Swing Shift OT & 2021 Shift Preferences

C Area,

Swing Shift Overtime 

In an effort to reduce overtime exposure, starting January 31st we have agreed to get rid of the 10-minutes of overtime at the beginning of the swing shift. Instead of the overtime we’ll have 1350 shifts and 1400 shifts that’ll rotate between everyone on the swing. The benefit for us is an increased opportunity to receive spot EA at the end of the swing shift when our total staffing number is no longer needed.

We’re still discussing the status of the day shift overtime.  For now there are no changes but expect more on the matter in the future.

2021 Shift Preferences

We’ve agreed to use the updated shift preferences starting in PP07 or earlier if I’ve contacted you directly.

If there are any questions on either please feel free to reach out to me.

Thanks 

James Darlington

NATCA C Area Rep

904-347-3065

Spot Leave and More Updates

C Area,

Spot Leave

Now that all our 2021 bid leave is imported into web schedule, we’re able to open up spot leave requests starting on 1-14-21 at 11:00PM local.  This should be when the least number of people are in the control room to allow the most number of people access to web schedule and provide some time to plan for it.

To be clear, all spot leave requests for unpublished schedules made before 1-14-21 at 11:00PM local will be deleted and you will need to make the request again on or after 1-14-21 at 11:00PM local.

5x5 Bid Leave Processing Changes

Since being on COVID schedules we have been individually matching each controller's bid leave from their bid 5/2 schedule to their current 5/5 schedule.  While this was an okay short term solution meant to help us as much as possible, it has been cumbersome in communication, application and leads to errors in individual leave. For our 2021 bid, while still on COVID schedules, we will be adjusting this process. Schedules are required to be published 4 weeks prior to each pay period, therefore scheduling is done 4-6 weeks prior. Please review your bid schedule, bid leave, and how it will align with your COVID schedule. If you wish to cancel any of your leave while on COVID schedules please either delete it in web schedule or email carly.way@faa.gov 6 weeks prior to publishing.  If you wish to have leave on your bid RDOs in conjunction with bid leave (whether it falls on 5 on or 5 off) please put your leave requests into web schedule with a remark/note "leave for RDO in conjunction with bid leave" AND email carly.way@faa.gov 6 weeks prior to publishing.  We will need the email to ensure this is related to your bid leave request. Here are dates that are 6 weeks prior to publishing:

PP06 Jan 17

PP07 Jan 31

PP08 Feb 14

PP09 Feb 28

PP10 Mar 14

PP11 Mar 28

5x5 Beginning of Shift OT Notification

In order to help reduce the workload in building the schedule.  We have agreed to not receive the beginning of shift OT assignments in CEDAR while 5x5.  To be clear this is just for the 10 min OT assessments made prior to publication and any OT assignment on your RDOs or any changes after publications will still require a notification.

5x5 2021 Shift Preferences Solicitation

We haven’t received everyone’s updated preference for 2021.  Just a friendly reminder please click the link below and fill it out, even if you don’t want to change.  To recap, Crew A and Crew B will not be changing rosters, but there is the ability for movement within each crew based on seniority as much as possible.  We can’t guarantee it 100% based on seniority due to requiring a number of CICs and OJTIs on day and swing shifts but we’ll make every effort to get it as close as we can.  To be clear, this is just a preference update and we haven’t gotten full approval from management to enact it nor can we guarantee we’ll be able too.  Once we have everyone’s updated preferences, we’ll present it to management and implement it on a future unpublished pay period if approved.

Please click here for the preference survey

Future Projects

As some of you already heard, we’ve been denied the ability to train on C High (07, 11, 47, and 48 combined) when the trainee isn’t certified on 2 of the highs already.  We’re working on adjusting this so that it’ll be up to the training team if they want to train on C High or split it out.  Expect an update on that in the future.

