Weekly Update October 18th

Good Afternoon All! Just a couple things for you this week. 

MOU Briefing Schedule

MOU briefings started today. Not a whole lot of changes so it’s mainly discussing bidATC. We will be briefing in the QC conference room on both the day and swing shifts Saturday and Sunday. Tuesday and Thursday will only be during the day shift. Please try and get to one so you can hear about the changes and sign up for bidATC if you haven’t already. We are still planning on bidding on the 28th to allow us to adjust for any changes the Article 46 will bring about. Devin has updated our local website with all the updated MOUs, just click on the links tab up top and scroll down. The bidATC tutorial is there too.

Didn’t know we had a website? The address is http://www.natca-zse.com and the password is zse. 

Speaking of bidding, if you will not be able to access the internet during any portion of bidding, please ask for a proxy sheet before you leave. When the bid is delayed, it costs the rest of your area leave slots and you will run the risk of getting skipped.

Holiday Party

When was the last time you got to dress up and go out for a night on the town? Have I got the perfect solution for you! The ZSE Holiday Party will be Saturday, December 7th at the Tacoma Marriott, catered by the Pacific Grill. They have blocked 10 rooms at a special rate for us in case anyone is interested in making a weekend of it. If you’re interested in booking one, let me know ASAP.

I’m so excited at the prospect of starting a new tradition here! 

You may have read my email soliciting for volunteers to help plan the details, please let me know if you’d like to help, every little bit helps and I definitely need it! 

New CPC

I know it’s a little late, but the A area has a new CPC. Congrats Mike Ollerman!

Seriously….are we not doing sign off parties anymore?

Lastly, Derek will be out of town for the first part of next week but I’ll be around. Please let me know if you need anything. 

Thank you all for allowing me to represent you, it is an honor.

Amy Sizemore

Weekly Update October 11th

It’s time for another weekly update. Since we are in a state of limbo awaiting the results of the Article 46 solicitation, we will dive into the upcoming bidding process.

As many of you know we will be conducting bidding via the bidATC website. Although this is a pretty big change from years past, the Eboard is confident that it will help move the bidding process along in a timely fashion and prevent us from losing leave slots in the 2020 leave year. In order to use the bidATC website, you will need to establish a sign-in. This is based on your member number. If you don’t know your member number, please reach out to your area rep or another member of the Eboard and we can assist you. Devin has created a short instructional video that will walk you through the bidATC process. The video is at the bottom of the update, if you can’t view it in your email client, you may need to click through to the website.

As far as a breakdown on the annual leave MOU, these are a few of the key points and changes from last year.

• In round 1 CPCs will have 3 slots per day, Devs and CPC-ITs will have 2 slots per day and TMU will have 1 slot per day.

• At the conclusion of round 1 the Area Reps and OMs will collaborate to redistribute (not reduce) the remaining slots throughout the calendar year. Management’s goal here will be to reduce OT costs which, for some areas, means remaining third slots in the summer will likely get moved to other parts of the year. The moral here is bid as much as you can in the summer during round 1 so we can retain as many of those slots as possible.

• During the redistribution process, each day will have no less than 2 slots and no more than 4.

• There will be 5 total rounds. Round 1 will be 2 consecutive or non-consecutive weeks. Round 2 will be 1 week. Round 3 will be any 5 days. Round 4 will be any 6 days (this is for the 26 day earners and eliminates the need for a round in which they only bid 1 day). Round 5 will be any remaining accrued slots not bid during the previous rounds and may be bid with accrued or accumulated leave.

• Once an area has reached their total accrued leave slots, bidding will be complete.

I’m sure there will be many more questions on this, and the Eboard and I are happy to answer them.

We will be conducting briefings beginning next week. They will be conducted similar to the SAFE briefings in that we will do multiple briefings per day with smaller groups. We are hoping to keep briefings down to 15-20 minutes so it does not intrude too much on staffing. We look forward to seeing you there.

I will be traveling during the middle of next week for drug and alcohol training and again the following week for LEAP class. During my absence Amy will be around, but as always, I am available via phone, text or email.

In Solidarity,

Derek Adams

Weekly Update October 4th

I hope everyone has had a great week. I have spent much of my week working in the A area. After barely getting my time last month, I decided to get ahead of the game and get some hours in. I’ve always loved our profession and I truly enjoy spending time on the floor.

I’m sure the question on everyone’s mind is where are we at with the Article 46 solicitation. On Tuesday I met with Don to discuss the letter I sent to him last Friday. He made it very clear that management was going to push forward with the solicitation. I then started diving into what some of the repercussions would be if NATCA stood their ground and forced management to follow the timelines covered in the CBA rather than mutually agree to the solicitation. There were a laundry list of negative impacts and almost all of them surrounded our schedule and leave bidding. It is because of this, and through conversations with the rest of the Eboard, that I chose to agree to the solicitation being implemented early and we are going to delay the BWS and AL bidding until the solicitation is complete. Management also wanted to only pull one person from the C and D areas, but this violated the contract in several ways, so I insisted that they solicit from all of the areas. I want to reiterate that the Eboard felt there were other ways to help the B area and their staffing crisis besides an Article 46, but if management was going to insist on going forward with the solicitation, it was in our best interest to be involved to help mitigate additional damages that would have occurred. NATCA did not co-sponsor this solicitation, but we did agree to early implementation and provided our input to make the outcome closer to what we want it to be. I am sure there are many opinions one way or another on this and I am fully open to critiques and concerns so feel free to share them with me.

