Weekly Update July 17th

Most of you know we had our first positive case of COVID-19 at ZSE so we’ll just get right into that.

Last week we had an employee get tested for COVID-19 after their spouse exhibited symptoms and later tested positive. That person removed themselves from work as soon as there was a suspicion of sickness but as you know, the process of getting a test and then getting results takes time. Tech Ops was able to get a cleaning contract all lined up and ready to go as soon as results were available. Monday evening, the positive test result came in and at 1am Tuesday, ZSE went ATC-0 for a full control room decontamination. The cleaning took about an hour and a half inside the control room. They then cleaned any public areas the person was known to visit along with hallways, door handles, etc. We were under the impression that everyone working a swing on the night in question would have the contact tracing questionnaire completed but the flight surgeon has identified the specific people they wanted to hear from and all that has since been completed. As far as the FAA is concerned, this process has been completed but please let us know if you have any questions or worries.

COVID Testing

As you all have seen, this process has been changing constantly but here is what we know right now. If you get a test, it should be reported to the Flight Surgeon. They will in turn, revoke your medical at that time and report that to your facility. This happens regardless of you showing symptoms or not. What we are seeing is that if you are already on your EA week, the facility does nothing. When it gets to your work week, they are putting people on SL. What we are hearing from National is that people without symptoms that are DQ’d by the Flight Surgeon should be on EA but that message is taking a long time to trickle down on the management side. Please continue to do what’s required but just know you may be charged SL at least initially.

Training

This is the subject of most of the questions we are hearing lately. The best answer we can give you is that even at the highest levels, resuming in person training is not the highest priority right now since COVID cases are at an all time high. No agreements have been made and no plans have been announced. Basically, this means for the most part, no “official” training is to take place at all. That being said, the FAA is getting itchy about people being paid to stay home and are trying to figure out how to fix that. NATCA agrees that at some point, training must resume. Our staffing crisis will not be remedied without training but it must be done by balancing the safety of the CPCs and Staff Specialists along with ensuring a useful and quality experience for the developmentals. With all that being said, people assigned to the training department fall in a different category. The Training Department is in the process of developing virtual training for those employees. 

EA

Excused Absence was negotiated as a part of COVID scheduling to provide the FAA with an extra layer of protection should a facility have a positive case. It was meant as a means to physically separate the workforce as much as possible to limit cross contamination. We say all that to say, there may come a time when you have to do work stuff on your EA days but normally you’ll be briefed first. As always, ask a rep if something doesn’t seem right. 

Stay Safe,

Derek Adams and Amy Sizemore

Weekly Update July 3rd

Where is the year going?  It’s hard to believe that it is already the Fourth of July weekend. As always, please be safe and enjoy time with your family during what will no doubt be a different Fourth experience than we are used to.

Partially Qualified Employees

Partially qualified employees have slowly been making their way in and out of the operation. We know the situation is not ideal, but please do your best with what we have to work with. We encourage you all to wear masks if you are able while we undergo this unique situation. Continue to work with your crew mates to accomplish this task and get back to our “usual” routine. Thank you for your hard work and your continued patience as we take on the additional stress that bringing more bodies into the operation presents.

Training

The suspension of training MOU is set to expire on July 15th. At this time there is no plan to extend the MOU further. There is a national work group that is set to release their plan to resume training shortly. We do not expect to see things go back to normal, but we do expect training to resume in some fashion. Once we have the details of what this looks like, we will begin working with the area reps to accomplish whatever the work group comes up with. There are some overzealous managers taking this to mean scheduling trainees starting the 16th but it’s important to remember that they don’t have any more information than we do at this point and we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Backpack Program

ZSE has received 31 backpacks from NATCA Charitable Foundation and $1000 to fill them. We are looking for someone that is interested in doing some internet shopping to fill them. Amy has the information from the first couple of years so it wouldn’t be without help. These backpacks will go to Auburn Food Bank to distribute them to children in the area. Please just let us know if this interests you.

Just a reminder, this situation has created the perfect breeding grounds for rumors to grow like wildfire. Please keep this in mind when you hear new information (especially when it comes from the front of the control room). If you have concerns about things you have heard, please come to us and we can either confirm, deny or put into perspective what is floating around. 

Have a wonderful holiday weekend,

Derek Adams and Amy Sizemore

Weekly Update June 20th

We’re now midway through another round of our 5/5 dynamic scheduling. We hope that everyone is staying safe and healthy while also enjoying a little extra time with your family. We still don’t have anything definitive on how long we can expect this schedule to last, but it sounds like the FAA is getting a little antsy to get us all back to work. We will continue to work locally to remain in a 5/5 posture for as long as we can. Although much of the country is beginning to open up, we need to stay vigilant in ensuring we keep ourselves, our crew mates and the flying public safe.

High Risk Personnel and Developmentals

You may have seen the email from National about trainees and high risk personnel and their respective currency requirements. Derek will be negotiating the specifics of how we will accomplish this with Don early next week but here’s what it boils down to:

High Risk: You have the option of coming in and getting a quick “over the shoulder” but will not have to get the whole eight hours of currency. We plan on getting high risk individuals into the building before the developmentals and first thing in the morning while all the positions are still combined up. We want to minimize the risk involved and get you in and out.

