Weekly Update February 7th

Hello all. Hope you’re having a good start to February. To start the month off strong we would like to say congratulations to Patrick Beerman, ZSE’s newest CPC in the B area.

Collaborative Health Assessment

Thank you for your participation in the Collaborative Health Assessment. Don and I sat down with the facilitators today for about an hour and a half to discuss their findings. The results confirmed many of the things that I perceive are happening at the facility, but it also highlighted places that Don and I can improve. As always my goal as your FACREP is to make ZSE the best place to work that I can. I will continue my efforts and use your feedback to further grow as your Rep. If you would like to view the results summary in it’s entirety, I have a copy in the office.

NATCA Academy

For those that don’t know, the 2020 NATCA academy schedule is available on the Portal. Amy posted the 2020 schedule as well as class descriptions on the NATCA board so you can see when the classes are and what they do. If you see a date that works for you and there is a class you’re interested in, let your Rep know and they’ll help you out or head up to the office and we can walk you through it. 

WADS Visit

Do you have questions about TANR, simulated HIJACK or intercept operations? WADS people will be in the building 2/10-2/12 (Monday thru Wednesday). They’ll be in the Shasta room right after the mandatory morning briefing each of those days as well as at 1300 on Monday to talk to us about new callsigns and tactics and to answer any of your questions about their operations. On that note, WADS has extended an invitation for us to tour their facility. If you are interested in that, please let your Rep know so we can start setting that up.

Try to stay dry this weekend and we will see you next week.

In Solidarity,

Derek Adams

Weekly Update January 31st

Holy crap! Where the heck did January go? I hope you are all having a good start to the new year. I know a 3.4% pay raise helped put a smile on my face.

IST Cadres

We are still in need of IST cadres for the next round of recurrent training. As mentioned before, it will be two main cadres as well as an alternate that will also teach one class on Saturdays to ensure we cover the whole workweek. It’s looking like the schedule will be an 0800 and a 1400 class during the week and a mid morning class on Saturday. The two volunteers will be taken off the schedule for the entire two week period and be placed on straight days or straight mid-days/early swings. The alternate just needs to be available for a mid-morning on Saturdays. Management has been very flexible so far in working this all out so, please let an Eboard member know if you are interested.

ZSE Airspace Redesign

As a reminder, the Eboard is currently working on putting together an airspace redesign collaborative work group. Although this project is very much in it’s infancy, please start thinking about if this is a work group you would like to be a part of. It will obviously take a lot of resources and a lot of time, but with the increase in traffic and workload we are all feeling, it is time to start looking at all the options we have. Now is a good time to start letting your area reps know your interest in participating or any ideas you have to improve ZSE and the airspace we work. We will keep you posted as things progress.

Collaboration Health Assessment

Next week there will be some visitors to ZSE to conduct a Collaboration Health Assessment. You may have noticed something in CEDAR about this. This is a joint effort by NATCA and Management to get a snapshot of how collaboration is working at our facility. The interviews take between 15-30 minutes and I encourage you all to participate. Hopefully this will give us a good measure of how collaboration is working at ZSE as well as how we (management) can improve our collaborative efforts.

Politics At Work/Hatch Act

As we rapidly approach election season, I think it is important to remind you all what a thin line we walk when discussing politics while at work and on government property. It only takes one person, taking one thing the wrong way, during political discussions to cause a whole mess of problems for a member. This is a very serious subject with very serious consequences, so please be careful what you say and what debates you may be tempted to get involved in. For more information on the Hatch Act do’s and don’ts please check out a post from the NATCA website HERE.

For a lot of us sports nuts, this is a big weekend. Please be careful and be safe as you venture out or stay in your own living room for the “Big Game.”

In Solidarity,

Derek Adams

Weekly Update January 24th

Hello Everyone! Hope the past couple of weeks have treated you well.

New Reps in the building!

At our all member’s meeting in December, we voted to change our local constitution to include a Staff Specialist Representative and alternate Area Representatives. Each Area Rep has the option to chose an alternate and then will be voted on by the E-Board.

Congrats to: Paul Skorniakoff - Staff Specialist Rep, Matt Beckman - A Area Alternate, Kenny Courts - B Area Alternate, Drew Stewart - D Area Alternate.

No, I didn’t forget TMU or the C Area, they’ll decide later theirs later if they need one.

