Facility Update June 3rd

Good Morning ZSE!

Devin, Drew, and I just returned from our four Region Meeting, including Northwest Mountain, Western Pacific, Southwestern, and Region X. We reviewed the proposed constitutional amendments, participated in training, and got briefings from our national leadership. The two days were fully packed, as always but I’ll give you a quick rundown below.

All Member’s Meeting

This is the big meeting, that we need your input to ensure we are representing your interests at Convention in a couple of weeks. Please join us in the East/West conference room at 12:30 for lunch (yes, there will be tacos), and the meeting will start at 1 pm. We will be going over all the amendments and getting your input. If you would like to join us virtually, here is the LINK. 

Facility Elections

This is an election year. All positions are up for re-election (FacRep, VP, Secretary, Treasurer, and all the Area Reps). The notice of elections will be coming out soon and nominations will be coming out shortly after that. All the election notices and ballots are required by the Department of Labor to be sent out via mail, so if you have moved in the past two years, you must let us know so we can update your address in the system. There is a QR code in the bulletin board, or you can also email Chico (stjames2@gmail.com), and he can get that updated too. 

Angie McMahon has volunteered to head up the elections but is always looking for help. If you’re interested, contact her or let us know, and we’ll get you in touch!

Regional Meeting

Drew and two other constitution committee members taught a Robert’s Rules class. If you don’t know what Robert’s Rules are, it is the parliamentary process used while discussing and voting on the constitutional amendments to ensure that all people are equitably heard and order is kept. If you are interested in learning more about this process, even if you’re not going to Convention, you can sign up for this virtual class on the PORTAL. It’s June 8th at 1pm.

We went through the amendments, I won’t go through all of them now, we’ll do that at the All Members Meeting on Monday. 

John Bratcher, ARVP from the Southwestern Region, briefed us on UNUM disability insurance and announced that we’d have an open season starting June 20th! This is one of the better additional benefits that NATCA has negotiated for us. Details will be coming out shortly.

We also got training from Finance, Union Synergy, ATSAP, Disaster Relief, and many other committees that traveled out to take advantage of the four regions, all in the same place. These face-to-face meetings allow a critical avenue to educate both the newer and more seasoned Reps.

In Solidarity,

Amy

Facility Update May 23rd

OSHA Update From Patrick Long

The pavement project is in full swing and progressing to phase 2, which will significantly impact the operation floor and the overall parking situation. Phase 2 will occur over the next two months and close down the west side of the facility parking lots along the apartment complex. During this phase, the sidewalk on the west side will be removed in sections, which means no walking along that side. They have placed caution tape to keep people out, PLEASE don’t walk through there. At times there will be large deep holes while they make the area ADA-compliant. Also, the doors from the OSW towards the west parking area will have signs saying “not an exit” please do not go out there, again large deep holes.

Beginning Monday (the 22nd), they will start tearing up the alleyway between the generator building and the control floor, leading towards the loading dock and behind the cafeteria. The work will commence between 600-1630 Monday- Thursday. We conducted some tests to see the impact of these machines inside the control floor. The consensus was that you might feel a vibration when they pave new material, but it did not impact operations. If there are any issues, please inform the OM immediately.

During this phase, and additional phases, occur parking spaces may become limited. Behind the generator build is additional parking if need be.

A final reminder to please be vigilant of all the construction, trucks, and crew around the parking lots. There have been instances where vehicles went down the wrong direction of our one-way parking lot and almost hit a pedestrian and a vehicle backing out of a spot. Also, please watch for construction flaggers and vehicles, as they do their best to keep everyone safe.

Anyone with any questions or concerns can bring them to me or your area rep. NATCA is active in all construction project phases, and all our concerns are being addressed.

Travel

I will be working with the facility leadership in PSC for the next two days, but I will be available via phone and email if you need anything. Also, Drew will be here if you need anything. Next week though, we will both be out Tuesday and Wednesday for the Regional meeting. We will report the details of that meeting at our All Members Meeting on June 5th.

Thank you,

Amy Sizemore

All Members Meeting - Monday, June 5th

Hey all! This is just a reminder about our upcoming All Members Meeting on Monday, June 5th. It will be at 1pm in the East/West Conference room. There will be tacos available starting at 12:30. We will be discussing some of the proposed amendments to our National Constitution. This is your chance to weigh in and let your reps know how you would like them to vote. See you there!

Chico

Drug Testers in the Building

All,

Just a heads up to pee judiciously today as the drug testers are in the building.

Drew

Collaborative Resource Work Group (CRWG) Update

Good Morning,

The NATCA National email was sent out this morning with updated staffing numbers from the CRWG. Our number has increased from 165 to 166.

Here's some context: The FAA has multiple offices, and the Air Traffic branch (ATO) is separate from the Finance branch. Finance can operate autonomously, meaning they base staffing numbers on budgets rather than what's needed to support the system. NATCA has worked to get the CRWG numbers reported to Congress instead of Finance's numbers, but there was a last-minute push to still require Finance's number to be reported. This is why we worked to make the CRWG numbers law at NiW.

A couple of key points:

The updated number doesn't automatically change our staffing level. This is currently just another data point. Also, the "CIC Add-On" table shows smaller facilities that are only allowed 2-6 supes. ZSE's number is 0 because it's impossible to facilitate a schedule without using CICs for entire shifts. Our supe allotment at ZSE allows for minimal CIC coverage since we don't have 24 OSs in the building.

Please check your email for the National email with more details, but if you can't find it, the links to the two tables are HERE and HERE.

Please let me know if you have any questions,

Amy