An additional note on the solicitation is that it says they will select up to two employees. The caveat to that is Don has proposed a six month detail to the B area beginning sometime in the spring. If that detail is negotiated between NATCA and management, there will only be one employee selected through the Article 46 solicitation. Prior to negotiations, I would like to get a feel for how many people, if any, are interested in such a detail because it will help shape the way we move forward. If that is something you are interested in, please let me know via text or email.

I know this has been a weird couple of weeks and I appreciate everyone’s patience as we work through the next couple. I assure you that anything I or the Eboard does is intended to be in the best interest of our members and this facility. Thank you all for your support and your feedback.

In Solidarity,

Derek Adams

Weekly Update September 27th

It’s been another exciting week at ZSE. I spent a lot of time on the floor to ensure I got my time for the month and I will admit that I was a bit rusty. Luckily after October my travel will slow to almost nothing and I will find much more time to be in the areas and maintain my proficiency.

I’m sure by now the rumors are swirling about management’s proposal to solicit for an Article 46 move from the C and D areas to the B area. After some robust conversation amongst the Eboard, we have determined that it is not in the facilities best interest to support this move. Although we all feel for the B area and the massive amount of overtime they’ve had to endure, stripping CPCs from any of the other areas will only harm them and potentially leave them in a similar situation. I gave Don NATCA’s official stance today and we will see where management takes it. I want to make it clear that management can carry through with this solicitation and if there are no volunteers, they can forcibly move the lowest senior CPC in the areas without any buy-in from NATCA. We are taking a strong stance against this, but if we cannot persuade them, we will be left with their decision with little to no recourse. We are hopeful that our arguments against this do not fall on deaf ears. More to come when we get Don’s response.

On a more positive note, registration for NATCA’s Biennial Convention in Houston opened today. For those that have never been, the convention is a fantastic way to see the inner workings of our great Union and see where the leadership and our membership are taking us. I highly recommend that anyone with the slightest interest in becoming more involved with NATCA try to attend. Just a reminder that this is something that must be done on your own time, so plan your leave accordingly. Here is the registration link:

https://www.eiseverywhere.com/ereg/index.php?eventid=480719&

Speaking of leave, we should be on pace to begin bidding by October 14th. The schedules are getting their final touches and we should be sending the MOUs up to the district for agency head review next week. If all goes as planned the briefings will take place the following week and we will be on our way. Due to the fact that we are changing to online bidding, I ask for everyones patience as we all adjust to this new way of doing business. Also, if you have leave coming up after the 14th and you will be unable to use bidATC, please get with your area rep or another member of the Eboard to leave your proxy bid.

I hope everyone has a fantastic week and please contact me with any issues, questions or concerns.

In solidarity,

Derek Adams

Weekly Update September 20th

Phew, it’s nice to be back in the PNW. If you didn’t know already, I’m a local boy and therefor am not a fan of the dry heat that both OKC and LAS offered the last week and half. As you’ve noticed, this update is not coming out on a Monday. Amy and I determined that there is often a lot to do on Monday’s after we’re gone for the weekend, so we will be changing to an end of the week recap.

Thank you to all of those that participated in the elections. Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to everyone that stepped up to help make ZSE a better place to work. I am honored and humbled that I will be continuing on as your FACREP. I look forward to finishing out this year with our current Eboard and working closely with the newly elected Eboard over the next two years. We have some old faces and some new so it will be a great time for us to further grow this Local.

I attended TRB training last week in OKC and I have to say it was a very good class. I encourage anyone that is interested in being on a TRB panel to represent NATCA or simply wants to see how the TRB process works, to sign up for a class through the NATCA portal. The classes for next year are not scheduled yet and they will be revamping the class to fall in line with the upcoming 3120.4 changes, but I will keep you posted once 2020 classes are published.

The Center FACREP meeting and CFS took place this week on Sunday-Wednesday. Both events were quite informative and gave us a lot to bring back and apply in the facility. In addition, ZSE had three (and one former) members honored at the Archie League Awards Banquet. The award went to Joseph Asmundson, Matthew Rhea, Nicole Coffey, and Devin Carlisto. Here is the link to their writeup on the NATCA sight.

https://www.natca.org/index.php/insider-articles/2794-northwest-mountain-region-archie-league-winners-joseph-asmundson-matthew-colby-rhea-nicole-breann-coffey-and-devin-carlisto

I will share a video of the award being handed out when it becomes available. I am proud that ZSE had the opportunity to be represented at this great event and I want to thank the winners for their professionalism during a very taxing situation.

Our 2019 Archie League Award winners with Executive Vice President Trish Gilbert, NNM RVP Alex Navarro and President Paul Rinaldi.

All the folks representing ZSE at CFS and the Archie League Awards Banquet.

That’s all I have for this week. There will be much more to come as we push forward with the MOUs and finalize schedules. Please let me know if there is anything I can do for you. Again I am honored and humbled to continue to serve you.

In Solidarity,

Derek Adams