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 

Weekly Update December 27th

I hope everyone is having a good holiday season and enjoying some time with family and friends.

There is not a ton to update about the Local at the moment. I was out of the facility for most of the week and I will be coming and going most of next week. Once the holiday season settles down, it will be back to business as usual.

As many of you are aware, we will be receiving a pay raise in 2020. Just to clear up any questions, you will see that pay raise in the first full pay period of 2020, which is PP2. Due to our locality, we will see a 3.4% raise which is slightly higher than the national average. In addition, we will receive our contractual pay raise of 1.6% in the first full pay period of June, which is PP13.

The Eboard is in the midst of our new year changeover. It has been an honor to work with all of the outgoing reps. I hope they find other endeavors that satisfy their desire to do good work for NATCA. I also would like to welcome all the incoming reps. It takes a lot, especially for a new rep, to step up and take on these jobs. I look forward to working closely with them to make ZSE the best place to work that we can make it.

The new year is just a few days away. Please be sure if you are out and about, you stay safe. Remember, if you’ve had some drinks, even during surge pricing, an Uber or a Lyft is the cheapest way to get home. Enjoy the next few days of 2019. See you next year.

In Solidarity,

Derek Adams

Weekly Update December 20th

I hope you are all ready for the Holidays, I know I am not.

Holiday Party

Thank you to all that were able to make it out, the evening was quite a success. I was so happy to be able to visit with you all outside of work and meet your significant others. I hope we can do it again next year! If you follow Northwest Mountain Region on Instagram or Facebook, you might have seen some pictures, if not, no biggie, I’ve attached a couple.

Night Differential

Because of the upcoming Holidays there was an early cutoff date for submitting Time and Attendance, 4pm eastern today.  Lori showed everyone normally working a swing shift on Friday and Saturday on a day shift.  You will lose night differential on this paycheck but would be reimbursed on the next.  Her reasoning for this is that if anyone on a swing shift that changes to a day would get a Debt Collection Letter for the excess night differential. If you do not see this on the next paycheck or if something else is amiss, please let us know.

I spent a couple days last week in Washington DC for media training. It was a very interesting experience and would have been useful in the case of another shutdown, but thankfully we are just one signature away from being funded until September along with a 3.1% raise. Derek will be on leave for most of this coming week but I’ll be around if you need anything. As always, we’re both available via call/text/email.

As always, it is an honor to represent you all,

Amy Sizemore

2538806414

amatc20@gmail.com

Weekly Update December 6th

I don’t know about all of you, but I can’t believe it’s already December. Just a quick update on what’s going on around the facility.

I have been asked to solicit four volunteers (one from each area) to be tech refresh SMEs. The duties include becoming thoroughly familiar with the new 43” scopes that will be getting installed in the facility this winter/spring and then helping controllers in the lab while they are running scenarios and getting used to the new scopes. Frank Champaco will instruct the SMEs in late January. If you are interested in this, please let me or another Eboard member know ASAP so we can forward the names to the area schedulers prior to the posting of PP3.

Just a reminder that the all members meeting at Oddfellas is on Monday, December 9th at 1400. There will be a financial report from Devin Carlisto and we will be voting on amendments to the Local constitution. As always, I want to remind you that this is your Local and the Eboard is looking forward to having you there to discuss these amendments and help guide the direction of the Eboard going into the new term.

Finally, I hope to see many of you at the holiday party tomorrow. It will be a fantastic time with great food, drinks and people. Although I am taking this opportunity to dress up, don’t feel hesitant to come because of an assumed dress code. It’s more important to get together than to dress fancy. See you there.

Please be sure to reach out if there is anything the Eboard or I can do for you, your area or our Local. It is truly a pleasure to work for you and this great Union.

In solidarity,

Derek Adams

Weekly Update November 29th

I hope everyone’s Thanksgiving was as delicious as mine was. Thank you all that worked so that people could get home to their families safely.

Pilot Visit

Today we had the honor of hosting Tim Bendickson and his family. Tim is the pilot of N6122B, the VFR aircraft that got stuck in IFR conditions. He drove over 7 hours to come express his thanks to the Seattle Center Controllers that saved his life. This was an awesome example of how we at ZSE can work so well together to help people survive some of the most perilous situations. If you get a chance to review the FALCON, I recommend it but the short story is Tim departed VFR and quickly realized the weather was too poor to fly VFR. He turned around almost immediately to land but the weather already closed in behind him and the airport was solid IFR. He then radioed us for help. The Sector 8 controller did a great job getting him going towards VFR conditions but then Tim started to experience trouble and they knew they needed to get one of the pilot certified controllers to help further. Josh Fuller stepped in and talked to Tim for over an hour and a half guiding him to safety. He was having trouble maintaining altitude due to over one inch of ice that was accumulating all over the aircraft. Brian Hach assisted Josh, bringing up the sectionals and correlating the aircraft’s position to the mountains and unquestionably saved his life relaying this information to Josh. Mike Sellman helped tremendously by taking as many of the planes off the frequency as possible. Byron Andrews was an amazing resource to Josh and Brian, providing his C area expertise. Dave Murphy had control of the sector and stepped in to talk to any other non-emergency related aircraft. So amazing guys!

Holiday Party

Our Holiday Party is this next weekend, December 7th, at the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel in downtown Tacoma. I have invited all the facilities that are attached to ZSE, this will be a great opportunity to add to your NATCA family. If you need any more details, please see the flyer on the NATCA bulletin board or email me. If you are free that night, please come out!

TRB Class and IST Cadre needed

Due to a scheduling conflict, we are going to be doing the spring round of IST different, We need two volunteers to travel to the IST cadre class. Dates and location TBD but we do know it will be sometime in March or April and will require 3 days away from the facility. You would be teaching IST full time (in facility) during the spring IST dates of May 3-16 and must be available for the entire time.

TRB classes are now a joint NATCA/FAA class so they are no longer on the NATCA portal to sign up for. This is a good thing because you will no longer have to take leave to go but the bad thing is that these classes fill up quickly. Please let us know if this interests you, we need to keep a list of people that are willing to travel for a class.

New CPC

Last but not least, congrats to Ryan Jimenez, the C area’s newest CPC!

See you all at the Holiday Party :)

Amy Sizemore