Open this Email for a Pay Raise

All,

Congrats on getting the biggest federal workforce pay raise in 40 years. Don’t spend it all in one place. I’m bad at math but I believe this equates to a 5.7% raise for us factoring in locality. Read more HERE or on the NATCA website.

Want to help out?

We need volunteers for IST. Let your rep know if you are interested.

Cadre Training: Jan 30/31 or Feb 1/2

Workforce Teaching: April 21 - May 4

update on a grievance we filed

We filed a grievance on an incident in the C area where a supervisor debriefed a performance assessment in the operational area. Article 95 Section 2 states “Employee performance discussions shall occur outside of the operating quarters and include RADAR replay and voice recordings, where available.” So when we filed the grievance, our only requested remedy was that they follow the contract. You would expect them to so “Oh woops” and then begin doing it correctly. The formal way to do this is to “sustain” the grievance. This means they effectively agree that they made a mistake and will correct it in the future. The Agency at the local level decided instead to “Deny” the grievance because they believed that didn’t apply to people in training, but as you know, the contract applies to all of us. So we had to elevate the grievance outside the building where ARVP Josh Waggener got the grievance “settled” where the Agency has now agreed to begin following the contract. This is the kind of fun stuff your reps deal with on a daily basis. It would have been so easy for the agency to just agree to do it right from the beginning. Instead, it had to get elevated outside the building for us to receive a reasonable response.

That’s all I have for now. I hope you all have the hap-hap-happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap danced with Danny F’n Kaye!

Drew

Facility Update December 12th

Thank you all for your attention to the bid process, we’re trucking right along. We will finish whatever round your area is on this week and then start the next round without pay period three so the schedulers can publish that.

While we’re on the subject of bidding and MOUs, I would like to take this opportunity to share a little bit of what the negotiations were stuck on. Every year, we bid as early as possible because we know how much our lives revolve around it and how helpful it is to pre-plan. The impact of the delay was not lost on us, so we thought it was important to share some of the details. 

Flex times were a huge point of contention. There was a big push to eliminate our current flex of 30 minutes. A “concession” they were trying to wager was to agree to keep the flex time but to add the ability for them to choose any shift they wanted to be designated as a “no flex.” These changes would have taken our little bit of flexibility and predictability and tossed it out with the trash.

It’s no secret that they were also coming for our daily guide numbers. We have data showing that ZSE’s traffic count has been climbing, and we are nearly at 2019 levels. Even the projected numbers for 2024 from some airlines show an increase from this year. Our focus is always on protecting the bargaining unit employees. They tend to focus on defending the business case. They will focus on how much overtime is being paid out and try to solve this by reducing the number of people required to be on shift. We must remind them that staffing is based on workload, and staffing numbers should not be changed unless that is going down.

Throughout the years, every area has taken a turn being the short-staffed area. One thing that has remained the same is that we’ve stuck together and shown as much unity as possible in the face of adversity. One goal they had this year was to separate the annual leave agreement so that each area would have different amounts of leave opportunities throughout the year. Basically, one area would have three slots in the summer while another would only have one, effectively kicking certain areas in the shin even more. Selling one area out to preserve other areas purely in the name of some supposed overtime budget would do nothing more than stoke the flames of division.

All this is not meant to sow discontent, only to ensure an informed workforce. You all deserve to know why bidding started so much later than usual. Additionally, this is not an all-inclusive list, just a few examples.

Amy

Facility Update December 5th

Every area is finished with round one. Thank you all for your promptness in getting your bid entered. If your area hasn’t started round 2 yet, you will be shortly. The Area Reps and OMs will have to meet to discuss the calendar before releasing it to start the bid again.

As a reminder:

• Round 2 - 5 consecutive days

• Round 3 - 5 days, consecutive or non-consecutive

• Round 4 (8 hour earners only) - 6 days, consecutive or non-consecutive

• Round 5 - any unselected preapproved slots, will be area-specific. Can use accumulated or accrued and no limit.

Your continued attention to the bid is much appreciated, we’re still trying to get as much bidding done as possible to ensure as many people as possible have a chance at bidding any leave in pay period 3. We will publish up to a week late on December 16th to try and capture as many bids as possible.

All Members Meeting

Tomorrow is the all-members meeting in the Shasta room. Previously, I sent out an email saying it was in the E/W Conference room but that is incorrect. Please show up around 12:30 in the Shasta tomorrow to get some lunch, the meeting will start at 1 pm. Use this link if you’d like to attend virtually. When the meeting is over, Alex Navarro would like to treat you to a beverage and some appetizers at the new Bonney Lake Tavern. If you can’t make it to the meeting, please show up around 4, we’ll meet you there!

Agenda Items:

• Local Finance Briefing

• 2024 Budget

• Local Constitution Change Proposal, click HERE to review

• Q & A with RVP Alex Navarro

We’ll see you tomorrow!

Amy

We are a go!

All area schedules for 2024 are finalized! Bidding is live!

Remember, time is of the essence. Please complete your bid as quickly as possible. Pay period 3 will no longer be available after December 16th. The more rounds of annual leave we can get through, the better.

The MOUs are agreed to but still not signed yet, I will send them out as soon as that is done.

Happy Bidding!

Amy

Facility Update November 28th

Internet Issues

There was a software issue with our WiFi security program that caused everyone and any new advice added since February to be dropped. If you are having issues and logging back in doesn’t work, please send an email to NATCAZSEWIFI@gmail.com. Matt Coughlin is working these issues personally so please have patience as this is a little labor intensive. It might take up to a week to fix all the sign-ins, so if you still cannot log in after that time, please send another email to Matt.

Bidding Annual Leave

This year the MOU states that, after round one, the leave calendar will automatically reduce to one slot during IST and your respective area refresher training. Here they are so you know in advance:

IST: April 21st - May 4th and  November 3rd - 16th

A: March 25-29

B: December 2-6

C: May 13-17

D: May 20-24

We are still tentatively going to start bidding on Thursday late afternoon. There are a couple of loose ends that are still being tied up but that is still currently the plan.

All Members Meeting

The next All Members Meeting will be next Wednesday, the 6th, in the East/West Conference room from 1-3 pm. Agenda items include finance briefing, 2024 budget, local constitution amendments, and Q&A with Alex Navarro. Food will be provided starting around 12:30.

Amy