Weekly Update May 20

Memorial Day weekend is nearly upon us and that brings up a couple things.

First and foremost, for those of you who have plans with friends and family, please be safe. Remember that a fifty dollar Uber/Lyft ride is a lot cheaper than any of the repercussions that come from a DUI. If you find yourself in a tight spot, please contact me or any member of the Eboard directly and we help you.

This also means the official start to “summertime traffic.” With that comes an increase in workload, sector splits, and a general feeling of exhaustion after a hard days work. Please be mindful of yourself and those around you. As professionals, it is incumbent on us to take care of our own. If you need help, call for it. If you see someone else who needs help, jump in there. If you know the area is running short, shave just a couple minutes off your break. I never suggest relying on management to provide the help we need. We should always rely on each other.

A reminder that our next All Members Meeting will be June 13, 1430 at the Rainbow Cafe. A couple important items of discussion will be upcoming MOU negotiations, proposed Local Constitution amendments, the holiday party and any other agenda items you would like to discuss. Please forward agenda items to any member of the Eboard. For the proposed Local Constitution amendments please go here: 

http://www.natca-zse.com/constitution-changes. 

Remember this is OUR Local. Although the Eboard is in place to work on your behalf, we want the voice of the membership to be heard.

Thank you and have a safe holiday.

In Solidarity,

Derek Adams

CWGs, NIW and Metering vs. MIT

This week the Eboard is pushing forward with two CWGs that seem pretty pressing at the moment. The first will be dealing with PDX metering. The area reps are just finalizing their participants and we will get that CWG rolling. The second only applies to the A and C areas and TMU, and deals with NAS NUW airspace scheduling and activation. I had mentioned this one in a previous update and indicated it would encompass the entire facility, but as we moved forward, it became clear that the issues with NUW need to be addressed prior to involving the other areas. More to come on both these subjects as the workgroups get put together and start coming up with plans for each. Thank you to those that came forward to work on these important issues.

NATCA in Washington (NiW) is coming up next week and I just want to take a moment to say thank you to those who have volunteered their time to help better our great profession. As you may or may not know, these folks use their personal time, wether it be annual leave or RDOs, to go to Capital Hill to advocate to members of congress on our behalf. Although the Local often gives each a stipend to help offset the high cost of a trip to Washington DC, it is often not enough to cover the entirety of the trip and they end up spending out of pocket as well. Again, I’d like to commend them on their dedication to the Air Traffic Control profession and their willingness to sacrifice their time and money on our behalf.

Numerous discussions have been swirling around metering and MIT as they are used to feed aircraft to Seattle Approach. It has been determined that the two cannot be intermixed. The issue of MIT comes up for the HAWKZ arrival when SEA is in a north flow. When metering is in place, that is what will be used. When metering is not being used a MIT initiative may be put in place. As the traffic levels continue to pick up, please keep your area reps apprised of any issues that arise during either of these TMU initiatives.

I will be out of town beginning Wednesday afternoon through Friday evening (5/15-5/17). As always, I will be available via cell phone, but I will be leaving my computer at home. Any pressing issues can be run through your area reps or any other Eboard member.

In Solidarity

Derek Adams

Weekly Update May 6

Anybody tired of my updates yet?

It’s training season, so a lot is going on with that. IST is wrapping up this week. Sector 35 training for the B-area will begin next week as well as Refresher Training for the A, C and D areas. I appreciate all of your patience with this as the schedule tends to get a little tight during this time of year. I have received very few complaints from you or management during this period, so I commend you on your professionalism.

Speaking of professionalism, a few things have come up recently and I'd like to address them before anything gets out of hand. Please remember that we are all professionals and should treat each other as such. Air Traffic Control has a long history of taking care of our own. And within that, we are all NATCA brothers and sisters. Sometimes this gets lost when dealing with fellow employees, especially when it’s “across the aisle.” I don’t think that we maliciously try to call attention to another controllers mistakes or possible mistakes, but some things just don’t need to go through management at the first sight of trouble. We have a number of resources at our disposal to get answers that don’t initially involve management, including peer to peer discussion, conversations with the other controller, ATSAP and Professional Standards. Please remember that we are all on the same team, and let’s give each other the courtesy and respect that we, as professionals, deserve.

