Presidential Perspective
Brothers and Sisters,
One of the first activities I felt compelled to accomplish during the first few weeks in office was to contemplate the future of NATCA, our profession and the FAA. I strongly believe that it's very important that our leadership has a clear vision of our goals and communicate these policies to our membership. During the week of September 25th, the NEB determined that before we could plan on where to go, we needed to find out where we were. And to a person, each of us provided example after example of the steady decline in respect and concern for a once proud professional aviation safety related work force by FAA management.
In the FAA's zeal to capture control of their existing right to manage the agency, we have seen the senseless erosion of working conditions that only serve to distract the important operational responsibilities we have been sworn to carry out. We have challenged the agency's right to unilaterally impose work rules and their disregard of federal law, but the wheels of justice turn slowly. We have seen our agency take back rudimentary benefits that are enjoyed by other federal agencies and workers in the guise of controlling labor costs. We have seen our agency demoralize a new work force by breaking their promise of future compensation, opportunities for advancement, and fairness within a two tiered pay system. We have seen our agency describe its work force as greedy, lazy and incompetent, in order to sway Congressional and public opinion. And saddest of all, we have seen our agency weaken the resolve of dedicated employees who only strive to fulfill their mission to safely and efficiently manage the national airspace system.
Already, over 900 experienced controllers have retired this calendar year from federal service; this doesn't include those operational supervisors that will retire and who must be replaced by working controllers. This number exceeds the agency's estimates for the third year in a row. And traditionally, the greatest percentage of retiring controllers will happen at the end of December and beginning of January, incurring additional stress on the safety of the system. According to the agency, a higher persentage of candidates for employment have declined a career in ATC since the FAA imposed its new philosophy of management and compensation, one that has convinced nearly 30 new employees to resign.
These realities only scratch the surface of the insidious demoralization of the work forces NATCA represents. But we are not helpless. In many respects, the FAA has swung the pendulum to the extreme, and we believe that we must save the FAA from itself! We believe now is the time to revitalize, rebuild, and recover our presence, credibility, and admiration among the aviation community. We believe future system success resides in our membership to provide the positive initiative for developing a modernized aviation system that values the contributions of the work force. We believe that NATCA members represent the preeminent aviation safety professionals of the National Airspace System and the driving force for future system safety and growth. We believe that the members of this Union epitomize the best and the brightest in federal government. there is nothing we can't achieve when we clearly understand our direction and stay the course.
So, how do we stop the insanity? Clearly, we must change the way we approach and address issues important to us. We will begin by aggressively pursuing a legislative strategy that incorporates our relationships with Congress, system users, and the FAA, to influence positive legislation that addresses system safety and efficiency and fairness for employees. We've already begun our grassroots build up to get "Boots on the Ground" to several critical campaigns that will change the face of Congress. Our grassroots lobby efforts will be funded and supported by the national office so that over time, we will develop in-district relationships with every facility; we need to be the "go to" experts for our Congressional members and the user community.
We've developed goals that address privatization, staffing, legislation for fair bargaining, grassroots initiatives, organizing aviation occupations and strengthening our core membership through the services we provide. These goals are designed and intended to secure fair wages and benefits, security for our professions, and suitable conditions of employment. Milestones have been set to monitor our progress. Obviously, some of these goals involve long term initiatives that we must slowly cultivate and prosecute, others are short term and require aggressive action. Our task is to stay on target while we continue to provide safety, service and professionalism in all our endeavors.
Our history as a Union is rife with success. This past year's legislative activism was a testament to thousands of NATCA members answering the call to arms. Your relationships with your members of Congress - both Democratic and Republican - culminated in a very impressive bipartisan effort against a hostile leadership in control of the House, Senate and Administration. And even though we lost that fight, we gained respect and admiration.
We believe the next year will find us united in purpose and stronger as a union. We will emerge with renewed passion and a new generation of activists. We have and will continue to engage the Agency and the DOT at the highest levels to address the myriad of issues unresolved between NATCA and the FAA. And we will continue to address and resolve these significant issues through all available venues and forums.
In Solidarity and Service,
Patrick Forrey
