All,
I hope everyone is having a good week. You may have noticed that the header changed on the email. I added in the flyer for the next event we have going on. NATCA President Paul Rinaldi, EVP Trish Gilbert, and NNM RVP Doug Pincock will be joining us for an event at Acme Bowl in Southcenter. It's be a good time to come hang out and mingle with them and some folks from other facilities. Wednesday, August 15th from 6 to 9 pm at Acme Bowl. Hope to see you all there.
On the subject of Solidarity events, thanks to those of you who made it out to the BBQ last Friday. A lot of work and planning went into that and it was cool to see that a few people decided to show up. Even if they didn't show up until everything was all packed up and we were leaving...
Further on the subject of meetings...I am working on planning the next All Members meeting and I am trying to scout out new locations. Rainbow Cafe has been good to us but there has to be something better, right? Any and all ideas on that are welcome. Please hit me up with your suggestions.
Ok, on to the business.
Schedule Negotiations
Facility level BWS negotiations should be underway soon and I will keep you guys apprised of that as I have information on it. Jason Alliston and I are meeting this Wednesday to discuss specifics of our schedule for next year. With the help of NG and HA, I have built a few options that I think all work well. I haven't received much input from you guys as a whole but I still feel confident I know the general gist of what you want and I hope to get something resembling that for our 2019 schedule.
Metering
Please stop shortcutting aircraft to BTG during metering. If you need it for traffic, I get it, you do what you gotta do. But if you are just sending everyone to BTG and then turning them for delays it makes us look silly. I know it may not feel like it sometimes but even before those aircraft lock in for their meter times, TMU is planning a spot for them. Shortening the route just for the hell of it changes that plan and decreases the (already challenged) efficiency of the program.
Also, I've heard the B area say a few times now that some people still hand off a/c with speed increases or speeds with "or greater" on them during times of metering. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE stop doing that. I cannot imagine anyone is still doing this and I am hoping the B area is just talking shit when they say that, but if we are metering and you speed aircraft up (or leave increases on from ZOA), we look like idiots. I hope you all understand why. If not, please feel free to ask me or any of your peers. I am sure someone can explain it to you.
UAV Ops
Something we might see more of this summer is UAVs being used to help with fire spotting and fighting. We worked one on Saturday called GRZLY so maybe that is a callsign we will be seeing more often. This is new to a lot of people so I would expect the information to be fuzzy the first few times it is coordinated. Coordination should always include a COA (Certificate of Authorization) which you may see if you are CiC when these Ops are going on. This COA is important because it should contain the lost link procedures for each flight. As far as on sector goes, so far it looks like they are going to coordinate an orbit area and altitude (ex. 30NM Range of OED @ FL280). Another important thing to brush up on is 5-2-9 of the 7110 which covers lost link procedures with UAVs. Here is the text of that:
5−2−9. UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS (UAS) LOST LINK
Code 7400 may be displayed by unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) when the control link between the aircraft and the pilot is lost. Lost link procedures are programmed into the flight management system and associated with the flight plan being flown.
When you observe a Code 7400 display, do the following:
a. Determine the lost link procedure, as outlined in the Special Airworthiness Certificate or Certificate of Waiver or Authorization (COA).
b. Coordinate, as required, to allow UAS to execute the lost link procedure.
c. Advise Front Line Manager (FLM), when feasible, so the event can be documented.
d. If you observe or are informed by the PIC that the UAS is deviating from the programmed Lost Link procedure, or is encountering another anomaly, treat the situation in accordance with FAA Order J0 7110.65 Chapter 10, Section 1,Para 10−1−1(c).
NOTE−
1. The available lost link procedure should, at a minimum, include lost link route of flight, lost link orbit points, lost link altitudes, communications procedures and preplanned flight termination points if the event recovery of the UAS is deemed unfeasible.
2. Each lost link procedure may differ and is dependent upon airframe and operation. These items are contained in the flight’s Certificate of Authorization or Waiver (COA) and must be made available to ATC personnel in their simplest form at positions responsible for Unmanned Aircraft (UAs).
3. Some UA airframes (Global Hawk) will not be programmed upon the NAS Automation roll out to squawk 7400. These airframes will continue to squawk 7600 should a lost link occur. The ATC Specialist must apply the same procedures described above.
Trainee Certification/Lines
Ok so this is going to take a second to explain, but from what I hear there are quite a few of you doing some talking about this so I figured I would take a second to explain the process for how we handle trainee certifications. Often times when a trainee certifies, we have a shortage in the schedule that needs to be filled. When that happens, the OM and I discuss where the shortage is and through Article 7 mid term bargaining we add a line to the schedule and develop a process in which it will be filled. It is worth noting that Article 7 was meant to be an infrequent practice and carries with it a few dangers. For example, if we open up the BWS to add a line, mgmt has the ability to want to start negotiating shift start times or whatever else mid year. This is not likely to happen but it is part of the fire we play with by opening up mid term bargaining. Traditionally our agreement has been to waterfall the line through all who volunteered and then whatever the remaining open line is will have a shortage and be filled by using Article 46 (Realignment of the Workforce) which is where the junior person (most likely the new CPC) gets forced to the open line.