ZLC LOA change proposal.  We’re currently working on an update to ZLC LOA to address some Seattle Arrival routing issues, adding control for speeds, and cleaning up the language reference IR301/IR307.  We haven’t heard back from ZLC on some specifics of our proposal but our hope is that it will be finalized and implemented before summer traffic hits.  Once the LOA is updated/changed expect to be officially briefed on it (my guess is it'll be a CEDAR briefing).

If there are any questions please feel free to reach out to myself, Frank, or Carly.

Hope everyone had a Happy New Year!

James Darlington

NATCA C Area Rep

904-347-3065

2021 Shift Preferences

C Area,

2021 5x5 Shift Preferences

We are scheduling for 2021 and would like to solicit for preferences again. Crew A and Crew B will not be changing rosters, but there is the ability for movement within each crew based on seniority as much as possible.  We can’t guarantee it 100% based on seniority due to requiring a number of CICs and OJTIs on day and swing shifts but we’ll make every effort to get it as close as we can.  To be clear, this is just a preference update and we haven’t gotten full approval from management to enact it nor can we guarantee we’ll still be 5x5 in 2021.

We’ll try to transition to the new preferences at the beginning of the new leave year or as soon as feasible pending approval.

Please click here for the survey 

2021 Bid Leave While 5x5

We are working on coming up with a more effective way to handle bid leave while 5x5 in 2021.  Expect more to follow on this is a following up date.   

As always please feel free to reach out with any questions.

James Darlington

NATCA C Area Rep

904-347-3065

Round two bidding and Training

After some back and forth we were able to finalize round two leave slot redistribution.  The gist is we reduced leave slots in the summer and some Saturday’s and Sunday’s in the beginning of the year to reduce OT exposure.  The slots were added to spring break, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and other fall/winter holidays. In the file below the yellow boxes are reduced slots, the orange boxes are the increased slots, and the red XX is where someone has bid.

For the specific dates please click here.

We finalized 2021 trainee schedule.  One thing that is different than normal, the Tuesday Wednesday and Wednesday R-Side lines are standard lines while in training but will convert to 3rd swing lines after certification.

For the schedule details click here.

Just to be clear, the official round 2 slots and the trainee lines will be on bidATC just as before and we should be able to start bidding later tonight or sometime tomorrow.

As many of you heard, some trainees are starting to come back as early as this week.  It is still a reduced number of trainees and not all at once.  As a reminder, the reduced target for OTJ hours are still in place.  At this time, I don’t have specific dates on when each individual trainees will come back but if you’re curious feel free to reach out to me I can try to get the exact info.

I know the bid has been longer than in years past, but I wanted to say thanks for everyone’s patience in all this.

James Darlington

NATCA C Area Rep

904-347-3065

Bidding

C Area,

As many of you are aware, after some back and forth we were able to finish negotiating our basic watch schedule (BWS) for 2021 and started bidding earlier today.

Everything is done through bidATC.com same as last year.

I wanted to post an extra copy of our schedule on here for anyone to quickly view and for future records.

Baring any changes we’ll finalize trainee lines after round 1 for CPCs.

Click here for a copy of the 2021 BWS

If you have any questions please feel free to give me a call.

James Darlington

NATCA C Area Rep

904-347-3065

Survey and EA Update

Survey Results

We want to thank everyone for their time in voting and providing feedback.  Of the 28 responses we have, 60.7% do not want to re-solicit preferences, and 78.6% do not want to rotate the swing and day shift. Right now, the plan is to have every intention of re-soliciting preferences for 2021 if we’re still on a 5 and 5 schedule by then.  To be clear, there is no guarantee on this, but it is our intention.

Mid Rotation Solicitation

In an effort to better balance out the EA currently between the swing and day, we will be calling the next person with the least amount of EA when building the schedule each pay period.  This way whoever is up will have an idea on when they would have the option to take the mid and we’d be able to answer any questions that come up at that time.  Once the day and swing are better balanced out, we’ll end going back to straight shifts.

