Weekly Update June 24th

Good afternoon ZSE!

Occasionally we’ll alternate who sends off the weekly facility update. This week, it is my turn and my pleasure to address you all.

First, I would like to recognize our two newest CPCs. Matt Braunstein in the B area and Matt Williford in the D area. This is a great accomplishment after a long, grueling process and deserves recognition. While I believe that each area has recognized their new CPCs, I would like to renew the tradition of center wide accolades. Well done! (Now when are those sign off parties???)

If you attended the last all members meeting, you may have heard that we are considering bidding RDOs and leave electronically this year. There are many benefits to this, primarily finishing all rounds of the bid process within a couple weeks versus a couple months. The main change for us is that we would have bidding times slots. These would all be determined weeks in advance of the start of bidding so there will be no surprises as to when your bid time is. We will get more information out to you about this, but if you have any initial questions or concerns please relay them to any E-board member so they may be addressed. That being said, we are nearing that time of year when we start negotiating the 2020 MOUs. The E-board would also like to hear from you if you have anything that you would like to see changed.

Election season is nearly upon us so please be thinking of people you’d like to see in a leadership role. “New blood” is good for us as we continue to strive to make our local the best possible. With the new Local Constitution amendments being adopted, nominations will be solicited between August 1-15th and elections will be completed by September 15th. If you are looking for a way to help out but can’t commit to two years, we are looking for volunteers to be on the election committee. If you are interested in helping, please let your area rep know or shoot me an email.

Finally, due to a family emergency, Derek will be unavailable for a short time. Please feel free to contact me for anything you might need assistance with. Email amatc20@gmail.com, call/text 2538806414.

In Solidarity,

Amy Sizemore

Weekly Update June 17

I hope all of the fathers out there had an enjoyable day yesterday. I was able to take the day off and spend some quality time with my wife and kids.

Thank you to those that made it to the All Members Meeting on Thursday. We had a great turn out. Of the three proposed amendments to our local constitution two passed. Our elections will be moved up and completed by September 15th and elections will be decided by plurality rather than majority. The special election in the event of a vacancy on the Eboard was briefly discussed but did not receive a second and therefore was not officially heard. We also talked about the upcoming MOU negotiations and the Eboard is going to be researching a possible move to electronic bidding. More to come on those topics as we begin preparing for negotiations.

On the topic of negotiations, management will be represented by Lee Kramer, Kevin Nolan and Stan Conrad. Amy Sizemore, Drew Stewart and I will represent NATCA. If you have any input on any of the three MOUs please take the time to reach out to us or any member of the Eboard so we can better prepare ourselves and properly represent you all during negotiations.

For those of you that dealt with PDX metering last week, I applaud your professionalism during less than ideal conditions. I apologize that it took as long as it did to get the Hot Sheet out to the workforce. The items contained in the Hot Sheet were decided on by the CWG last Monday and are in the process of being incorporated into an SOP. Management wanted to pull the Hot Sheet as soon as the construction at PDX ended, but I urged them to keep it in place until the SOP is finalized in the event that PDX metering is needed for some unforeseen reason.

Another quick reminder that the NEB will be in town next Tuesday for a meet and greet. Unfortunately, I will be out of town and unable to attend, but if you have the time, please go get to know our national leadership. Below is the flyer for the event. Please RSVP if you are planning to attend.

Thank you all for your hard work and dedication to this great profession. I am truly honored to work for you.

In solidarity,

Derek Adams

Weekly Update June 10

I hope all is going well. I have just a couple quick things to cover this week.

The first is SNEAD 3. I was notified late last week that SNEAD 3 documentation was placed in CEDAR. A few of you may have seen this and some may have already signed for it. I made an immediate request to management to remove this from CEDAR until such time they are able to provide us with verbal briefings. This document contains some significant changes, most notably the requirement to get travel abroad pre-approved. Just sliding this in as a CEDAR update is unacceptable, and we should be getting some form of verbal presentation in the form of crew breakouts or mandatory briefings in the next few weeks. Those that already signed for it will have to sign again, but only after management gives us the verbal briefings such an important document deserves. If you have any other questions or concerns, please direct them to the Eboard and we will get you answers.

This is the final notice of our upcoming All Members Meeting this Thursday, June 13 at 1430. Please join your Eboard at The Rainbow Cafe to discuss hot topics such as 2020 MOUs, electronic bidding, proposed Local Constitution amendments (found here: http://www.natca-zse.com/constitution-changes) and the holiday party. This is also an opportunity to see the Eboard operate with our new titles and welcome Trevor Laush as our newly appointed Secretary. We look forward to seeing you there.

Finally a couple of events are upcoming that I want to share with you.