This week a group of folks from national (FAA and NATCA (including Jim Ullmann)) will be in town to discuss TBFM, PAE issues and S46 airspace. Amy, Trevor, Drew, JRod, Evan, Brooke, Eric Tanberg and myself will attend a dinner with the NATCA side along with Eboard members from S46, SEA, BFI and PAE to discuss this more in depth. Although these conversations will be casual in nature, we will learn much more about TBFM and the impacts on the system from commercial flights in and out of PAE.

My week is pretty booked due to our guests visiting the facility on Tuesday and our meeting Wednesday, but please feel free to call, text or email me with anything you have.

In Solidarity

Derek Adams

Weekly Update April 29

NCEPT, CFS and Staffing…Oh My!

Last week I told you that I would be working to further my knowledge of NCEPT and the NCEPT process. My opportunity came quickly as Amy, Drew, Jrod and I were able to attend a crash course briefing on NCEPT, the NEST and the Priority Placement Tool last Thursday. The biggest thing I can tell you is that there are a lot of moving parts to the whole process. The good news is that the four of us at least understand these moving parts a bit better than we did a week ago. If anyone has specific questions about their particular case, please reach out to those officers in attendance and we will do our best to answer your questions.

CFS registration is open and everything you need to know to get registered and request excused absence to attend are located here: https://www.natca.org/index.php/cfs-member-registration. It has been quite a few years since I’ve attended CFS and I am really looking forward to all the new information that is out there pertaining to our great profession.

A common theme amongst management lately is allowing our staffing to go well below guides (two or more) and not calling in overtime. I have a real problem with this. We do not always staff to the everyday, routine traffic. We staff to protect from things that can and will come up (weather, military operations, excessive delays, etc.) My request of you, is please help us hold management accountable for their poor judgement or lack of action. If you borderline need a D-side, ask for one. If a sector may need to be split, split it. We need to show management that these guidelines have a real purpose and we need to keep our staffing as close to the guidelines as possible. Going one under to accommodate leave or other unique situations, in most cases, is acceptable, but more than that seems like mismanagement to me. It may not be the heat of summertime traffic yet, but it’s right around the corner. Be sure that we are taking care of ourselves, because they certainly don’t seem interested.

That’s all I have for the moment. As always, the honor is mine to work on your behalf.

In Solidarity,

Derek Adams

Weekly Update April 22

Just a few quick things to cover since last week.

Congratulations to Trevor Laush on his appointment to Secretary. We appreciate all the interest in the position. As Amy said, it truly was a difficult decision for the E-Board due to all the qualified volunteers. We are thankful to finally have the E-Board whole again and we look forward to moving ahead with all the current and upcoming business. As a reminder, local elections are just around the corner, so if it is something that interests you, feel free to speak to one of the current E-Board members on roles and responsibilities. We are always eager to help mentor those that want to make a difference in this Local and this great Union.

Recently, a lot of questions have been coming up regarding NCEPT and the NCEPT process. Unfortunately, I am not as educated on the process as I would like or need to be. Over the next few days and weeks, I will be doing my best to get up to speed on this process so I can attempt to answer these questions to the best of my ability, as well as figure out who our resources are when there are questions that I simply can’t answer. Please be patient with me as I learn the ins and outs of NCEPT.

Over the next few weeks I will be working to scope an article 114 CWG on the activation of SUAs at ZSE. There have been several ATSAPs filed on the overall military scheduling and activation processes at ZSE, so a workgroup needs to be formed to address the issues identified by the ERC. I would like to have input from each area in this process, so if it is something you are interested in, please notify your area rep.

Finally, COS leave seems to be a recurring battle here at ZSE, especially when OT needs to be assigned to cover the COS. Management is under the impression that they can deny it if OT needs to be assigned, although it seems that every time management says they will not approve it, that decision gets overturned. The contract says COS “shall be granted.” The hangup with management is when the COS may be used. They believe that it is to be used on or after the release date, but I disagree. I will be spending the next few weeks working locally with management as well as seeking guidance from outside of the building to get this process narrowed down and make it consistent across all cases in the future. This should not be a fight every time COS is requested, so I will work to get some answers.

That’s all for now. Please remember that my door is always open and my phone is always on.

In Solidarity,

Derek Adams