if at any point the conversation steers toward potential discipline that is when you should stop and ask for a NATCA rep.
You hear some members say they have a good relationship with whichever supervisor, and it's ok if I talk about whichever topic with them. However, there are certain topics that supervisors have to report on further. So then you end up in a Weingarten meeting which could have been avoided.
There are no emergency meetings. It has to be planned ahead of time with a rep available. You can get a rep that you would like to work with as long as they are available in a reasonable time frame. They also can’t dictate that you use a certain e-mail address or have the room set up in a particular way.
Every so often there are security investigations. If the investigators are coming to you directly, that is wrong. It should all go through your supervisor.
We reviewed some general tips about Weingarten meetings. One of the most important ones is to not lie. You should always tell the truth when you answer each question. You also do not want to elaborate on any of your answers. You answer the question asked and offer no additional information. Management can’t ask the same question twice. If you have answered a question then the rep should step in and say that has already been answered. If the questions to the investigation are known ahead of time, they must be provided to NATCA. Erich reminds everybody that you should be filling out an ATSAP report when it is appropriate to do so as well. If you are filling one out well after a situation has occurred and you are heading into a Weingarten meeting it looks like you are hiding something and it isn’t received well.
Solidarity Event -
The flyers for the solidarity event are out. We are hoping to have around 100 people, but can make some changes to some of the event details based on the final number of guests. We haven’t had any solidarity events in three years, so the local has some funds that we would like to give back to the members. When you meet the NEB members at the event, it really is your chance to make your voice heard. If you are upset with any aspect of the union or the direction it is heading, this is a great opportunity to let that be known. They want to hear your feedback and it is often more impactful coming directly from members rather than from NATCA reps that they hear from more often.
New Logos -
Drew and Amy have been working on some new logos for the center. They will be on an upcoming T-shirt that every member will get at no cost. There will be an order form to provide your shirt size. We are also thinking about doing hats, stickers, or something similar.
Follow up on TOP discussion from last meeting -
Lindsay was wondering if there was any new information about how TOP is being tracked. Stan is supposedly tracking all time worked in addition to time on the radar scope in a spreadsheet and defending our facility to the region. It is unknown if that really would have any impact however. Lindsay would like there to be more done. There is a question about whether our staffing at the center is based on these numbers. Drew says that there isn’t much we can do at the facility level. The change needs to happen with the actual tracking program that the FAA uses. Our NATCA counterparts at that level should be advocating for us there. Erich says that in his experience the only thing that really matters is when it actually starts affecting air traffic in a visible way. If there are major delays to an airport or ATC alerts at facilities, that is what gets their attention. The TOP isn’t a major factor.
It is hard because you don’t want to be the reason there are air traffic delays so you work harder, but you shouldn’t have to. There should be adequate staffing to handle the workload. If you ever need the sector split, or need a D-side, and the supervisor can’t provide any help, you need to file an ATSAP.
Meeting adjourned at 3:51 PM