Here are the relevant Sections of Article 46:
Section 5. In facilities where staffing imbalances exist, volunteers shall be solicited from all qualified employees where no individual retraining is necessary to complete the change. If after this initial change has been completed another imbalance was created that requires further action, the Agency shall designate the teams from which volunteers will be sought and the number of employees to be selected from each team.
Section 6. In exercising and complying with Sections 4 or 5, each vacancy shall be filled by the reassignment of the most senior qualified volunteer. If there are no volunteers, selections shall be made using inverse seniority from among the qualified employees within the designated area(s)/team(s) which were identified in the solicitation. The transfer of employees shall be accomplished within three (3) months of the close of the solicitation. If the transfer is not accomplished within three (3) months of the close of the solicitation, the selection list shall be considered void.
The issue we have right now is that there is no shortage on the schedule. At least not that I can find. If you think a certain crew is short and you can back it up with numbers, I am happy to try to make that case to mgmt as well. I just don't see it right now.
So the question has been asked "since there is no shortage, can we just make the trainee that just certified's line available?" In this case that would be HX. The answer to that question is no. The 2016 CBA does not differentiate between CPC and DEV lines. It says that you can bid them separately but it does not do anything to indicate that DEV lines mean less than CPC lines. Neither does our MOU. The current MOU only addresses this once by saying that after a trainee certifies the OM and the Area Rep will meet within two weeks of certification to discuss where the new line will be placed. This is an odd way to word this, because we still have to follow the contract as far as filling the line and we can't force people off of their lines without using Article 46. So even though someone certified, it may not always be the case that we "add" a line.
Another question I get is "but they bid as a trainee, that's not a real line, we can just take it form them and bid it out, right?" No, we cannot. If someone bid a line, regardless of whether it was as a trainee or as a CPC, the only way I know of to move them off of their line is through Article 46, which requires mgmt to determine an imbalance before doing anything. And we don't have an imbalance. I am not going to take away anyone's line just because someone senior to them might want it. I know that the line HX is on was only available to trainees during the bid so that may seem unfair to you but I guess you could call that the one perk of being a trainee.
In the past this has been done wrong and in violation of the CBA. An example of this is QW. QW bid Mon-Tues off as a trainee (CPC-IT). That was a "trainee line." Then when he certified, we had a shortage on Thurs-Fri due to Christina's departure. Caleb, with 10 years in the agency, was forced to Thurs-Fri. That process did not follow the CBA. Article 46 should have been used to determine the imbalance and then solicit it, if there were no volunteers then the agency would determine the fat crew and force the junior person. In this case since QW had just certified on Mon-Tues, that would likely be determined to be the fat crew and the junior person would be forced to the vacancy. In that case it would have been KD. This is a risk you take by bidding the junior spot on any crew. These situations are rare, but they do happen. If you are the bottom person on Fri-Sat and your crew is determined to be the fat crew during an Article 46 movement, you absolutely can be forced off of your crew. That is something to consider when you bid this coming year.
If we currently had a shortage on Thurs-Fri then this would be an easy process. The agency would deem that crew short, we would solicit volunteers and if we got none then we would force the junior person from the fat crew. Sat-Sun would likely be determined to be the fat crew and then the junior person (HX) would move to cover the shortage.
I know this all may seem like big changes to some of you, but the only thing that is changing is that we are making an effort to comply with the contract. If we pick and choose what we follow in the CBA, then why can't the agency do the same? If we choose not to follow Article 46, can they choose not to follow Art 108 (Pay)? That may sound silly but when we circumvent rules because it is easier or we like it better, we lose credibility.
It is almost impossible for me to cover every scenario in an email, but if you have any questions about this process or if you have other ideas about how this process should be done (while still complying with the CBA) then please feel free to let me know. So many of you love to talk about this stuff to people other than me so if you find me unapproachable about this then please feel free to discuss with Derek or Alex as well.
Barry Krasner
Lastly, and on a sad note, NATCA giant Barry Krasner passed away this morning. Any of you who had the pleasure of meeting him know what a truly awesome person he was. I had the pleasure of working with him on the National Constitution Committee for a few years before he retired to enjoy some time with his family. He was the kind of guy that could let you know he was the smartest guy in the room without making you feel stupid. He shaped the direction of this organization for years and carried us through some tough times. He will be missed.
In Solidarity,
Drew