National TTL SME

We are looking for a volunteer to be on the National TTL (formerly known as the DYSIM) SME team. This person will be learning Data Com and ghost piloting at the Tech Center in New Jersey and any of the 20 ERAM Centers across the country. Requirements: Must be a CPC, must have already completed the ERAM Ghost Pilot course, and must be willing to travel… a lot. Approximately two weeks a month, possibly consecutively. If you’re interested, please let me, Derek or your Rep know.

PRoCs

We have placed a PRoC quick fact sheet in the bulletin board. If you get a second, please stop by and check it out. It’s important to know your rights when it comes to this program so you also know when it’s being used incorrectly. It’s also worth noting that these rules apply to all PRoCs (PRCs), there aren’t different rules for “good” and “bad” PRoCs. If you have any questions, please let your rep know. If we don’t know the answer, we’ll track it down.

IST

Still looking for a couple people to teach IST…please let me know as soon as possible.

As always, let us know if you need help with anything,

Amy Sizemore

Weekly Update January 10th

Good Evening, I hope 2020 is running smoothly for you all so far.

TR2 (Tech Refresh)

Due to some unresolved issues, TR2 has been suspended indefinitely. Right now, there isn’t a fix action for the issues that the two key sites have been experiencing so we are on hold until those are fixed. For those that are unfamiliar with this project, the two most visible changes included in TR2 for us are the larger monitors and the removal of EBUS. The FAA is planning on mandating 3 person or mids or using holdover OT during software updates once EBUS is gone. Data Com’s timeline is running independently of TR2 so that should not affect when we get this capability.

IST Cadre

The training department is planning on doing IST slightly differently this round. We will be looking for 2 volunteers to teach the entire 2 weeks of IST. There are a couple facilities in the area that already do IST this way and prefer it. The cadre class will be either April 7th & 8th or the 9th & 10th. Teaching the class would be during the weeks of April 26th & May 3rd. If you are interested in this and available, please let your area rep know.

Super Bowl Raffle

NATCA Charitable Foundation is raffling off Super Bowl 54 tickets!

Details: $15,000 Value. Winner Announced January 20, 2020. Chances to win starting at $50.00 2 Tickets to Super Bowl 54 in Miami, Florida on Sunday February 2, 2020. 3 Night Hotel Stay Friday January 30-Monday February 3, 2020. TBD Event Saturday Night February 1, 2020. 2 Tickets to the NFL Player’s Pre-Game Tailgate Party Sunday February 2, 2020

Enter at: NCF Super Bowl Raffle Link

In solidarity,

Amy Sizemore

Weekly Update January 3rd

Happy New Year. I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable holiday season. Now that things are settling down a bit let’s talk about some of the goals we are hoping to achieve in the coming year(s).

I will be working closely with the Eboard to establish several workgroups over the coming months. One of the big priorities will be looking into a facility wide airspace redesign. This is a large scale project with many moving parts so please be patient with us as we try to tackle this endeavor. More to come on this in the upcoming weeks as we work on a scoping document and start looking for volunteers to serve on the workgroup.

Many of you probably know that there is going to be a new 3120.4 rolling out in the upcoming months. With it comes many changes that should help in the overall training process and also increase success rates throughout the NAS. One of the big requirements that the new .4 has is the need for a facility training rep. We are hoping to take this one step further by having area training reps that will oversee the entirety of the training process for their area. This is a position that the Eboard has long discussed and now with the support of the new .4 we’re hoping to see it finally come to fruition.

At our most recent All Members meeting, we adopted some amendments to the Local constitution that allows for a staff specialist rep as well as alternate area reps. The Eboard will be meeting soon to appoint people to some of these vacancies. If being an alternate area rep is something you are interested in, please let your area rep know. It should be noted that having an alternate area rep is at the discretion of the area reps and not necessarily a requirement. However, all alternate area reps shall be vetted through the Eboard.

As a final note, I would like to take a moment to thank you for allowing me to continue serving as your FACREP. It is not always an easy job, but I do find it to be one of the most rewarding things I have ever done in my professional career. As the dust settles from the chaos of the last couple years, I look forward to working closely with the Eboard and with all of you to make ZSE a great place to work. I hope to foster the brother and sisterhood that being a part of NATCA is all about. There will always be disputes, whether it be between individuals, areas, other facilities or even on a national scale, but our voice is always loudest when we are unified in our efforts. Thank you for your membership, your professionalism and your passion for our career and our Union. Here is to a fantastic 2020.

In Solidarity,

Derek Adams