JUSTICE FOR AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS
Oct 06 '09
The Bottom Line President Obama appears to have ended the decades-long struggle of air traffic controllers for decent treatment.
The long struggle of the nation’s air traffic controllers for decent
treatment appears to be finally over –– the struggle that began in 1981,
when President Reagan fired 11,000 controllers for striking and which
resumed full force during George Bush’s presidency.
The controllers aren’t the only ones involved. Millions of airline
passengers and employees and many fliers who pilot their own aircraft have
faced serious threats to their safety because of what was done by the Bush
appointees who ran the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The policies they put in place have kept many air traffic control towers
badly understaffed, subjecting the demoralized men and women who operate
them to long, fatiguing work shifts with little time to rest. The potential
for accidents has been great – the possibility of improperly guided planes
smashing into each other in the air or on runways, or going dangerously off
course and crashing,.
The controllers tried to improve the situation through their union, the
National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA). But the FAA rejected
union demands for improvements during negotiations for a new union contract
in 2006, then broke off negotiations and unilaterally imposed new work rules
and pay cuts that made the situation even worse.
The rest breaks that had been guaranteed controllers after every two hours
of their eye-straining, high-tension work of following aircraft paths across
radar screens were eliminated, for instance. And the new rules allowed their
bosses to order controllers to work overtime, however fatigued or stressed
they might be.
Not surprisingly, the controllers’ morale neared rock-bottom. FAA surveys
indicated that two-thirds of them were unhappy with how the agency was being
managed. What’s more, controllers filed more than 280,000 formal grievances
charging the FAA with violating their union rights.
The number of controllers, about 15,000 when Bush took office, has steadily
declined at the same time that air traffic has steadily increased. More than
2,600 controllers have resigned. The result, says NATCA, has been “massive
fatigue” among the remaining controllers who’ve had to take on extra
workloads, including 10-hour shifts and six-day workweeks. Some control
towers have had to be shut down for hours at a time for lack of controllers.
Bush’s FAA rejected repeated calls by the controllers’ union to resume
contract negotiations or at least submit to mediation, and Bush threatened
to veto any legislation that would have required the agency to resume
negotiations.
President Obama’s FAA quickly rescinded the onerous conditions imposed by
Bush’s appointees and reached agreement on new work rules in negotiations
with NATCA. Other contract terms, including pay rates, were reached this summer through mutually agreed- to mediation and arbitration. The new
three-year contract, approved overwhelmingly by controllers, went into
effect Oct. 1.
The agreement allows much more flexibility in setting work schedules, a new
system for resolving controllers’ grievances, and other gains, including
adjustments in a wage system that paid new hires nearly one-third less than
those already on the job. That had caused friction among controllers and
gave the FAA a great incentive to force veteran controllers out in favor of
cheaper newcomers.
A quick agreement was essential, the FAA and the controllers’ union said in
a joint statement, “to stabilize the workforce, effectively train the large
number of new hires and keep the current system safe and efficient.”
Close cooperation between the parties will especially be needed to develop
what Obama’s FAA Administrator, Randy Babbiitt, cites as a “much-needed
next- generation aviation system.”
Also very much needed is “rebuilding trust between the FAA and its
employees” that’s been absent for more than a quarter-century.
Copyright © 2009 Dick Meister
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
meiste
|
|
Member: dick meister
Location: San Francisco, California
Reviews written: 298
Trusted by: 24 members
About Me:
Journalist Meiste's work has been used by more than 350 print, broadcast and online outlets.
|
|
|
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.