1986 – NATCA’s Birth Takes Shape at Founding Convention, Chicago
On Sept. 23-24, 1986, 72 delegates attend NATCA’s founding convention at the Chicago-O’Hare Ramada Hotel, including provisional representatives from each of NATCA’s nine regions. John Thornton, the founding father of NATCA, announces that NATCA has collected more than 4,200 signatures calling for an election on whether to form a union. However, the group decided to wait in order to get more signatures before filing them with the FLRA to help ensure a “big win.”
1987 – Controllers Vote ‘Yes’
1989 – The First Contract
Beginning in November 1988, NATCA and the FAA sat down to discuss a collective bargaining agreement (CBA). It was the first time a union representing air traffic controllers and the FAA had conducted talks since the strike in 1981. The final agreement was a CBA for 1989 to 1993, and contained provisions from the 1978 PATCO contract such as mandatory breaks after two hours on position, immunity for controllers who reported operational errors, and release time for union representatives to work on NTSB investigations. They also gained the right to conduct mid-term bargaining and workplace articles related to prime time leave. NATCA also successfully bargained regional representatives 50 percent official time off to conduct union representational duties.
1990 – First DoD Facility Represented
1992 – NATCA Takes Monumental Step With Pay Reclassification
A truly momentous accomplishment for NATCA – a six-year-long effort to design, ratify, and implement a 10-tier pay reclassification system that began in 1992 and expanded the existing five-tier system. It changed pay from the GS scale to one based on traffic volume and complexity.
1993 – NATCA’s First Lobby Week
1994 – NCF Leads Spirit of Generosity
1996 – Chapter 71: Fight for Survival
1997 – Engineers Join NATCA
1997 – NATCA Expands With FCTs
1998 – AFL-CIO Accepts NATCA
1998 – NATCA Negotiates Pay for the First Time
2000 – NATCA Finds a Stable Home
2000 – Region X Is Created
2001 – Answering the Nation’s Call to Clear the Skies on 9/11
2003 – NATCA Works to Keep 69 of its Represented Towers
In December, 2003, the president signed a four-year FAA Reauthorization called the Vision 100 Century of Aviation Reauthorization Act. The bill was passed during a contentious period with the Bush administration over air traffic control privatization. House Republicans were set on contracting out 69 FAA towers. In order to prevent such a provision from being in the final bill, NATCA worked with members of Congress to hold up the bill until Republicans agreed to guarantee a moratorium on privatization. Thus when the final bill was signed, it was accompanied by a one year moratorium against privatization, a major victory that would ensure the 69 towers the FAA had targeted for privatization, would remain FAA facilities.
2003 – Extension of the Green Book CBA for Two Years
NATCA and the FAA agreed to extend the Green Book CBA for two years, avoiding the distraction of a labor clash during a rough period for the air transportation system. It was a positive development for NATCA in the first term of a Republican administration that had already tried to contract out a significant number of FAA facilities, as detailed above. There had also been some talk, including in Congress, of wanting to seek givebacks from the Union.
2005 – FAA Tries, Fails to Fire ‘NY11’; NATCA Never Backed Down
In July 2005, the FAA fired 11 controllers at New York TRACON for neglecting to check one box on its 8500-8 medical form. It was a union-busting attempt that failed five months later when the “NY11” were offered their jobs back with full back pay. NATCA President John Carr escorted the controllers back to their facility, a huge victory for the Union.
2008 – Undivided, Undefeated
2009 – The Red Book Ends Lost Years
2009 – Taking CFS to New Heights
2010 – ATSAP Fully Implemented
2011 – At Last, Era of Imposed Work and Pay Rules Comes to an End
In 2005, a year before the FAA imposed the White Book, the Agency first imposed work rules on many of NATCA’s Region X bargaining units. But by 2010, with the parties engaged in the start of a collaborative relationship, NATCA began negotiations for a fairly negotiated Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) on behalf of all of these units. The ensuing work at the negotiating table resulted in a new CBA, signed on April 7, 2011. It was called the Light Blue book or the Multi-Unit CBA and covers all of NATCA’s non-ATO bargaining units. At last, the era of imposed work and pay rules was over and each of the FAA bargaining units represented by NATCA were covered by a fairly negotiated CBA.
2011 – Collaboration Progress Begins to Be Measured
2011 – Professional Standards
2012 – Safety & Tech Successes
2012- Long Fight Restores Title 49; Fair Collective Bargaining Process
On Feb. 14, 2012, President Obama signed H.R. 658 the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, the final step in making the FAA Reauthorization a law. It ended a five-year-long effort for an FAA bill and more than seven years of NATCA trying to amend Title 49 and establish fair collective bargaining process for all of our members. Sec. 601, which addresses the personnel management system, was the critical provision which ensures that FAA bargaining units will never again have work and pay rules imposed upon them by their employer.
2013 – Fighting Sequestration
2013 – Consolidated CBA is Signed
A milestone in NATCA’s history of strong labor relations work was reached on June 2, 2013, when the Union and the FAA signed the Consolidated Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) covering the Engineers and Architects (E&A), Staff Specialists (SSS), and Aviation System Specialists (ATSS) bargaining units. We soon added the Flight Procedures units. All non-operational ATO bargaining units are covered by what we call the Purple Book.
2016 – Slate Book Makes History
The Slate Book, covering the ATC, FSS, TMU, and NOTAM bargaining units, went into effect, becoming the first collective bargaining agreement (CBA) to establish an article solely about collaboration. Interest-based bargaining was a leap of faith, but there was trust in collaboration on both sides. The result was a big step forward in the parties’ relationship. “In this case, we worked our way through a term agreement for over 14,000 employees without requiring the outside assistance for arbitration or even mediation,” Chief Negotiator Dean Iacopelli said. The NATCA membership ratified the contract with the highest percentage of any CBA in the Union’s history: 98.32 percent.
2018 – Rinaldi & Gilbert Win 4th Term
In 2018, both President Paul Rinaldi and Executive Vice President Trish Gilbert won re-election to serve the membership for an unprecedented fourth term. Nobody else has served more than two terms in either office. That is not, however, the first time they have made history. Although NATCA’s top two positions are elected separately, in 2009 they campaigned for their respective positions as a team, which had never been done. Since taking office in 2009 Rinaldi and Gilbert have continued to work as a team, along with the NATCA National Executive Board, elevating NATCA to new levels of success.
2019 – Speaking Out to End Shutdown
On Jan. 16, 2019, two weeks into the government shutdown, Executive Vice President Trish Gilbert announced on CNN, for the first time, that the National Airspace System was less safe than when the shutdown began. “Right now, you’re putting this incredible strain on the system which is unacceptable and unreasonable,” she said. The urgency of ending the shutdown was raised.
2020 – Collaboration Results in Flexible Schedule During Pandemic
Just two weeks after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and the rapid reduction of air traffic volume, NATCA and the FAA agreed to a national flexible schedule initiative to help ensure the health of our members. It was the result of a monumental collaborative effort with the Agency and tireless work from our NATCA visits across the country. Schedule negotiations and bidding usually take months using a process we’ve known and followed for years, but this was accomplished in a few days. “It was a genuine collaborative effort with the FAA to address the safety and health of the ATCS workforce,” said Eastern RVP Rich Santa, who was the NEB lead on the development and implementation of the COVID-19 Flexible Schedules. “I’m so proud and impressed with our FacReps who worked to implement these new schedules in such a short period of time.”