Getting Day and Swing EA Back

We have agreed to schedule 1 EA slot on the day and swing starting in Pay Period 21 (Oct 5th specifically).  This would effectively take us back down to our original guide of 6 on the day and 5 on the swing.  If traffic doesn’t start to drop off by the end of September or early October, we may lose this EA until the traffic eventually drops off.  Same rules apply with bid leave taking priority, etc.  And, to be clear we can’t guarantee we’ll be able to keep the EA balanced either due to bid leave, traffic, staffing, etc.  If there are specific questions on this please let myself or Frank know.

Thank you

James Darlington

NATCA C Area Rep

904-347-3065

Alternate Rep and Schedule Change

Alternate C Area Rep Addition

Due to the unique situation we’re all in, we have chosen to add Frank (FP) as Alternate C Area Rep.  For those that may not know, Frank was previously an Area Rep at Oakland Center in addition to his other NATCA responsibilities.  If you don’t see me at work, or can’t get a hold of me please feel free to reach out to Frank at 510-303-1213 or ZSEFTR@natca.net with any issue(s).

Losing Day/Swing EA and Shift Balancing

We know this isn’t popular but due to the traffic not declining like we thought we will be losing all EA on the day and swing starting next week (8-26).  We will also be moving the least senior person from each swing shift to the day shift.  When there is no leave this will effectively give us 8 on the day and 6 on the swing.  When there are multiple requests for bid leave on the same shift, we will have to go under this new number with the intention of balancing to make sure one shift (day or swing) isn’t taking a larger load than the other.  Please check web schedule for your schedule changes.

Extra EA Issues and EA Balancing

There is a lot of nuance with respect to additional EA, as traffic eventually declines, we’re hopeful we’ll be able to address this more appropriately.  The plan right now is to go back to 1 slot of EA on the dayshift and 1 slot of EA on the swing shift starting PP21/22 depending on the traffic forecast.  Expect more info on this in the near future.

Due to needing to have 3 people on the mid for contingency purposes for anyone on Crew A that wants additional EA there will be an option to rotate to the mid for a week starting in PP21/22.  This would effectively work by getting the person that rotates into it 4 days of EA for that week with having to work at least 1 mid shift.  Crew B will effectively be able to do the same thing by rotating one person into and out of the mid at a time.

In the near future we’ll come up with a process to solicit interest in rotating a session to the mid for the purposes of extra EA.

We are not able to rotate to the mid on any of the published pay periods for the purposes of balancing out EA due to not being able to assign EA after publication at this time.

Lastly, management wanted to thank everyone for getting their ELMs done early.  Apparently, we are ahead of all the other areas.

If there are any questions please feel free to reach out to me.

James Darlington

NATCA C Area Rep

904-347-3065

5 and 5 Schedule Feedback Survey

Before we get to the survey, due to the recent changes in the canceling bid leave process mentioned in the last update please double check your bid leave for pay periods 17, 18, and 19 to make sure it was either approved or canceled the way you intended.  This goes for everyone, including the people not at work.  If you think something isn’t correct in those pay periods please let CW or myself know.

If there any questions about the survey below please feel free to reach out to me.

2020 current 5 and 5 schedule feedback survey

In an effort to get feedback on how our 5 and 5 schedule is going for everyone working it since we’ve been on this longer than most would have expected, we have some quick questions.  We would basically like to know if you think we should consider rotating the day and swing shifts, or stay on straight days/swings instead of rotating for future unpublished pay periods.  And, should we consider re-soliciting crew preferences (Days, Swings, Mids) for future unpublished pay periods.  Under COVID guidelines we won’t be able to swap from A crew to B crew and vise versa.  Also, we would need to get management buy in to be able to enact any sort of change if the majority wants to rotate and/or re-solicit preferences.  The questions for these changes are for the remainder of this year starting with one of the future unpublished pay periods.  As of right now this is just a solicitation of feedback and no guarantee of us being able to change anything if the majority wants to.

