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Obama Statement of Introduction: "FAA Fair Labor Management Dispute Resolution Act of 2006"Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., made the following statement of introduction concerning the Obama-Inouye-Murray-Lautenberg Legislation on Jan. 26: Mr. President. In the hours after the terrorist attacks on 9/11, America’s air traffic controllers rose to meet the tremendous challenges of that day. After halting all takeoffs, controllers began clearing the skies over America. Under unprecedented conditions, controllers guided 4,500 planes carrying 350,000 passengers to safe landings. They also rerouted more than 1,100 of the 4,500 flights within the first 15 minutes of the landing order — about one every second – and cleared the skies over America within 2 1/2 hours. That kind of performance was wholly dependent on the caliber and training of the world’s finest air traffic controllers. And as I come to the floor of the Senate today, there are hundreds of pilots flying commercial airplanes under an air traffic controller’s guidance. Each and every day, the lives of thousands of people are in the hands of each and every air traffic controller. Because what they do is vital to our safety, I became very concerned by a letter I received from Illinois air traffic controller Michael Hannigan last December. He wrote that “the air traffic controllers, who work aircraft everyday, often six days a week, are not being allowed to negotiate in good faith with the Federal Aviation Administration.” And he asked for me to help “the hard working Federal employees that want the protections as a labor union that they should have a right to bargain for.” What was clear in Michael’s plea was the sense that he and his colleagues felt that they were being treated unfairly. I looked into it and came to the conclusion that if we did not restore a fair negotiation procedure, it would threaten agency morale and effectiveness. The problem is this: lower courts have determined that the FAA Administrator currently has the extraordinary authority to impose wages and working conditions on her workers without arbitration. In order to do that, she merely has to declare an impasse in negotiations and if Congress does not set everything else aside and stop her from imposing her terms and conditions within 60 days, the Administrator can go ahead and act unilaterally. That authority denies air traffic controllers and all other FAA employees the opportunity to engage in and conclude negotiations in good faith. To diffuse the management-labor tension at the agency and bring the FAA together, I am introducing “The FAA Fair Labor Management Dispute Resolution Act of 2006”. I am also proud to say that Senator Inouye, the co-chair of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committees; Senator Murray, the ranking member on the Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee; and Senator Lautenberg, a member on the Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Transportation, are joining me in this effort. The FAA Fair Labor Management Dispute Resolution Act replaces the FAA Administrator’s arbitrary authority with neutral binding arbitration in the case of an impasse in labor-management negotiations. In arbitration, both labor and management would have to make concessions, and both would be able to accept the outcome as fair. We need this legislation now because the FAA Administrator is engaged in contract negotiations with the agency’s two largest groups of workers -- the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) and Professional Airways Systems Specialists (PASS). In both cases, negotiations have been contentious. And the FAA’s workers fear that the Administrator is not intent on reaching fair, voluntary agreements given her previous negotiations. Indeed, the Administrator has already used her authority to impose wages and working conditions without arbitration or agreement on NATCA's 11 non-air traffic controller bargaining units, and she stands at impasse with four of PASS’s five bargaining units. The Administrator has made three arguments in defense of her actions: (1) the FAA needs the authority “to operate more like a business”; (2) air traffic controller pay is “inappropriate given the financial circumstances of the airline industry the system serves”; and (3) changing the law to send an impasse to binding arbitration would essentially “change the rules of the game during halftime.” But the agency’s employees point out that the agency is not a business driven to cut costs in pursuit of profit, it is a public agency with no margin for error. They also argue that the nation’s air safety should not depend on how well or poorly the airlines are doing financially. And, if the rules are unfair, the employees argue they should be changed before negotiations conclude. Regardless of the merits of each side’s positions, if the Administrator is able to impose her chosen conditions on air traffic controllers, it will have two negative effects on the agency: 1) it will lead to an erosion of talent at the agency with vital, retirement-eligible air traffic controllers interpreting such agency action as an invitation to retire; and 2) it will make recruiting needed replacement employees that much more difficult. I recognize that negotiations between the Administrator and the air traffic controllers are difficult. However, it is in the best interest of the agency and public safety to have management and labor cooperate in contract negotiations and if that is impossible, then no one side should be able to impose its views on the other. Only neutral arbitration can produce a fair outcome that the entire organization can accept. More than 2,900 air traffic controllers will be eligible to retire this year, and 7,100 controllers could leave the agency within the next nine years. Meeting this management challenge will require cooperation between labor and management. Moreover, rising tension between the FAA Administrator and FAA employees threatens this vital agency’s effectiveness at every level and, as a result, threatens the safety of passengers. Again, the legislation we are introducing today would encourage both sides in all FAA labor-management negotiations to reach a voluntary agreement and in the case of impasse, it would allow the FAA to move forward after binding arbitration, bring its workers together, and focus on other challenges because no one side will have had arbitrary authority. The FAA’s employees are dedicated, hard working public servants responsible for helping ensure the safety of the flying public. It is stressful, important work. We must value that work and treat them fairly. Main Menu |