Facility Update November 1st

AL/BWS MOUs have been signed! Briefings will start Monday, and we will start bidding as soon as they are finished. As a reminder, you will only be bidding the BWS line initially. We will start round one of annual leave after BWS is done, perhaps sooner if the BWS bid goes smoothly. That will be left up to each area rep to decide for their area, but the main goal is to get the BWS bids back to the scheduler as soon as possible. OT MOU is basically agreed to, but it will be a couple of weeks before that one is finished.

• AL MOU

• BWS MOU

All Members Meeting

Our next All Members meeting will be Monday, November 18th, at 1pm in the E/W Conference room. Agenda Items currently include:

• Finance update and 2025 budget

• Events Committee Update

• NATCA Constitution Amendments

Please reply with any agenda items you wish to add. We will have lunch at 12:30. Not sure what we’ll be able to grab for this lunch but if you would like to volunteer to pick up something, we would gladly welcome the help!

2025 Calendars

November 8th is the last day to change your calendar preference in myNATCA. If you need help with navigating that website, please let us know.

Member in Need

Most people are aware of the Voluntary Leave Donation Program, it is intended to supplement someone’s leave balance when they have had to deplete it due to family or personal circumstances. We have someone in the facility who could use your help, Kieth Priebe has been approved to be on this program. He gave me permission to share his story:

“In August, I suffered a heart attack. I exhausted my leave relatively quickly and have spent the majority of the time I was out recovering on LWOP. Any help would be both incredibly generous and greatly appreciated!”

Thanks for reading Kieth’s story. Please consider donating any leave you can by accessing the link below behind an FAA firewall.  

All leave donations must be made from an FAA computer https://ahrweb.faa.gov/ovltp/.

I will be at New York Center next week as part of team helping to review their training program. Drew will be the acting FacRep for the time, and I will be back next week.

Amy Sizemore

You're not getting paid and we are not bidding...yet

How’s THAT for a subject line?? I bet you all opened this quickly though, eh?

Pay Issue

We’re aware some of you who receive pay on Fridays experienced a brief delay in your paycheck reaching your account today. This was a nationwide issue and appears to have been resolved. If your pay hasn’t come through, please reach out, and we’ll make sure to help you get it corrected.

Bidding

We had anticipated beginning briefings on the MOUs this Sunday, 10/27, but unfortunately, due to circumstances outside of our control, we’re holding off for now. We’re optimistic this will be resolved in the next few days, aiming for briefings by the end of next week and bidding to start the following week. While I hesitate to commit to an exact date given the unpredictable nature of this process, we expect bidding to start no later than 11/10. This does mean that, once again, it will be on us to bid quickly and efficiently once the process begins.

One thing I want to emphasize: this delay is not due to any actions on the part of your area reps. They’ve been working tirelessly to get this moving as quickly as possible amid a very challenging MOU season as we work to integrate new fatigue guidance.

We’ll keep you updated as soon as we have more information.

Drew

Facility Update October 21st

MOU on Executive Order No. 14019 “Promoting Access to Voting”

A quick reminder that this MOU is still in effect. BUEs may request up to four hours of excused absence for:

• Federal general elections;

• Primaries and caucuses;

• State, local, municipal, tribal, and territorial level elections;

• Special congressional elections that are not held on the date of a federal general election;

• Serving as a non-partisan poll worker (including training); and

• Participating in non-partisan observer activities at the federal, state, local (i.e., county, and municipal), tribal, and territorial level (including training).

This is applicable even in states with absentee voting like ours. There is no restriction on time they are allowed to give but I would not expect all four hours. Read the full MOU HERE.

UNUM Open Season / NATCA Benefits Visit

UNUM open season is upon us. If you don’t recall, this is the disability insurance offered for NATCA members. While no one plans on getting a long-term illness, this service will allow you to focus on healing with the assurance that your bills will be taken care of. Lance Liberty will be in the facility on 11/12 and 11/14 and will be set up in the cafeteria. He will also be answering questions about the alternatives to FEGLI (federal life insurance). All employees sign up for FEGLI when first employed with the FAA, but it quickly becomes the more expensive option. Please stop by and talk with Lance to start the process of getting moved over.

MOU Update

All the area schedules have been negotiated, and we should finalize the AL and BWS MOUs tomorrow. We will brief the MOUs Sunday, 10/27, through Friday, 11/1, and should start bidding after the last briefing on Friday, the 1st. We were briefed on the OT Fatigue MOU last week and will begin negotiations at the local level shortly.

T-Shirt Raffle

Congratulations to Fartun Strutin (B Area) and Katrina Linder (A Area) on winning this month’s raffle. We are doing this every month on the 15th, so be sure to wear a NATCA shirt to enter and have a chance to win a gift card!

In Solidarity,

Amy

Facility Update 10/11

2025 OT Workgroup Update

The workgroup's findings were released today. Next week, FacReps and ATMs will receive a briefing, after which we’ll begin working on our local OT MOU. I’ve attached the Implementation Guide and the Joint Guidance for your review.

2025 Calendars

The process for requesting a 2025 calendar has changed. To get yours, log in to my.natca.org. Once you're logged in, go to "My Profile" and look for the "Communication Preferences" section. Click the pencil icon to edit your preferences, and make sure to turn on the option to request the 2025 calendar.

2025 Important Dates

• NATCA in Washington March 24-26

• NATCA Convention May 9-11

• CFS September 15-17

CFS Recap

Ligaya has put together an excellent summary of her experience at CFS this year. I was especially excited to see our B Area controllers receive an honorable mention for their work on the QXE jumpseat situation. Be sure to check it out, and consider attending next year—it’s a great event.

Facility Update October 4th

National Elections

The ballot counting is complete, and we have the results. Nick Daniels has been elected as NATCA President, and Mick Devine as Executive Vice President. A big thank you to everyone who participated in the election process. ZSE had an incredible 86% voter turnout, which is something we should all be very proud of. Nationally, the turnout was approximately 40-50%, with around 800 more votes cast in the runoff than in the initial election. The new term for both the President and Executive Vice President begins on November 4th.

QXE Flight Sim

Garret Wilkerson has been in contact with Horizon Air lately and they have offered their flight sim to us. We have three dates available, please let Garret or me know if you’re interested.

• 18 October, 0930-1330 - one slot available

• 20 November, 1400-1800 - two slots available

• 18 December, 0930-1330 - two slots available

ADA Construction

Construction on the new ramp will begin on Monday. This will affect the front of the building outside the lockers. I’m not exactly sure what till be closed off other than that door, I’m sure there will be signs all around.

CISM

Just a friendly reminder, the CISM team will be available on Tuesday from 11 AM to 3 PM and Wednesday from 1 PM to 5 PM. They will have a licensed counselor on site. If you'd like to speak with them, simply coordinate with the supervisor or OM on duty for release. The management team has been advised to handle these requests with discretion.

As always, we’re here for you. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us—whether in person, by phone, text, or email—if you have any questions. Sometimes we can provide additional information that may not have been included in recent updates, and we also appreciate the points you’ve raised that may not have been considered yet. Remember, you're never alone in this—we’re all navigating these challenges together.

Amy Sizemore