To be clear, if we are still going to be 5 and 5 in January 2021 we have every intention to re-solicit preferences before then anyways since we normally bid schedules before the beginning of the year.

Lastly, just as a reminder you can still swap with someone for the entire week if you want Days, Swings, or Mids that rotation.

Please click here for the survey

Thanks in advance for your time and feedback in filling out the survey.

James Darlington

NATCA C Area Rep

904-347-3065

General Updates

Changes to Night Differential 

Due to the FAA needing to have someone recallable on our 3 shift starts times (0600, 1400, 2200).  Our WX shifts and RDOs will be changing in web schedule.  Your actual WX shift assignment will either be in the shift notes, remarks, or if you click on a “WX” under the schedule view, it should show the shift history/assignment for recall purposes.  This generally won’t effect how we operate with 5 and 5 per say, but you will see more or less night differential depending on what WX shifts you have that pay period for recall purposes.  We’ll make every effort to balance this out every few pay periods to equitably distribute the night differential as much as possible.

Changes to Canceling Bid Leave

Previously we have been reaching out to everyone with bid leave to see if they still want it before publishing.  Under this it was either “approved” or “denied.”  This was done to get everyone as much EA as possible since after publication (even if someone turned in leave) there is no re assignment of EA.

Moving forward all bid leave will either be approved per the contract or canceled at the employee’s request.  This includes leave you have on “5 off days.”  Meaning, if you don’t want to be charged leave on your “5 off days” you will have to cancel it.  We’re no longer able to “deny” it like it has been to keep the order of request correct in web schedule.

We still have an agreement in place that when we go back to 5 and 2 the bid books come back and previous bid leave will be honored if you canceled it under 5 and 5.

To be clear, we’ll still reach out to everyone if they want their bid leave but it will either be approved or canceled in web schedule and this will look different than before.

We’re still working on beginning of dayshift EA and additional EA days on slower shifts as we get into fall/winter traffic.  Expect more to follow on this once we get additional guidance.

If there are questions please feel free to call anytime.

James Darlington 

NATCA C Area Rep

904-347-3065

Trainee Recertification

C Area,

We've been tasked with getting trainees that have certifications recertified before 120 days from the last day they worked a position.

Schedule wise we have agreed to have no more than 2 trainees on a shift at one time.  Due to that and a lack of supe coverage it will take us 2 rotations to complete (10 days).

The plan is to get an over the shoulder recertification from any C or D Area supe, and 8 hours of currency for the month.  Once the trainee has their 8 hours they will be expected to go back on administrative leave until further notice.  Basically no need to stay the full 5 days.

Click here for a copy of the agreed upon schedule.

We made an effort to put trainees with their trainers or someone they've trained with in the past.  But, the reality is the driving force behind the schedule is the 120 day requirement and who had to be recertified first.  Since there are 3 trainees in total on Crew 3 dayshift, the plan is to have 2 trainees on 7-12, they will get their currency by the end of shift on 7-14 then back on administrative leave until further notice, after that a 3rd trainee will come in on 7-15 to get refertified and current before the end of that rotation.  This way we'll have no more than 2 trainees on a shift at one time.

All shifts in the above link are NF (No Flex) shifts, but for the official schedule please refer to webscheduler.

For the trainees that haven't been in the building in awhile I will be calling you directly over the next few days to cover some of the changes at work including

The schedule

Getting a parking pass

How and where to get your own chair for the shift

Where to find hand sanitizer, gloves, disinfecting wipes, masks etc

As always please feel free to give me a call if there are any questions or concerns

James Darlington

NATCA C Area Rep

904-347-3065

Day shift OT rebalancing

As many of you are already aware, starting Monday there will only be one 10 minute beginning of shift OT assignment on day shifts.  Due to that, starting Monday the OT on day shifts for pay period 13 and the following pay periods was rebalanced. Just a friendly reminder please double check web schedule for any changes. If there are any questions please feel free to give me a call.

