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FAA, Air Traffic Controllers Stake Out Their Positions on New Contract

Posted on: Wednesday, 13 July 2005, 21:00 CDT

Jul. 14--The Federal Aviation Administration and the air traffic controllers' union launched the public relations war that often accompanies contract negotiations.

Talks are expected to be particularly bitter this time around as the FAA attempts to rein in salary levels and work rules at airport towers and radar rooms, amid a budget crunch at the agency.

FAA administrator Marion Blakey said in a news conference Wednesday that changes are needed if the agency is going to be able to afford to modernize the air traffic control system.

"We cannot afford an agreement like 1998 that saddled the FAA with excessive costs, archaic work rules and restrictions on our ability to modernize the system," Ms. Blakey said.

John Carr, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, said in a separate news conference about an hour later that the union isn't ready to say whether members would accept a reworked contract. "We look forward to meeting the agency for negotiations and reaching an amicable agreement," he said.

The 1998 contract, extended in 2003, ties pay to job performance. It eliminated some costly side agreements and added pay hikes equal to the automatic pay raises received by other government workers.

Even though it was expensive, Ms. Blakey said the contract was extended for several reasons.

"I was just coming into the agency and we were putting in place a cost-accounting system," she said. "You really do have to know what the work rules, compensation and premium pay add up to. It made sense to step back."

So far in this round, the union and FAA contract negotiators have met once to exchange proposals they knew would be acceptable, according to Joe Miniace, deputy assistant administrator of labor relations for the FAA.

Both sides declined to give details of those proposals.

"We begin formal discussions next week. We'll be talking from there," said Mr. Miniace, who formerly worked contentious negotiations with longshoremen on the West Coast.

Ms. Blakey said that labor costs currently account for 80 percent of the FAA's operating budget and that the 1998 contract cost an extra $1 billion than was initially projected.

There are currently about 15,000 controllers working for the FAA, roughly the same as were working for the agency during the last contract. Ms. Blakey said they have seen their compensation increase by 68 percent during that time.

The average air traffic controller salary in 2004 was $156,300.

"Controllers should be paid well for a job well done, but that doesn't mean the FAA should pay them significantly more than commercial pilots, firefighters or police, who put their lives on the line," she said.

Mr. Carr said the union expects to "make a very positive case regarding the high stress, high tech work our members do and we remain committed to a fair contract that allows us to focus on safety and modernization of the air traffic control system."

One issue that was expected to pop up during negotiations was out-sourcing of jobs to private companies. But Ms. Blakey said "absolutely not." She said privatization is a "red herring that gets thrown into the debate to detract and mislead."

The union says that's good news. "We remain ever-vigilant in case she changes her mind," Mr. Carr said.

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Source: The Dallas Morning News

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