The first is an NEB Meet and Greet at Virtual Sports in Tukwila. This is a great opportunity to meet your NATCA National leadership and get updates on everything NATCA. Unfortunately I will be out of town at a UAS forum in San Diego, but I hope you are able to make it out there to represent ZSE. Here is the flyer for that. Please RSVP with Mickela at mickela@natca.net if you are able to attend.

The second is the upcoming retirement seminars. There are two and they are targeted at two different segments of the workforce.

The first is Monday, July 8 and is aimed at mid-late career members.

The second is Tuesday, July 9 and is aimed at early career members.

I encourage everyone who hasn’t attended a NATCA sponsored retirement seminar to make an effort to attend the one that coincides with your career.

I hope everyone has a great week, and as always I am here if you need me. Please call, text or swing by the office anytime.

In solidarity,

Derek Adams

Weekly Update June 3

Welcome to another weekly update. Just a couple quick things for this week.

A couple weeks ago I mentioned “summertime traffic” and the need to be cognizant of ourselves and our co-workers. Another issue we tend to experience during this time of year is thunderstorms. During periods of thunderstorms, we find ourselves with a multitude of weather related deviations and requests. Please remember we are on the same team and trying to accomplish the same mission. Be thorough with your coordination, whether it be manual or automated, but also be receptive to the other sectors and areas need for your help. Remember that just because you aren’t busy doesn’t mean the sector or area next to you is not. As I’ve said before, we are best to advocate for ourselves rather than wait for management to take action. If you have trouble getting a sector split or a D-side in a timely manner, please let your area rep know. 

I have been hearing rumors floating around about management trying to implement a break policy. I want you all to know that I have not heard anything on this first hand nor has Don mentioned it to me in any conversations we have had. If I do hear of anything, you will be the first to know. Please remember that management has the right to assign work. With our short staffing, increased traffic and inclement weather mentioned above, there may be times when breaks get cut short to improve the safety and efficiency of the operation. I think it would be irresponsible on my part to pick a fight with management when this is the case. During routine operations, breaks should continue to be status quo. If this is not the case, please note the date and time and let your area rep know. 

A reminder again that the next All Members Meeting will be Thursday, June 13 at 1430 at The Rainbow Cafe. Agenda items will include MOU negotiations, electronic bidding, proposed Local Constitution amendments (found here: http://www.natca-zse.com/constitution-changes) and the holiday party. This will be the first Local meeting since the appointment of Alex Navarro to RVP, and the Eboard is eager to show you that we continue to do everything in our power to work for you. We look forward to seeing you there.

In Solidarity

Derek Adams

Weekly Update May 28

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. I know many of you eagerly await my weekly updates on Mondays at 6PM, so I apologize for the update being a day late, but I chose to take some HL to spend time with my wife and kiddos.

This week you should be getting a CEDAR update about some upcoming asbestos removal in the basement that will be taking place over the next few weeks. If there are any concerns you have in regards to this please feel free to contact me or Glenn Wood. Glenn is the management POC on this project.

The PDX metering CWG is all set to go and the first meeting with all the parties will take place on June 10. If you have any questions, concerns or things you’d like considered for your area, please let your area rep know and they can get you in contact with your areas designee on the workgroup. 

A thank you again to those who attended NATCA in Washington on our behalf, and thank you to those that held down the fort here while they were away. Here is a write up and a few photos from Devin Carlisto:

Last week, ZSE sent 7 Members to NATCA in Washington to speak with Legislators about our ongoing funding issues including the effects of the recent 35 day shutdown. We were asking for support on HR1108, a bill that would keep the whole FAA running in the event of another partial government shutdown. This would be made possible by allowing the FAA to use funds from the Aviation Trust Fund where we get 95% of our funding. As of May 10th, NATCA had unanimous support of the aviation community and a letter with over 40 trade organizations in support of the Legislation. Additionally, we had bipartisan support of 160 members of the House of Representatives co-sponsoring the bill. Our purpose this year was to convince more Members to sign on to the bill. Air travel is so important to the American people that disruptions to service are the most obvious effect of a shutdown. Some Members of Congress are reluctant to lose that leverage if our bill were to become law. As such, the House leaders have not scheduled the bill for a vote, even though it has been passed out of Committee. If we can get 218 Members of the house to co-sponsor the bill it would automatically be voted on, that is our goal. Before NIW our State had 3 House members co-sponsoring the bill, as of Wednesday we had a commitment from 2 more and laid the groundwork for more. All this is possible due to the fantastic work of our Members who volunteered to give up their leave and RDOs to spend very long days learning and advocating for our great Union. If you see one of them, please thank them for their activism.

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Devin Carlisto

That’s all I have for this week. Please remember that your Eboard is here to serve you. We will continue to strive every day to make ZSE a great place to work.

In Solidarity,

Derek Adams