All,
I hope everyone is having a good week. I have a few things for you this week so try to read all the way through.
VP Vacancy
As you all have probably heard by now, Troy Harrison is retiring on June 30th. Alex Navarro will assume the role of FACREP and the VP position will be vacant. As our constitution currently stands, the Local Executive Board appoints the new VP. Since the term will have 18 months remaining in it and we have quite a few volunteers, I have proposed a change to our Local Constitution that would allow us to hold a special election. That proposal will be voted on at the all members meeting on 5/30. The Local Executive Board will be meeting this Thursday to discuss the best path for us to make sure you all get the person you want in that position, which may still include appointing someone as there is no guarantee my proposal will pass.
Changes to LMT Missed Approach Procedures
The next amendment to the HI-ILS RWY 32 at LMT (Amdt 7), due to be published 07/19/2018, will include the following new alternate missed approach instructions (not charted but usable by ATC): "Climb to 10000 on heading 320. Expect radar vectors. Missed approach requires a minimum climb of 265 feet per nm to 6700. (Radar required)"
iPads?!?!
The following is part of an update sent out about iPads being sent to facilities. Just kind of a neat thing I figured you guys would want to know about.
The Agency has started delivery of iPads to many facilities. The remainder will be delivered by early Fall 2018. The deployment of the iPads was worked collaboratively with the Agency and there is an ETD (Electronic Training Device) MOU available if you want to see it.
The objective of deploying iPads or ETD’s is to provide learners the tools to enhance and expedite their training experience thru access to training materials via mobile devices during every phases of technical training.
Facilities currently using iPads have:
- Decreased training times.
- Allowed extensive use of Adobe Reader for maps, chart, SOPs and LOAs, Facility Memorandums, etc.
- Experienced “on demand” access to aviation websites
- Eliminated paper-based student binders (and a lot of unneeded time at the copiers!)
The Agency has delivered the first 2300 iPads to 73 of 303 facilities based upon facility level from highest to lowest, covering 60 % of DEV/CPC-ITs. The next 590 iPads will go to the Academy; followed by purchases for the remaining field facilities. An operational test of the iPad configuration instructions with select facilities was conducted the last week of April. Configuration support via webinars for the remaining facilities will begin the first week of May. Multiple webinars will be conducted weekly until all facilities have received support.
New Policy Regarding Swaps/Dreamlines as they Relate to Vacated Lines
In the past, when a line with swaps/dreamlines was vacated, all of the swaps/dreamlines would just revert to how they were bid. I am going to make an adjustment to that policy to ensure we do things in the most fair way possible that also helps out the people who need the swaps/dreamlines.
So moving forward, if you have swaps in place and you bid a new line during the year that would not impact your swaps or dreamlines, you will be allowed to keep them.
Example: You are on a line that was bid with a 0800 on Friday and you dreamlined that to a 7. If you go to another line that was bid with an 0800 on Friday, you will be allowed to keep your dreamline to a 7.
Same thing with a swap.
Example: You are on a line that was bid with a 1330NF on a Friday and you swapped with someone to their 0800 on a Friday. If you bid another line that has a 1330NF on a Friday then you will be allowed to leave that swap in place.
If you go to a line that no longer has the originally bid shift and you can’t carry your swap with you, it will stay with your line and be offered up with it when the line is bid out. If whoever takes the line doesn’t want to do your swap, it will be offered to everyone eligible for it in order of seniority. If none of them want it, it will revert to the way it was bid.
Example: You bid a 1330NF on Friday and swapped it with someone on a 0800. You vacate your line and now you have Friday off. Your line will be bid out with a 1330NF and the option to take a 0800. If whoever selects the line doesn’t want the 0800 shift then it will be offered to those who are eligible, in seniority order. If no one wants it then it will revert to how it was bid for both parties.
This should allow us to keep some of the swaps we want while not forcing someone to do a swap they don’t want to do as part of a new line.
