Facility Update November 17th

MOUs have been all-consuming, not much else has been getting done that doesn’t have to do with that.

We are VERY close to being finished, all but one area guides have been agreed to, and our next meeting will be on Tuesday. If we can get that done, we can go back to the facility MOUs, finalize those, sign them, and then start briefing the changes. A VERY tentative bid estimate will be December 3rd. That is, if everything goes smoothly from here on out.

Spot Leave

WMTSceduler will open to submit SF71s (spot leave requests) on November 25th at 5 pm local time. It will be limited to pay periods 3-8. Once we start bidding, we must close WMTScheduler again and wipe everything out after an agreed-upon date.

Ideally, this will be limited to accumulated leave only, but if this needs to be counted as some of your accrued leave, please let your area rep know the dates. This is important.

• Accrued Leave = Annual leave that will be earned during the current leave year (leave that you will earn this year)

• Accumulated Leave = Annual leave that has been accrued in previous leave years (leave balance)

Any leave requests showing a timestamp of 4:59 pm or earlier will be deleted, please ensure you do not submit anything early. 

I understand this might be a little convoluted, but find me, any of the reps, or any of the schedulers, and they’ll be able to explain it in further detail.

Thank you for your continued patience through all of this.

Amy

Proposed Changes to Local Constitution (Vote at Meeting on 12/6)

All,

Attached HERE are proposed changes to the ZSE Local Constitution. These changes will be voted on at the All Members Meeting on 12/6.

Quick rundown of the changes:
Gender-Neutral Language

Staggered Elections - THIS IS A BIG CHANGE, PLEASE READ. (There is an explanation of this in the linked proposal.)

Drew

Red Tailed Hawks - VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

All,

I sent this email back in July but wanted to send it one more time in hopes of getting more volunteers - we need the help here!!

I am reaching out today to see who would be interested in helping me do a tour and Q&A with a PNW youth flying group called Red Tailed Hawks. You may have seen them in the building in the past. Brian Spencer has long been their point of contact and I am taking over for him.

This is expected to be about a 40-60 person group and we will have them start in the East/West conference room where we will give a presentation on air traffic control before breaking into smaller groups for tours of the dysim and the operation. We will also be hanging around to answer any questions they might have.

This will be done on Saturday, December 16th from 9am to 1pm.

If you are interested, please let me know. I have been told that credit will be approved if that is a possibility for you. If you work that day and want to see if you can help out, let me know and we will see about getting you off the schedule.

You can learn more about the Red Tailed Hawks by clicking HERE.

Please let me know if you want to help!

Drew Stewart

503.593.8178

Facility Update October 27th

It’s hard to believe we’ve already made it to Halloween, this year is screaming by. Don’t forget to stop by the NATCA office on Tuesday, we are participating in the facility’s “trick-or-treat’ event and will have candy out.

MOU Negotiation / Bidding

We are still progressing, the BWS MOU has been tentatively agreed upon. Now the Area Reps are meeting with their OM counterpart to agree upon next year’s schedule. The AL MOU is the last one that we need to finish negotiating. 

Meetings with Supervisors

We have noticed an increase in instances where employees are faced with non-ATC related events, sick leave counseling, and various meetings or paperwork labeled as "non-disciplinary" by management. However, it's important to note that these situations aren't always correctly classified as such.

Please remember to request representation before engaging in any such meetings with management. Prior to your meeting, please reach out to your area representative. If you encounter difficulties, don't hesitate to contact me, and we will work together to address the situation. Remember, we are here to support you.

Key Points:

• Always ask for representation before non-disciplinary meetings.

• Contact your area rep or reach out to me for assistance.

• It's easier for us to help when involved from the beginning.

Your rights as an employee are important to us, and we are dedicated to ensuring you are treated fairly and in accordance with the contract.

Please stay safe!

Amy

Center FacRep Meeting Notes

The meeting in Chicago went great. The hosting facility had our schedule jam-packed with many speakers, it was very informative but made for very long days. Here are some of the items we discussed:

Disaster Relief Fund (DRF)

The DRF has been a vital resource for NATCA members since 1992 after Hurricane Andrew. Originally founded to help with natural disasters, like hurricanes and tornadoes, they have been able to expand their reach and help with things like house fires and flooded basements. The DRF was on call and ready to assist members in our area in 2020 when the wildfires forced evacuations for many of us. HERE is the link to their page to learn more about what they do, but also, if you’re interested, they could use your help. You can donate time, resources, or money, all are greatly appreciated. Use the contact info on the link above to talk to someone about volunteering, or if you prefer a monetary option, click HERE to set up a payroll deduction. (Currently, three people at ZSE have a monthly donation set up, I’d love to see more!)

I wanted to separate this next point so it doesn’t get lost in the mix. It is really important that you keep your address up to date with NATCA. The Disaster Relief Committee has a program that overlays a map of any particular disaster with the addresses of all the members. Then they are able to target specific members to offer resources. Please ensure you address is correct on the myNATCA website or let us know, we can help too.

ABACUS

As many of you know, no ARTCC has ever had an accurate traffic count. They can do simple things like count airplanes, but it goes downhill quickly when you start trying to figure out things like military aircraft and complexity factors. The FAA and NATCA have been developing a program called ABACUS with the goal of accurately counting traffic. It is an extremely involved, highly technical program that, when tested, has about a 99.7% accuracy. They do not currently have ZSE scheduled for a test run, but it should be within the next year or two, this program is highly dependent on continuous funding. If you are interested in what goes into figuring out determining a facility level, it HERE in the contract. The section starts on page 232, but the formula specific to enroute starts on page 248.

Training

The national training rep gave an in-depth briefing on the happenings in the training world. The 3120.4 has an update coming out soon, the OJTI Cadre class (this is the one to certify people to teach OJTI class) schedule has been released, if that interests you, please let me know. There is one here in April, but more around the nation. The TRB class schedule also has been released.

Drug and Alcohol Committee (DAC)

Saliva testing has been approved, but DOT has no current plans to use it. They are waiting for other people to work through problems. There isn’t even a lab to process them.

There were so many more topics that we discussed, these were just the most useful for the general membership updates. We left there with a huge “to-do” list and have already started checking items off. Meetings like this make us stronger leaders and are a huge benefit to be able to share info between centers and not be on 20 individual islands.

Thank you,

Amy