Rinaldi Speaks at ATCA Conference

NATCA Executive Vice President Paul Rinaldi was invited to speak at the 51^st Annual ATCA Conference on October 30, and he took the opportunity to talk about the imposed work rules and how they are affecting the air traffic controller workforce.  Rinaldi touched upon three main topics in his speech including how the air traffic controller workforce is the FAA's greatest strength, how the major problem facing the FAA is the staffing crisis and how the FAA can improve operations by addressing the imposed work rules. 

The following is a transcript of Rinaldi's speech: 

Opening remarks by Paul Rinaldi

Executive Vice President, NATCA

51st Annual ATCA Conference and Exposition Plenary Session 2: "Todays Issues"

Oct. 30, 2006

Good morning. First let me thank Pete Dumont and the great staff at ATCA for putting this conference together. As Dave mentioned, I am here in place of Pat Forrey, who does not want for you to think he didn't want to be here. He is with the Secretary of Transportation, which trumps this conference just a little bit. And right now, NATCA does not have its own private jet to fly nonstop to Kansas City to get him there for his meeting!

I am going to address the three questions in which I was asked to address. What are the FAA's greatest strengths? The greatest strength is the workforce. The safety of the air traffic control system is dependent upon the skills, dedication, teamwork and flexibility of the highly trained, highly skilled men and women who work the world's best, most efficient and safest air traffic control system.

Our new leaders at NATCA and our new executive board members are big supporters of new technology and, for many years, under FAA Administrator Jane Garvey, we worked together and took great pride in helping to design, test and implement the equipment, software and radar systems that are in the facilities today. NATCA and our air traffic controllers want to be on the front end of designing, testing and implementing the next generation of air traffic control equipment. It just makes sense. How do you develop air traffic control equipment without air traffic controllers?

We all heard the presentation by Administrator Blakey this morning and we agree with her on a lot of things. We have our differences, but we do agree on a lot of things. The next generation of air traffic control equipment will increase the safety and efficiency of the system. However, we will always have a need for air traffic controllers. Let us not forget what happened after the attacks of 9/11, when the air traffic controllers set aside the training manuals and the books, because we never planned for anything like that. There was no computer or technology that could help us. It was the sheer will of the men and women who worked that day to land those planes as soon as possible.

There will never be a next generation air traffic control system immune to the headaches of convective weather. The challenges that controllers rise to overcome that are associated with weather events are astronomical. We heard Phil (Boyer) talk this morning about the high winds yesterday at Dulles. It doesn't have to be a thunderstorm. You take high winds; offset all the runways and the system just slows down. There will never be a substitute for the flexibility and the sheer will of the highly trained, highly skilled air traffic controllers. On a daily basis, we go above and beyond, incredible lengths, to keep this system the safest, most efficient system in the world, paralleled by nobody or no other.

The second question: In what area can the FAA improve? The FAA has many challenges in front of it. We heard from the other panelists about a lot of them. But the biggest problem I see that the FAA has is the staffing crisis. Air traffic control facilities around the country have witnessed remarkable growth in traffic since 9/11, with the regional jets taking over lots of routes and the very light jets coming on line very soon, the air traffic staffing has not kept pace. As a matter of fact, it's been reduced. Air traffic controllers not only have to do their jobs without making mistakes, they have to maintain vigilance and try to prevent other's mistakes from becoming accidents. If there aren't enough controllers to do this, they cannot maintain the safety margin.

Throughout our air traffic system, it is the redundancies of safety built in that make us the best. The facts are simple. The FAA has lost 1,000 more controllers than it has hired in the past three years, which represents roughly seven percent of the total workforce.  By the end of next year, 1 in 4 controllers will be eligible to retire, roughly, three thousand, six hundred controllers. We all know the difficulty that comes with making statistical forecasts.  In 2005, the FAA announced that it had underestimated the number of controllers by 30 percent. In 2006, they underestimated retirements by 50 percent.

The concern for us is obvious:  The Agency cannot get ahead of the retirement crisis. There are a serious number of qualified applicants turning down the job because of the work rules imposed on September 3rd. With the reduction of 30 percent of their starting pay and their actual pay down the line, these applicants are simply finding employment elsewhere.

What recommendations can I give the agency for improving? I just touched on the imposed work rules of September 3rd. NATCA will never recognize these imposed work rules as a contract. They were not negotiated. They were not ratified.  The new work rules being imposed on air traffic controllers have been poisoning our work environment. It's a huge distraction for safety. It's resulted in an understaffed workforce and an under-rested workforce. This workforce is also losing its enthusiasm and pride for its profession and is gaining contempt for its employer.

These work rules are amplifying our staffing crisis. As I touched on, applicants are turning down the job and as soon as our controllers are eligible to retire, they are leaving. Under the new imposed work rules, controllers cannot call in sick for minor inconveniences. So if you have diarrhea or if you are throwing up, it's a minor inconvenience to the FAA and you still must come to work and work your airplanes. They can't call in sick to get additional rest. There are no restrictions to give controllers a break after two hours on position. There's no stability in air traffic control schedules and there's no guaranteed vacation leave. If you were eligible to retire, you would retire also.

All this is affecting the performance and the safety of the system. Whether we want to or not, we must deal with these issues now before they have lasting effects on the future of the system.

With labor peace and a properly staffed system, we will be able to look to the efforts to modernize the air traffic control system. And we want to be part of that.

In closing, I would touch on our three points again: NATCA believes the FAA's greatest strength is its workforce. NATCA believes the greatest challenge the FAA has is its staffing crisis. And finally, the first thing the agency needs to do to improve is to address the imposed work rules. We need a ratifiable agreement for the nation's air traffic controllers.

Thank you and Ill be happy to answer any questions you have.