New Scheduling Policy
The schedule that posted yesterday is the first one to be impacted by the changes made to our scheduling policy. The only feedback I have received so far has been positive. Please let me know if you have any issues. Below is the text from my email on 4/30 email regarding that policy.
SCHEDULING POLICIES
Since I took over as rep I have struggled to set a good policy for exactly how we will handle schedule moves. We have general rules that we follow but because building the schedule is an imperfect process when abnormal things come up we have to improvise and then we find ourselves in a spot where we may be inconsistent next time something abnormal comes up. So what I have done here is try to write down a general guideline for how we handle schedule moves. This is not meant to be a decree and if you have a suggested change please let me know and we will discuss it as a group to find the best way to handle our scheduling.
Main Goal is Preserving the Cascading Line
The later you are in your workweek, the more likely you are to be moved earlier if an earlier shift is needed.
First and foremost above all else, the first return to shift request will be the one subjected to the biggest move. Example being if you get moved from a day to a mid or swing, you will be first to go back to your shift over a 6 to a 7. Same with swing to day.
Second to that is what day of your week you are on. If on your 5th day you get moved later, your request to return to shift will be ahead of a 4th day that got moved later, provided that the move is the same distance. (0700 to 0800 and 0600 to 0700)
If a swing shift is needed, we will draw from those people who are working their first day shift of their workweek. An example of this is Bill’s schedule (Sat/Sun straight 0700s). If someone needs to get moved from the day to the swing on Monday, the competition for moving will be between Bill and the Thurs/Fri crew since all of them are working the first day shift of their work week. Again, making every effort to preserve a cascading line.
If a day shift is needed, we will draw from those people who are working the furthest swing shift into their workweek. An example of this is Jason Cruz’s schedule (Sat/Sun straight swings). If someone needs to get moved from the swing to the day on Friday, the list of people who could be moved is Jason Cruz and anyone on a standard Tues/Wed line.
If we can move an AWS (10 hr line) line 2 hours forward or backward while still maintaining a cascading schedule, we will do that first as opposed to moving day to swing or swing to day.
Also, midshifters are not in the rotation for third swings but they are in the rotation for later day shifts. (As late as an 1100)
If 2 get moved from an 8 to a 7 from the same crew, whoever has been moved most has their request to return in first. No difference in whether the total number of moves were earlier or later since we don’t know what you do and don’t like.
Tracking resets every year and to initially establish it, lowest seniority moves first.
In the past the policy on moving someone’s shift when they have a leave request in has been unclear. The policy moving forward will be that we will only NOT move you if your leave can be approved at posting time. Exceptions to this will be the 4 shifts that make it more difficult to get leave from. (1600, 1530NF, Mids, 0600)
Example:
If someone has a 4 hour EOS request off of a 1500 and it is their turn to get a 1600, the only way they get passed for that 1600 rotation is if either the leave can be approved prior to publishing OR we can publish at guides (or above) and give the FLM the opportunity to approve it.
Example:
If someone has an entire shift requested off and it is their turn to get forced to a mid we will only skip them them in the rotation for that mid if the leave can be approved at posting OR we can publish at guides (or above) and give the FLM the opportunity to approve it.
Getting skipped in the rotation for a shift means the person who got it is racking up the tally marks for shift moves and it will decrease their likelihood to get moved in the future.
As far as smaller moves go (like a 0700 to an 0800 or 1330NF to a 1500), first priority still goes to protecting the cascading schedule.
Example: Two Thurs/Fri people have 0700s on Tuesday. Bill also has a 0700 on Tuesday. If we need to move someone to an 0800, to protect the cascading schedule, Bill would only be in the rotation on Tuesday if he had a shift that was an 0800 or later on Monday.
Dreamlines are also first to go.
Example: I have a 1230 Dreamline from a 1330 on Thursday. If a 1330 is needed for coverage later into the night, it will be me that is moved, not someone from the day shift.
In Solidarity,
Drew