1. This Year's Schedule -
Just a heads up, but we will have a line out for bid soon. It will be Renee Soerink's line. It is a Sat/Sun RDO line, 15, 1330NF, 8, 6, 23. This line coming available is based on Jackson or Tyler Shore becoming a CPC. If Renee ends up going before Jackson or Tyler become CPC, then her mid will rotate through the Sat/Sun crew until they do. The schedule change will go into effect once Jackson or Tyler Shore become CPC.
Not sure exactly when this line will be going up, but I think we'll probably do it mid/late July.
2. Guides -
Renee Peavey wants to lower our guides by one across the board (except for the first and last hours of the day). I don't really see a problem with this as the supervisors consistently go below guides anyway. This will just more accurately reflect what we need and should allow more people to get leave. I don't know exactly when this change would happen, but I think it is for next year.
3. Mids, 16's, and 6's for Next Year -
This is probably going to be complicated to read, so ask me if anything is unclear here....
This was first brought to me by Drew, and then secondly brought to me by Robello. This is still kind of a rough idea, so it may not end up exactly like this, but this is the gist.
For next year, instead of having mids be 23's, we have them be 2230's (except for the Sunday morning mid on crew 3. That still has to be a 00). I'm not entirely sure, but I think most people come in for the mid around 10:30 anyway. This provides a little extra staffing for that hour. You can also still request a 23, or a 22.
If we have 2230 mids, we would be able to eliminate 16's also, and instead have 1530's. We would also be able to schedule one less 16 (now a 1530). So, for your crew of four, on your first day, instead of 3 16's and one 15 like it is now, it would be two 15's and two 1530's. You will still be able to request a 16 should you want one.
Finally, in the mornings, there will still be 4 6's scheduled, but one of the 6's on their fifth day will be assigned a 545 (except Sunday morning, because of the mid). You can flex on that 545, so you can come in as early as 515 on that shift.
Please give me your feedback on this! I want to know what you think before we go ahead with this idea. Namely, are you ok with 2230 mids? Are you ok with 1530's instead of 16's? I also want to know how to handle the 545 shift. Should that rotate between the two 6's on their fifth day? Should it be tied to one line? Or, Drew likes the idea of bidding "priority" for that shift. So, you can either bid top priority or last priority for that shift. If you bid top priority, you will get it all the time unless you are on leave. If you bid lowest priority, you will get it only if the other person is on leave or on another shift.
If I don't hear any feedback, we will go ahead with this plan. I think it works fine for us without changing a whole lot.
4. Next Year's Schedule -
It looks like we'll be bidding 31 lines for next year. I want to get a schedule ready to take to management, so I've been working on a few. I assume from the response last year that we are still interested in having CWS lines (4 10's). So, I've whipped up three schedules here, one with no CWS, one with two CWS, and one with three CWS. Take a look at these and see what you think. For the record, I like the 3 CWS one best. I think that one provides the most even coverage possible. I went ahead and made these with the 2230 mid/1530/545 thing in mind. If we don't end up going with that, then that will just change those mid shifts, and also some of the CWS lines would have 14's instead of 13's. I also made these based on the current guides. If the guides do go down by one, the schedules wouldn't change at all.
3 CWS -
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gRZuhEFAaDhkJa54icM_bI_6KWqSc1YSkiG70YItVCc/edit?usp=sharing
2 CWS -
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gS1nd5nJ2v1-SoGfJml-jOgQguxa9p4t3QUP_ZppMvs/edit?usp=sharing
No CWS -
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1M8gcmtdZQtVDHxsJeu5UosG38vFMlgZxNRqN8sESOis/edit?usp=sharing
Keep in mind, these schedules are just preliminary and can (and probably will) change once Robello and Renee take a look at it.
5. Parking Stickers -
Ok, I think parking stickers are ready to be picked up again. The D-area week is July 19-25. I think you can go in any time though and get a new one.
6. Remote Monitoring -
This is another thing Drew has brought up to myself and also to Russ. At ZFW and also at ZKC (and likely other centers) they have the ability to remote monitor other sectors. So, you can dial into whatever sector you want and hear their frequencies. Drew and Russ told me this was useful for seeing if an aircraft took a frequency change, or other things where you don't necessarily want to bother the next sector. Russ went ahead and turned this ability on for sectors 30, 13, and 14. I think 10 has it also. To use it you first dial *2. Then call the sector you want to monitor. For example, if you wanted to listen to 46, you would dial *2, and then 446. To turn it off, you dial #2 and then you do something else that I can't remember right now. Ha ha, better ask Drew or Russ for clarification before you try it.
I also heard recently that Dan Baker is trying to get this turned off. I think he is concerned about the possibility of distractions? Anyway, just know that it is there. For now anyway.
I think that's all for now. Let me know what you think about the schedules, and also the 2230 mid thing.
Chico