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Sharp Words Fly Between FAA, Union for Air Controllers

Posted on: Friday, 15 July 2005, 00:00 CDT

A long-brewing labor battle between the nation's air traffic controllers and the FAA broke out with a bang yesterday as negotiators traded barbs and staked out widely divergent positions on salaries and staffing levels.

In separate conference calls with reporters, a top union official and the administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration argued over government plans to clamp down on controllers' salary growth.

"If the FAA is unable to prevent continued escalation of these costs, we will not be able to make the improvements needed to increase safety and meet future demand," FAA Administrator Marion Blakey told reporters.

An FAA analysis of a 1998 contract agreement found that controllers' salaries increased by 68 percent between 1998 and 2004. The average compensation package for a controller is now $165,400, up from $95,400 in 1998, Blakey said.

A top union official countered that Blakey is partly to blame for higher contract costs because the FAA hired more supervisors than required by a congressional target.

"While the FAA is looking back at our old contract, we're trying to look forward to the new contract," said Jon Carr, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. "With traffic level increasing substantially, the air traffic control system and its facilities. have got to keep pace with that growth."

Blakey would not say whether the FAA is planning to cut salaries, but she made clear that the government will seek strict limits on compensation.

"Common sense will tell you that the taxpayer can't afford to take another hit like that again," she said.

The union's contract expires in September.

Source: Boston Herald

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