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FAA Vs. Controllers: Proposal for Wage Scale Prompts Disagreement

Posted on: Thursday, 11 May 2006, 06:07 CDT

By David Wethe, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas

May 11--D/FW AIRPORT -- The so-called "economic engine of North Texas" could start to sputter if you believe what air-traffic controllers at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport are saying about a new labor contract the Federal Aviation Administration has proposed.

Mike Conely, an air-traffic controller at D/FW and a leader of his local union, said the way he and other members read the FAA's complex proposal, wages would be cut for hires and frozen for many existing workers. That would trigger throngs of controller retirements nationally and slow air traffic at D/FW and other airports, the union contends.

But the FAA disagrees, saying its proposed contract is fair and won't trigger retirements.

"There's no financial evidence whatsoever to support this claim that the FAA's proposal is going to cause mass retirements," said Geoff Basye, an FAA spokesman.

Controllers' salaries have risen significantly in recent years, the FAA said, and the agency is under significant pressure from Congress to reduce spending.

Current controllers would receive pay increases under the five-year FAA proposal, but at slower growth rates than in recent years, the agency said. Pay rates for future hires would be cut from today's levels, the FAA proposed in a 67-page document it submitted to Congress.

But Conely said he and the rest of the union don't believe it.

The proposed contract doesn't speak of grandfathering in pay levels for current employees, he said. As a result, controllers across the country are worried that those who are eligible to retire won't have an incentive to stick around if their salaries won't increase, he said.

One thing is clear: Even though the nation's controllers are union-represented, they are barred from striking under federal law and don't have the same leverage in talks as many other unions.

Earlier this week, controllers handed out leaflets at D/FW and other airports nationally, launching a campaign to enlist support from travelers. The two sides have been negotiating a new contract for the past nine months, but the FAA declared an impasse April 5. Congress has until June 5 to settle the issue, and the FAA can impose its final offer if Congress does nothing.

The controllers union is hoping for legislation that orders another round of talks or binding arbitration.

Conely, 54, who says his pay would be frozen for the five-year term of the contract, said travelers should prepare for a slowdown in air traffic if the FAA imposes its offer. The union estimates about 1 in 4 controllers nationally -- almost 4,000 -- would be eligible to retire and could step down by the end of next year.

Conely, who is less than two years from a mandatory retirement and is considering moving that up to the end of this year, said he knows of 14 controllers at his office in the middle of D/FW Airport who might retire this year.

Conely's office is known as the Dallas/Fort Worth Terminal Radar Approach Control, or tracon. It's one of three groups of controllers that guide planes for landings and watch their departures.

Ric Loewen, who works in one of D/FW's control towers, said he knows of at least two and as many as eight controllers who would be ready to retire if the new contract goes into effect. And if that happens, it means more stress for those in the tower, he said. Conely estimated that departures at D/FW, the world's third-busiest airport, could slow to one every five minutes. That compares with multiple departures every minute today.

"It'll cause the controllers that are here to have to spend more time on position working live air traffic and to have less time taking a break to decompress," Loewen said. "Our job requires you to be able to make split-second decisions in reference to a three-dimensional puzzle where everything is moving, some at 200 miles an hour, and cannot stop. That involves hundreds of people's lives."

Basye, the FAA spokesman, said the union's stance is "silly" and a "scare tactic."

He said controllers' salaries have increased almost 75 percent since 1998. The agency spent $1.4 billion on air-traffic controller salaries in 1998 and $2.4 billion in 2005.

The agency can't continue to sustain those kinds of increases, Basye said. Tight budget requirements imposed by Congress have forced the FAA to make an offer that takes into account "other investments" and "other employees that need to be paid."

Current controllers will still continue to earn raises, Basye said. He said the offer would boost the average cash compensation -- which includes base salary and other cash bonuses -- for controllers 9 percent, from $128,500 to $139,900.

That will just be at slower growth than controllers have seen since 1998, he said.

"If they were to say they are going to make less than if the 1998 contract were in place, that is absolutely true," Basye said.

Salaries at D/FW now range from $102,846 to $143,984, but will drop to between $74,950 and $104,500, according to the FAA report submitted to Congress.

Conely and Loewen said they and other union members are concerned that if their salaries are not increasing, there won't be an incentive to keep working.

"What incentive do they have to come out here and perform one of the most stressful jobs in the country for a group of management officials who over the last several years have decided to treat them like dirt?" Loewen said.

Conely doesn't deny that air-traffic controllers are paid well. But he added that it's also a stressful job made worse by a "staffing crunch."

But Basye said the FAA will release updated numbers in about a week that "clearly" show that the agency is bringing on more controllers than are leaving the system.

"There's not a staffing crisis," he said. "Simply because in some facilities we might require less controllers now than we did in 1998 does not dictate a crisis."

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David Wethe, (817) 685-3803 dwethe@star-telegram.com

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Copyright (c) 2006, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas

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Source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, Texas)

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