T shirt/Hoodie Orders
Tomorrow is the last day to order t-shirts and hoodies. After you’ve filled out the google sheet, please venmo me, Amanda-Sizemore1. $28 for shirts, $32.79 for hoodies. Links:
All Members Meeting
With the changing political climate, we’ve decided to move our all-members meetings off-site. We want to ensure open discussions without putting anyone in a difficult position.
Going forward, meetings will start at 3:00 PM, with food and drinks available starting at 2:30 PM.
Our next meeting is especially important, we’ll be reviewing the amendment booklet to determine how you want Drew and me to vote at the convention in May.
Next meeting: 3:00 PM at Rail Hop’n Brewery in Auburn. We’ll be there by 2:30 to start ordering food. See you there!
Sector 35 (RDM) Airspace Divesture
I realized this week that I hadn’t updated you all on the RDM airspace divestiture in a while when a member asked me about it. So, here’s where things stand.
Last summer, we hit a roadblock. The Agency insists that staffing is a “zero-sum” game, meaning if one facility gains staffing, another must lose it to keep the nationwide controller total constant. While that might make sense for budgeting, it ignores the fact that traffic volume has no cap. Even the Agency acknowledges that staffing is sometimes just a theoretical number that can be adjusted for traffic, like when they signed the N90/EWR/PHL MOU, adding controllers to one facility without reducing the total nationwide. We were able to shut down this argument at the RVP/DO level, briefed the new RVP, and then… the waiting game began.
In January, I was CC’d on an email that set off alarm bells. Something felt off, so I started digging into the progress of the Sector 35 staff study. That instinct paid off, I found that the study had been altered after the last agreed-upon version to falsely state:
“As part of the transition, six staffing positions will be reallocated from Seattle ARTCC to Portland Approach, a change agreed upon by the NATCA Facility Representatives and Air Traffic Managers (ATMs) at both facilities.”
That never happened. We grieved it, got the study returned to the facility, and had to fight to get the language corrected. The front office wanted to leave in the “zero-sum” language because it was the easiest path forward, requiring the least effort on their part. I pushed back, explaining, again and again, that while P80 can accurately estimate how many people they’ll need for that sector, there’s no reliable data to say how many controllers ZSE could afford to lose before workload is actually reduced.
After weeks of back and forth, we finally landed on language that protects us:
“Adjustments to staffing allocations are essential for the delegation of airspace and must be completed with staff assigned to the receiving facility prior to finalizing the transition. As part of the transition, Portland Approach will require an eight-person increase in staffing. If the Collaborative Resource Workgroup does not approve the personnel allocation, Portland Approach will be unable to facilitate the delegation of airspace from Seattle ARTCC. A proactive allocation of staff to Portland Approach will ensure that the airspace delegation occurs without delay.”
Why does this matter? If ZSE loses controllers before our workload decreases, it will distort our CPC/total CPC ratio, making it look like we’re overstaffed when we’re not. That could cost us CPCs in the next NCEPT, all while workload stays the same. I want us to be in a position where we can release people, but not at the expense of safety.
If you've made it this far, thank you. Please don’t hesitate to ask for updates on any of the things going on, whether it’s national or local. Sometimes, we get wrapped up in doing the work and forget to brief the progress made.
In Solidarity,
Amy