James Darlington

NATCA C Area Rep

904-347-3065

General Updates

C Area,

A few notes on our 5 and 5 schedule

Due to no longer being able to cross isle supervisors and annual leave coverage there may be times we’re shift balanced to the day, swing, or mid.  Expect this to be handled similar to how we could get balanced to a 3rd swing for leave coverage on our normal schedule. If you get shift balanced for CIC coverage you can still swap out of it but will most likely need to swap with another CIC unless there’s a supe on the shift.

Airspace and Procedure Changes 

In the near future you will see pre arranged coordination between sector 1 and sector 9 in CEDAR. Also, expect to see some altitude changes with Vancouver Center’s airspace in a chart update briefing.  Both should be pretty straight forward but please let me know if there are any questions or concerns.

Hope everyone is doing well.

James Darlington

NATCA C Area Rep

904-347-3065

Quick Update

C Area,

Expect to see our 5 and 5 schedule updated in web schedule sometime this week with beginning of shift OT assignments, and any potential EA in there. As always, for your official schedule make sure to continue to check web schedule.  

For those on the swing shift YKM approach sector will be back to normal operating hours on May 18th.

MWH is still closing early at 8pm local. As soon as I hear something different I’ll be sure to let everyone know.

If there are any questions please feel free to call me anytime. 

James Darlington

NATCA C Area Rep

904-347-3065

5 and 5 Schedule

C Area,

As many of you are aware we will be transition to a 5 and 5 schedule starting May 28th. We’ve finalized the schedule based off everyone’s preferences, seniority, trying to keep the original bid crews together for when we eventually come out of this, etc.

The basics of the 5 and 5 schedule is listed below with the same shift start times.  With that said this is subject to change.

7 on the day shift

7 on the swing shift

3 on the mid shift

Click here for the schedule  

Regarding how EA will be applied the current process is as such.

1 person on the day shift

2 people on the swing shift

1 person on the mid shift 

EA will rotate on a daily basis during your 5 day work rotation and this would rotate in the shift the following day and so on.  This will be subject to traffic changes, bid leave, and sick hits.   When applying EA to the day shift there will be less opportunities when comparing to the mid shift.  The feedback I’ve received so far is that the majority of the area does not want to rotate shifts or redo preferences while still on a dynamic schedule, however if that has changed please let me know and we will look into it.  Taking that into consideration having 7 on the day, 7 on the swing, and 3 on the mid allows bid leave, sick hits, and EA to be applied among each shift without having to balance someone to a different shift.  This also helps with social distancing and not having someone exposed to others they wouldn’t normally see by being placed on different shifts.  With that said you are still be to able to swap your 5 days of shifts with someone else if you desire.  Also, in trying to balance out the EA on the mid compared to the day, if there is any interest to rotate from the day to the mid to get the opportunity for more EA please let me know and we will look into it.

I know there may be questions regarding going to a 5 and 5 schedule and how the EA works so please feel free to give me a call and I’d be happy to go into details.

James Darlington

NATCA C Area Rep

904-347-3065 

MWH Hours of Operation

C Area,

MWH Hours of Operation

Many of you may have seen the email with facilities reducing their hours.  Starting Monday May 4th MWH will open at the normal time but close early at 8pm local.  Due to less staffing on C Area evening shifts, sector 9 already taking YKM approach in the afternoon, and the potential for late evening military ops we made every effort to keep MWH open at night with reduced hours in the morning instead.  Unfortunately, MWH port authority does not agree with us.  So, our next option is to reduce traffic/services into or around MWH if it’s an issue.  If anyone is curious about the details of the discussions I’ve had about MWHs hours of operations I’d be happy to go into it more for those that want to know.  Moving forward, McChord has been made aware of MWH closing early and that we may not be able to provide the same level of service.  If you see any issues with traffic at or around MWH after 8pm local please let me know so we can address it.  On Monday expect to see an update in CEDAR and in the area to include Drop Zone Information, IR Route Information, TAC Route Information, and Points of Contact among other things.  If there is something that’s not in the briefing that you think should be included please let me know.  The gist of it is we’ll have an updated TAC Route/Drop Zone flimsy in the area to reference.

