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FAA, Controllers in Negotiations

Posted on: Thursday, 21 July 2005, 06:00 CDT

The Federal Aviation Administration rolled out a nationwide media blitz Tuesday on the opening day of contract negotiations with the union that represents 14,500 air traffic controllers whose contract expires Sept. 15.

The stakes are high given a wave of retirements that will hit the ranks of controllers throughout the U.S. in the coming decade. The wages and work rules established in the next contract will be the starting point for 12,000 new air traffic controllers the FAA plans to hire over the next 10 years.

Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport has 102 air traffic controllers, many of whom are approaching mandatory retirement age of 56. They were among those hired to replace thousands of controllers who went on strike in 1981 and were subsequently fired by President Reagan.

FAA Chief Counsel Andy Steinberg said at a press conference at Cincinnati/Northern International Airport Tuesday that the FAA couldn't afford wage increases and work rules in a new contract if they are similar to those in the current contract.

The FAA has to reduce costs and have more latitude to implement new technology, he said. He declined to say whether the agency will seek salary cuts, but Steinberg said labor costs accounted for 80 percent of the FAA's expenses.

"As FAA Administrator Marion Blakey has said recently, we simply won't sign a contract we can't afford," Steinberg said.

National Air Traffic Controllers Association President John Carr responded with a scathing criticism of the FAA for spending time and money on 22 press conferences across the country instead of focusing on negotiations, which began Tuesday in Chicago.

"We're kind of disheartened that the FAA administrator has begun to negotiate this in the press," Carr said in a phone interview Tuesday. "The agency is not credible. Their propaganda and their hype is a desperate attempt to negotiate this in the press."

The FAA and union painted starkly different pictures of the current compensation for controllers and why they're paid what they're paid.

Steinberg said the current contract is responsible for a 68 percent increase in total compensation since 1998. He said the average compensation, which includes salary, overtime pay, health care and benefits, has risen to $165,000, compared to $95,400 in 1998.

"This is about getting our costs under control," he said.

Carr said that controllers are being paid fairly for high stress and critical work.

"Some controllers make more because of increased overtime. That's because the FAA has failed to hire and train controllers in order to meet the needs of our ever-more crowded skies. To require workers to do overtime and then publicly complain about having to pay them demonstrates a disappointing lack of respect" for the controllers, he said.

Carr said the union wants the FAA to hire more controllers and to invest in the latest technology to keep the system safe.

"We have 1,000 fewer controllers in the towers than we did seven years ago, and they're working more traffic. That problem needs to be addressed immediately," he said. "The classes of 1981 and '82 are ready to retire, and there are no reinforcements."

Steinberg said the current contract hampers implementation of new technology. He cited the rollout of a new traffic control system -- Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System, or STARS. While the Defense Department implemented STARS at its airfields in about two years after it was funded in 1998, the system is still being rolled out by the FAA.

Carr said the fault lay with the FAA, not with the contract, and issued a challenge: "Show me the contract article that prohibits technology implementation -- and I will write you a check on NATCA's treasury for $1 million."

If a new contract is not reached by Sept. 15, a clause keeps the current contract in effect.

Despite the opening salvos, both sides expressed hope that a contract could be reached in fairly short order.

Source: Cincinnati Post

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