Facility Update February 17th

Varda Space Operations

Welp, they’re back again. The last time we prepared for this, it never happened. The story we heard last time was that the mission was no longer viable and that the Space Force used it as a practice target. Not sure how much truth is to that, but I like that story, so I’m going to stick with it. Most of you got to the briefing this week, but if not, they will try again on February 21st or 28th from about 1-2 pm.

Pizza and Coffee

Alex Navarro will be in the facility for Presidents Day on Monday and will bring coffee in the morning and pizza for lunch. This is an excellent opportunity to have your questions and concerns addressed.

Turn Off Tune In

NATCA has been committed to this policy since it began in 2013. Keeping distractions to a minimum is paramount to maintaining the public trust. Remember that all use of cell phones and smart watches inside the control room is prohibited. Recently, more focus has been on ensuring we stay committed to safety by keeping those devices out. Please do your part and shut ‘em down.

Facility Update February 9th

NATCA in Washington (NiW) May 1-3

Every year, NATCA hosts its NATCA in Washington (NIW) legislative conference, where NATCA member activists meet with Members of Congress to further our relationships and educate those Congressional Members and their staff on issues important to our Union. The opportunity to speak to our elected officials and their staff to adequately explain how they can help us is invaluable.

Two common concerns:

• I don’t know enough about the issues

• I don’t want to talk about the issues by myself

Great news: the first day of NiW is dedicated to educating you on the issues and the procedures. Secondly, as a first-timer, you will always be with at least one other veteran NiW participant. Registration is open now until March 8th, feel free to register but please let me know if you do. This is slightly different from other NATCA events, space is very limited.

Controller in Charge (CIC) Cadre Class

A last-minute class has opened up to be trained to teach the CIC class. This is a change from how we normally do it, where any CIC could teach the class. The hours of this class are a little different than usual, and that’s because it’s a class made for Guam, but they’ve got extra space. It’s March 5-6 from noon to 8 pm. If you’re interested, please let me know right away.

Have a wonderful and safe Superbowl weekend,

Amy

Facility January 12th

Good Afternoon, hopefully, you’re staying warm, I believe the high for tomorrow is in the low 20s. I don’t believe we’re supposed to have a lot of snow or ice the next couple of days but just as a reminder, you have the protections of Article 19 in the event there is a hazardous weather/geological condition that would put you at risk of harm to travel to work. Please check that out sometime to read the details but also, the NNM ARVP made a video last year giving a quick synopsis of Article 19. You can watch that HERE.

The Native American Alaska Native (NAAN) Coalition of Federal Aviation Employees

Ranelle Yazzie of NAAN will have a booth set up in the cafeteria on Thursday, January 18th from 9am to 3pm. Please feel free to stop by their booth, it is a wonderful learning experience. From their website: “FAA Native American Alaska Native Coalition (NAAN) is an organization for all. You do not have to be Native American to join. Join today and partner with an organization that promotes inclusion.”

Secretary Pete EA

I know this causes such a mess every time this comes out and we have always tried to get the front office on board with some sort of standard ops but it just hasn’t taken hold. I had a long conversation with Dawn today and this is what we came up with:

• We're not going to put anything in writing because it's not an entitlement, and difficult to get the nuances of every situation.

• The goal is to "spread the wealth." This means that rather than getting one person 3 hours, the goal will be to get 3 people 1 hour. Some people have used the term, "first in, first out." So the 6s would be first on the list, then the 7s, and so on.

• We are going to finish muddling through today but the plan is to have it messaged to all the supes in time for President's Day. 

I will be in DC next week for our yearly Right From the Start program meeting. I will be available by phone but Ligaya will be the acting FacRep.

Ligaya Corbitt - cell: 312-952-3191 / email: ligayacorbitt@gmail.com

Amy

Facility Update January 5th

Happy 2024! Now that the holidays and bidding are all over, we can dive right into all the projects that have been put off. The new eboard term has started, and we have a lot of energy to help drive this ship in whichever way you guide us. It is helpful to hear the comments, ideas, and potential solutions so keep them coming!

2024-2026 eboard members: FacRep Amy Sizemore, VP Ligaya Corbitt, Treasurer Devin Carlisto, Secretary Chico, TMU Tyler Miranda, TMU Alternate Jared Baxter, A Area Dan Rasmussen, A Area Alternate Derek Adams, B Area Lindsay Williams, B Area Alternate Kenny Courts, C Area Amanda Crumbley, D Area Josh Curtis, D Area Alternate Trevor Laush, Staff Jon Jones, Staff Alternate Lindsay Carr.

Event Review Committee (ERC)

On January 24-25th, the ERC will be posted up in the East/West Conference room. The plan is to be there to educate people and answer any questions about what they do, what they don’t do, ATSAP, etc. Please feel free to stop by and ask any questions that you might have.

Random Facility Stuff:

As most of you know, today is Takashi’s last day. He will be moving to the TRACON as the temp ATM there as theirs retired on short notice. Dawn will be the acting ATM here until further notice.

I have a couple of calendars left in the office, if you would like one, let me know.

Amy

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