Good evening all, hope you’re all doing well. We apologize for the sporadic nature of the emails lately but it seems like every morning we get an email together and every afternoon that information has changed and we’re forced to wait for interpretations. We suppose the lesson is that the COVID schedule and everything surrounding that is still very fluid. We are trying to keep this as stable as possible for you all but there are many things that are out of our control.
Overtime / EA
The biggest mixed message that we are getting lately has been the extra “on-call” EA that some areas have been occasionally able to assign. Now it seems that there is some amnesia at the district level and they claim they had no idea that we (among other facilities in the region) were doing that. Of course, the knee jerk reaction is to get rid of that effective immediately. This is being addressed regionally and nationally and hopefully reversed before implementation.
The second part of that is the recall time. If we are successful in keeping the on-call EA days, one thing that will more than likely change is the times we negotiated for recall. The Agency maintains that EA days are work days and therefore you are available for recall at any time during the assigned shift. Derek expressed to Don the logistical concerns we had with this and he said the supes will be told to expect a reasonable amount of turnaround time after contact is made. We understand the frustration with this but it is important to remember that the alternative will be actually being at work during those same hours.
We have been in discussions with the front office in reference to the 10 minute OT overlaps. Management is very interested in minimizing the use of OT. Derek expressed an interest in getting more people out of the facility during slow times such as the beginning of the day and end of the swing shifts. They were able to collaborate and come up with a solution that suited both parties. Starting in about a week, we will start seeing people assigned a 0550 or a 1350 shift that will end at 1350 and 2150 respectively. In return, we will start seeing up to an hour and a half “on call EA” scheduled at the start of the day and the end of the swing shifts. These will have the same rules and limitations as our current “on call” EA days.
We realize a lot of this seems to be contradictory but the truth is that most of these items are still being ironed out but we just wanted to keep informed of the direction this may be going.
Stand Up
Last week, Derek expressed to Don our concerns with CICs attending “Stand Up” and the dangers of spreading COVID it presents. They agreed that CICs will not be required to attend. A supervisor will deliver any relevant information to the area. Due to the 7210.3 requirement for TMU Supe/CIC to brief twice a day, TMU CICs will write out the required information for the OM to brief.
Mask Mandate
On July 23rd, the Agency determined and NATCA agreed to a mask mandate that states: “FAA employees will wear cloth face coverings, surgical masks, dust masks, or N95 respirators (if medically qualified) in common areas such as elevators, hallways, and any workspaces or other locations where social distancing cannot be maintained.” NATCA and the FAA have both issued masks, if you didn’t receive one or both of these, let us know, we’ll help you out. Of course, you’re not limited to only using the issued ones, as long as it meets the requirements above. Not sure how many people are asking about whether face shields count as masks but just in case, the guidance is that they do not meet the requirements but can be used in addition to a mouth/nose covering.
Training
Live traffic training will not be resuming any time soon. Trainees not actively on a crew right now have already been in contact with the training department for virtual training. The Agency has a plan to work with partially certified controllers (those currently on a crew) on their EA days but we are still waiting to see what that will look like. None of this includes those individuals out on high risk EA.
This will probably generate a lot of questions so please feel free to email us with those or any concerns.
In Solidarity,
Derek Adams and Amy Sizemore
