The primary purpose of this update is to let you all know that I am now officially your area rep.
When I first showed up at this facility as an unpaid intern nine years ago, I didn’t know anything about any of the areas. However, the more that I talked to people in the facility, the more strongly I felt about wanting to go to the A area should the stars ever align for me to become an air traffic controller at ZSE.
The crazy thing is that they did align. I somehow got to ZSE as my first facility, and I got to come to our area.
I’ve loved being in it ever since. I love the people that we have. I like the kind of traffic that we work. I love living in the Pacific Northwest. This is where I want to be — in the A Area at Seattle Center — and I feel excited and proud and humbled and a whole bunch of other emotions to now get to represent you all.
People in our area have been incredible to me since I showed up as a trainee. I have received so much from other people in the A area. I have received so much from people in NATCA. My main goal in volunteering to be rep is to try and give back a little bit of what has been given to me.
Our area faces a lot of challenges right now — staffing being the most obvious one. You all have felt the crush of the staffing shortage we are experiencing. In the short time I’ve been rep, I have already had several conversations with Russ Brier, our new OM, about staffing and how we get from where we are to a better place. What we’re doing is unsustainable.
Training
As you have seen, training has been paused over the past week. As of this writing, the latest plan is to have R-side training resume shortly. I don’t yet know when D-side training will resume. The expectation is that the D-side pause will also be short-lived.
2022 BWS
With Derek’s assistance, Russ and I agreed on our 2022 basic watch schedule, which is the same schedule as this year’s. The only change is that our 1400 shifts will revert to the old 1330NF shifts (with a 10-minute flex). Management wanted this change to accommodate potential crew breakouts. Otherwise, the lines that we bid on for this year will be the same lines we will bid on for next year.
Our summer guides for Monday through Friday — 11 CPCs on the day shifts and 10 CPCs on the swing shifts — remain the same. We haven’t been staffing to these levels because we literally can’t. We agreed that starting next summer we’ll begin at 10 and 9 until that is unsustainable due to traffic, at which point in time it will be readdressed. I sure hope that we will have the staffing to accommodate the increased guides when we need to. COVID has obviously created uncertainty about training and about what future traffic levels will look like.
We’ll again bid using the BIDatc website. I’ll have more info for you about the specifics of when we’ll bid as we get closer and I receive them.
Alternate rep
Matt Beckman will continue to serve as our alternate rep for the remainder of the year until Derek Adams leaves his current position of facility rep. When that happens, Derek will take over as the alternate.
Local Safety Council
I want to give as much to this new position as possible, so I decided to leave the LSC. Josh Palmer is replacing me and joining Kelly Shielke as our two A area controller representatives on the LSC.
Feedback
I welcome all feedback, suggestions and concerns you have. I’m here for you and for our area. Settling into this new role, I’ve felt like a trainee in terms of my mind going a million miles-per-hour and thinking, “I’ve got to be missing something.” (And like a trainee, I probably am missing something.) If something is going on, please let me know what it is so that I can address it.
As your rep, I feel certain that I will make mistakes. But I pledge to do my best to represent you all individually and collectively.
I have taken over Zimmy’s A area email, and you can reach me there. It’s zse.natca.a.area@gmail.com. You can also call or text me on my phone. It’s 801-860-3821.
In solidarity,
Dan Rasmussen
801-860-3821