Developmentals: Developmentals will not have the option on whether or not to come in. You will be hearing from your area rep shortly to work out a time to come in. Developmentals will be required to get an “over the shoulder” and then 8 hours of proficiency prior to being placed back on EA.  

We understand that there is going to be discomfort from the workforce on how we continue to social distance while having the developmentals in the area and we are brainstorming ideas on how to make it work in the safest way possible. Work out a system with your crew. Maybe it’s masks, maybe it’s having someone in charge or cleaning, etc. If you are coming into the building for the first time, please be mindful of space, cleanliness and ask about the routine that the rest of the crew has in place. 

As always we appreciate all your hard work and your patience during the last several months. Your Eboard meets virtually quite frequently to ensure we are on the same page and strive to make these strange times as manageable as possible. Stay safe. Stay healthy. Maintain your sanity and one of these days we may all get to see each other again. 

In Solidarity,

Derek Adams and Amy Sizemore

Weekly Update June 12th

For those that made it to the virtual update, we thank you. It was very nice to get to chat with you all and hear some of your questions and concerns. For those that weren’t able to make it, this update will try to capture the highlights.

Use or Lose Leave

Our RVP, Alex Navarro, was able to join us for a few pressing questions on the National front. One of the biggest concerns is use or lose leave. At this time there are no negotiated terms for use or lose. There is an assumption that something will be worked out, but there are no guarantees. If you find yourself in a position of having use or lose leave, please feel free to use it as you deem necessary.

Dynamic Scheduling

We are now midway through the second rotation of 5/5 scheduling and so far things seem to be going quite well. We know the thoughts on most people’s minds is when we will return to normal. Based on the current traffic data and staffing levels, it doesn’t seem like it will be soon, but as with everything up to this point, it can change at a moment's notice. Our initial thought is when traffic picks up we may start eliminating some of the additional EA and as it picks up more we will start negotiating going back to our bid schedules. At this time management has not shown any intentions of engaging in these negotiations. As the summer goes on and we evaluate the traffic levels we will keep you posted. 

OT on the Dayshift

The Eboard engaged in a conversion about eliminating one of the two 10 minute OT shifts assigned to the 0600 shift. When the dynamic scheduling rolled out several months ago, we agreed to revisit the OT assignments to ensure they were what we needed. After discussion, we have agreed to reduce the number of OTs on the 0600 shift to one. The area reps, schedulers and/or scheduling supes will be working to adjust Webscheduler to reflect these changes. 

Charity

We closed up the fundraising drive last Saturday with a final total of $3027! Amazing job ZSE! Rainier Valley Food Bank was our last donation of $527 just to zero out our balance. Second, we will be going ahead with our backpack donation again this year, details and requests for volunteers will be coming out soon.

Training

Still no word on developmentals coming back into the building yet but the FAA is starting to develop virtual training. This of course will not take the place of OJTI but will be a way to re-engage students that have been out of the books for a while. The training department would like to start that in the next 6 weeks or so but there is no definite timeline or content yet. 

Father’s Day

The Northwest Mountain communications team wants to celebrate Father’s Day by featuring pictures of you and your kids! Please send them to the NNM Facebook, Instagram or NNMCOMM@NATCA.NET. If you have time, fill out this short survey too. Fathers Day Form

Local Synology Giveaway

While normally the Local uses its equipment until it breaks, occasionally, we have a piece of equipment that we long need and so we are able to offer it to the Membership. We have a Synology 2 Bay Disk Station (DS213j) that we longer need now that cloud storage is so robust. It includes 2 1GB Hard Drives that will be wiped. If you are interested in this unit please fill out this form by June 19th to be considered and we will randomly draw a winner on June 20th.

Weekly Update June 5th

Good evening all, we are well into the 5/5 schedules, we haven’t heard much so it sounds like it’s going well. Not much to update you on this week so we'll keep it short.

Developmentals/Non-essentials

No word yet on either of these. There is a collaborative work group working on that at the national level right now. They have not come to any agreements or decisions on how people should be safely introduced back to the building yet so any information out there is just rumor.

Backpack program

For the last two years, we have been donating backpacks full of school supplies to children in need. NATCA Charitable Foundation sends us empty backpacks and funds to purchase the supplies. We have the chance to do this again but need your help! We need some internet shoppers and people willing to stuff backpacks. Historically we’ve done this in late July/early August but we just need to know whether we’ve got the volunteers now. Please email/text Amy if you can help out (amatc20@gmail.com 2538806414).

Town Hall

Just to switch things up a little, we’re going to be doing next week’s update via Microsoft Teams. This will give us a chance to see/hear from you guys and give you the chance to ask any questions you might have. If you have anything you would like specifically addressed, shoot us an email and we’ll answer it then. We will send out the link to the Teams meeting next week. The virtual update will be on Friday, June 12th at 6pm. Hope to see you there!

Please continue to stay safe as everything starts to open up,

Amy Sizemore and Derek Adams