New England RVP Round-Up – June 29, 2025
From Kevin Curtiss, NATCA New England Regional Vice President
Good Morning NATCA New England,
Last week, NATCA New England held a Solidarity Event at Top Golf in Canton, MA. Members and FacReps were able to talk to NATCA president Nick Daniels and ask questions. The previous night, he met with Senator Susan Collins from Maine, and he was able to speak on his interaction with her and how the issues facing controllers at BGR and PWM are being addressed. New England had questions about pay, and President Daniels referred to Secretary Duffy’s vision for Air Traffic Control and the money that would be set aside for recruiting and retention if that funding is secured.
Even before our president arrived, many leaders in our region were able to talk with members that had questions about things legislatively. I was able to talk to a member and explain that our retirement benefits in part have been preserved through the reconciliation process because of the work of our legislative committee. That conversation continued, and we even got to talk about how no BUE should ever be placed on sick leave any day of the week that is a bid RDO. If you’re scratching your head on how can that be, I urge you to pull your facility representative or area representative aside and have a conversation about Article 38 and Article 26 of our CBA.
In the June 1 update, our legislative rep will have more details about what NATCA continues to face legislatively and exactly what our members are up against after NATCA’s efforts last week and the Senate changes to the bill. You recently got an email with a call to action link: natca.org/actioncenter
I urge every single one of you to contact your senator and let them know that the language in the current Senate Bill would cause irreparable harm. In simple terms, our workforce which is already underpaid and overworked could potentially suffer more.
Last month was the NATCA Biennial convention. In San Francisco at convention, New England members put their names on many unsuccessful proposals. However, an amendment that was passed is the formation of a National Training Committee. With academy success rates continuing to fall over the one-year average, this will be an important step in bringing the expertise from the floor up through the regional training reps to a national level.
Since convention, I’ve held a Membership Townhall, and New England has also launched the first members’ discord channel where I held a hangout. I’m proud of our Discord team’s job, and I look forward to expanding our outreach to newer and younger people in our career field. If you’d like to join our Discord server, click here.
This week, I’ll be traveling to Seattle for the first NEB meeting since Convention. While the board addresses a growing agenda, controllers in New England will be doing what we do every summer; working increased traffic, dealing with adverse weather conditions, and short staffing. Part of that short staffing challenge is too frequently, controllers are left to cover the desk. It is imperative that if our controllers are not getting the mitigation they need, there are equipment issues or OT is being denied, it’s essential that you reach out to your rep so that they can work that issue and get it up to the region as soon as possible, if it merits elevation.
Thus far, the weather has been awful in New England. I hope as summer progresses it gets nice and that as many of you can enjoy whatever time off you’re afforded.
HK