Current Schedule Shift Preferences Feedback

We currently do not rotate any of our shifts and I wanted to put it out there that the feedback I have received so far regarding everyone’s shifts is that the majority of the area is happy with what they have and doesn’t want to redo preferences or rotate shifts.  If the majority of the area wants to either redo preferences or consider rotating shifts around please let me know and we can look into.  Also, don’t forget if you need to trade your week of Days, Swings, or Mids you can do so with someone else on your crew for the entire week.

Hope everyone is doing well, please call or text anytime if there are any questions.

James Darlington

NATCA C Area Rep

904-347-3065

Night Differential and Bid Leave

C Area,

Update on night differential while on admin.  Depending on the pay period and your work rotation the schedulers are generally coding everyone as 3 evening shifts, 2 day shifts, and 4 RDOs.  This is the most equitable way to code everyone to get some night differential while on admin.

Just a reminder bid (pre approved) leave is still being processed per the contract.  If you have bid annual on an admin day and don’t want to be charged annual you will need to cancel your leave request more than 24 hours in advanced in order to get it converted to admin.  

If you want to be put on admin but still protect your bid leave in the event we go back to a normal schedule please contact Carly or myself, prior to publication if you can.  

If you have bid leave and don't want to be subject to being recalled then you will need to keep your leave.

Hope everyone is doing well, and as always please feel free to call me if you have any additional questions.

James Darlington

NATCA C Area Rep

904-347-3065

Additional Dynamic Scheduling Information

C Area,

How the OT assignments work and what to do when you get to work.

Mids - Both Mids have 10 minutes of OT beginning of shift and are expected to sign in, check weather, cedar, etc and relieve the Evening shift just like normal.

Days - 5 people on the day shift. 2 of the 5 will have 10 minutes of OT beginning of shift and are expected to sign in, check weather, cedar, etc and relieve the Mid shift. The other 3 people on the Day shift are to call the area before entering the control room and expect instructions from there. You could be told to go on break or could be told to come in, etc. The point of this is to limit as much exposure as possible.

Evenings - 4 people on the evening shift. 3 of the 4 will have 10 minutes of OT beginning of shift and are expected to sign in, check weather, cedar, etc and relieve the Day shift. The other person on the Evening shift is to call the area before entering the control room and expect instructions from there. My guess is you will be told to go on break. Again, the point of this is to limit as much exposure as possible.

I’m expecting OT assignment will be in accordance with our OT MOU.

If someone calls in sick/fatigued we will be running the area short and if there is a traffic situation TMIs will be used before an extra person is called in unless in an absolute emergency. As mentioned before this is to limit exposure of crews between each other. There is a chance you could go over 2 hours on position durning this Dynamic Schedule.

Lastly, I’m not expecting the YKM Tower LOA to be out before Sunday evening. I’m planing on calling/texting everyone that has the first Evening shift to touch base and see if there are any questions/concerns. For anyone else that’s not on Crew A Evenings that has questions please feel to call me anytime. My hope is we’ll have the LOA out sometime during the first week.

Thanks again for everyone’s understanding and patience with this. As mentioned before this is all subject to change. Also, sorry for the spelling and grammar errors in my last update. I have since fixed most of them on our local website.

