Good morning everyone and happy Labor Day!
Your Local Eboard has ordered sandwiches from Jersey Mike’s for lunch and dinner today. The day shift ones will be picked up around noon, and the swing shift ones around 5 or whenever we can get a break to go get them.
Thank you for all you do!
Sup everybody,
Don’t forget that tomorrow is ballot count day. If you don’t have your ballot in the ballot box by noon, it won’t get counted. Ok, now here comes your update:
As I previously mentioned, I attended Pre Arbitration Review (PAR) in LA last week. There were 2 grievances from our building on the docket for that PAR. The first was the overtime skip one where the agency assigned OT to someone ineligible due to rest rules and thereby skipping someone who should have been assigned it. They argued that while they did violate the fatigue rules, they didn’t technically skip anybody. The neutral got hung up on the wording of “qualified” vs “eligible.” The agency called a “qualified” person, just not an “eligible” one. The neutral was leaning the agency’s direction on that one, so we took a settlement that involved them accepting responsibility for the error and agreeing to have a local level conversation about it next time before we have to grieve it. We were not able to get them to pay the contractual remedy for a skip as they did not see it as a skip.
The other grievance was the letter of reprimand for language that an OM didn’t like. When we first got to this PAR, the neutral indicated to us that the only way to remove a letter of reprimand would be to prove the employee didn’t do what they were accused of. That is abnormal IMO. Our plan was to prove to the neutral that the punishment didn’t fit the crime. We successfully argued that the agency did not conduct an investigation into the matter, and this was enough to get them to remove the letter of reprimand early. So instead of the 2 years an LOR usually stays in, this one will come out after 1 year.
“Employees may be granted excused absence for brief tardiness of up to one (1) hour when the employee provides acceptable justification.”
Does that say documentation? No. Does it say evidence? No. Does it say that you SHALL be granted it? Sadly, no.
With the ongoing traffic issues due to the bridge closure and poorly timed construction, I imagine that we will see more and more unplanned tardiness. Please call ahead and indicate that you are going to be late due to traffic. If there is proof to provide, you may provide it. I do not expect anyone to be taking screenshots of their maps app or taking pictures of traffic while they are driving. I understand that “acceptable justification” might be a bit vague, but I think that we can all agree that when the traffic is backed up past riverwalk and all you have to do is stick your head outside to see it, that would be acceptable justification. Please let your Area Rep or me know immediately if the agency attempts to deny this after you have provided what you consider to be acceptable justification. There have been several issues already with this that we have had to straighten out.
As you have all already seen, there is a notice in TEAM saying that all tours are to be “business focused and must be scheduled Monday through Friday during normal business hours.” As we are not a business, I have no idea wtf business focused means. I am guessing this means something like Agency visitors only? It goes on to say that “Consideration will be made for visits from immediate family members; however, these visits must also be coordinated in advance and approved by management.” So I guess I can bring my immediate family if it’s business focused. One of my brothers is a landscape contractor, maybe I could get him a business focused visit up here.
But in all seriousness, this is so weird and I don’t get it. I have asked around and it seems like this is coming from way up top and is happening everywhere. I know we already had one denied and I have looked into it a little. It sounds like if a group is too large they will consider it a distraction and deny it. Here is what the 7210.3EE says on the matter:
2−7−8. FACILITY VISITORS
a. Persons interested in the services and facilities provided by air traffic should be encouraged to visit facilities for familiarization. The facility air traffic manager or a designated representative may authorize these visits if:
1. The presence of visitors does not interfere with the operation of the facility.
2. There is no breach of security directives.
3. Personnel are or will be available to conduct an escorted tour.
b. Foreign national visits must be handled in accordance with current directives.
So it does say that the ATM may approve them. It just sounds like they are tightening down on these things a little. Please keep me posted on any denials of tours so I can report them up.
If you don’t have it, you should get it. Open enrollment starts 9/1. Details HERE.
We are working on getting Nick Daniels back here for another visit. If we can make an off site event work (in addition to onsite), do any of you have suggestions for a location? Would love any help I can get with planning this.
That’s it for now!
Drew
Sup everbody,
Traffic seems to be pretty wild today/recently getting into the facility on Auburn Way. As a part of our ongoing battle to get the agency to properly approve EA, I would like to remind everyone that Article 29 Section 3 of the CBA states ”Employees may be granted excused absence for brief tardiness up to one (1) hour when the employee provides acceptable justification.” This is obviously not a mandate that they approve EA if you hit traffic, but it is clearly what it is intended for. Please let me know if you attempt to use this and get denied.
I will be available if something comes up, but just a reminder that I will be out of the building at PAR (Pre Arbitration Review) in LA Tuesday-Thursday. That’s the meeting I have been telling you about where we take one more crack at arguing our grievances (in front of a neutral third party) before deciding whether or not to take them to full arbitration. I will update you on the outcome of that meeting as soon as I can.
Thank you to everyone who participated in NATCA shirt day. The winners of the drawing for this month are J-Rod and Jade Yusi. Reply to this email or shoot me a text letting me know your preference in $25 gift card to either Bigfoot Java, The Rock, or McLendon’s.
That’s it for now.
Drew
503.593.8178
Sup everybody,
No major updates to share, I just wanted to remind everyone that tomorrow is NATCA tshirt day and let you know about a little shin dig Kevin Thomson is having. He has cleverly titled it “Wine in the Garden” with Pickleball.
From Kevin:
Monday August 25th 4pm - 8pm. Families welcome, and the lake is great for swimming if anyone would rather do that.
There's a sheet on the bulletin board next to the cafeteria. People can sign up there or text/call me (Kevin) - (206) 354-8855.
Also - we are expecting the results of the NCEPT panel to be released TOMORROW (8/15).
Drew
Sup everybody,
I am still acting FACREP (through 9/6), so that’s why you are getting all of these updates from me and not Amy. Just a few things to update you on.
As I mentioned in my last update, the A Area had an issue where two employees were held over, which led to a shift change the following day. We have been working on getting those employees EA for the hour their shift was changed, since they weren’t going to be here anyway. After quite a bit of back and forth between myself and Cristalle, we were able to secure that hour of EA. As you know, this is not something she wanted to do but we got there anyway. Thanks to everyone who helped push this across the finish line. This is a small step though, not mission accomplished. We are going to have to keep our foot on the gas in pushing issues like this when they come up again in the future. Please let me or your reps know if you encounter this issue.
No update yet on the voting EA denial.
Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy will be in the area tomorrow 8/13. The only confirmed places he will be visiting are Seattle tower on 8/13 and BFI on 8/15. If we get word he is headed this way, I will make sure to give you all a heads up.
That’s it for now!
Drew