James Darlington

NATCA C Area Rep

904-347-3065

YKM Approach Control Hours

C Area,

In order for Chinook Approach to have a dynamic staffing schedule they are not able to facilitate YKM Approach being open at the normal times. Right now expect YKM Approach to only be open from 0600L to 1400L.  All other times the Approach sector will be closed.  Basically it’ll be normal ops on the day shift but the evening shifts will be working YKM Approach.  With that said YKM Tower will still be open at normal times.  For us this means we’ll have to pass inbounds and YKM Tower will call us for releases.  We’re working on getting a temporary LOA made that should be out soon, and I’m expecting it to have reduced services such as no ODO, no practice approaches, etc.  YKM has an ATIS so expect some clarification in the LOA for them to call us with the new ATIS code.  We’re expecting significantly less traffic at YKM compared to normal so we’re not anticipating any changes to our dynamic schedule numbers.  To be clear PSC Approach will be open at normal times.  With how dynamic everything is right now there could be changes with all of this.

James Darlington

NATCA C Area Rep

904-347-3065

Dynamic Schedule Update

C Area,

Below is the link to the crews and the first 2 rotations of the schedule.  This is technically what to expect and not official, for the official schedule please refer to web schedule.

Crew A B C (click)

Schedule Grid A B C (click)

To figure out your schedule look for your initials under the Crew A B C link and take the crew letter and number next to your initials.  For example JI is C9.  Once you have your crew letter and number look for that in the schedule Grid A B C link.  For example C9 is a 1400 shift starting on 4-8-20.

There is some nuance to the overlap in regards to overtime and is subject to change.  Day shifts will have 2 people with 10 minutes of OT added to the beginning of their shift, evening shifts will have 3 people with 10 minutes added to the beginning of their shift, and both mids will have 10 minutes added at the beginning of their shift.  Basically this will work the same way the Saturday night to Sunday morning mid normally does.  The plan is to assign the OT in accordance with the OT MOU.  Again, please check web schedule for your official schedule and if you have the 10 minutes of OT beginning of shift.

As of right now we are currently not planning on rotating any shifts in the C Area.  However, you will be able to swap your entire week of shifts with someone else on your crew before the week starts if desired.  For example, if you have 5 straight mids coming up and find someone that wants to work them you can swap your entire week of mids for their entire week of days or swings.  The swap has to be completed before your work week starts.  Once you’re work week has started you’re locked into those shifts.  Expect more detail on this as we move forward.  We currently don’t know how long this schedule will last but after a while if the area wants to we can consider looking into redoing preferences to switch it up.

James Darlington

NATCA C Area Rep

904-347-3065

Dynamic Scheduling. What we know so far...

C Area,

How this all will work is, you will have 5 shifts in a row of either straight days, evenings, or mids, then have 10 days off.  After those 10 days off, you will be back on 5 shifts of straight days, evenings, or mids (These could be different than the previous 5 days you were working, but we will attempt to keep it the same) The big thing here is the RDOs that you’re use to will now be 10 days of RDOs that are changing/rotating. Until we move back to normal ops, no OT, XTE, spot leave, or daily shift swaps will be approved. The contract in many respects is suspended.

Bid leave is unaffected, we will try to put you on EA for those dates, but it may not be possible to get all of it on your EA dates. You would be charged leave on days you’re scheduled to work. If you want to turn in your leave, please make that request asap.

The changeover will begin this coming Sunday, (3/29) The first group to work 5 days will come from current F/S, S/Su. The subsequent crews will be assembled based on bid leave and any other special circumstances.

Expect to see the dynamic schedule in the next two days. It will be emailed as soon as management agrees. The final agreed upon staffing will be 5 on the day, 4 on the swing, and 2 on the mid. Keep in mind that sick leave will not be filled with overtime. In the event of a staffing shortage TMIs will be used to address the traffic. In an emergency situation some can be called in, but changes to the schedule will be largely avoided.

I know this might not be popular, but we have to remember this will facilitate the maximum number of people off work while limiting one's exposure to others at work. Again, I appreciate everyone’s understanding in this unique situation. More info will follow as it is available. If you have questions, ask any rep and we’ll tell you what we know. We will also try to get a Q&A out in the next 24 hrs and do regular updates based on questions received from all of you.

James Darlington

NATCA C Area Rep

904-347-3065