Facility Update August 6th

Good Evening All!

Masks, Vaccinations, Sick Leave

The FAA has converted the MOU that we had with them regarding masks and sick leave usage into an HRPM Policy Bulletin. That makes it more permanent and will remain in effect until further notice. Here are the key points but is available here for you to peruse if you wish. 

• Masks are mandatory if you are not vaccinated

• All employees must complete the “Wellness Check” before entering the facility. If you answer yes to any of the questions you may not enter and will need to take sick leave. 

• This bulletin also specifies the policy for EA regarding testing, contact, etc.

Still no official word on vaccination mandates but as it stands, anyone without a mask on in the building is declaring that they are vaccinated. If it is found to be otherwise, you are putting yourself at risk for discipline in the future. 

Back Up System 

Changes are coming to some of the late swing/early mid shifts. Bear with me for a little background info…. Some of you might remember a briefing we had a long time ago that talked about the FAA discontinuing the back up to the back up for ERAM (depending on how old you are, you might call it DARC or EBUS). We will still have channel A and B. When we do the chart changes and system upgrades, Tech Ops will take down a channel, load the changes onto it and then make that the active channel. In the past that was all done with EBUS running in the background but now it’ll be without and called “single channel operations.” The Agency has mandated that more staffing is present during these times. Right now most areas are scheduling the 16s to be held for 2 hours OT but we are trying to hammer out a more permanent solution since this is a permanent operation change. 

TL;DR: There will be 3 people staffed in each area every night we go to single channel operations.

ZSE E-Board Nominations

The nomination period is coming to a close (8/15) and the election will start soon thereafter. If you have changed your phone number or mailing address in the last couple of years, please click on this link and fill out the changes so we can update the system. By law, voting must be done via mail so it is imperative that we have your current address. 

Retirement Party

It’s a little belated but Andy Olson has retired after 30 years (wow!) with the FAA. They are having a gathering at Half Lion Brewery in Sumner tomorrow (8/7) from 4-8pm. It would be nice to see you there. Half Lion is a family friendly location so people of all ages are allowed.

1723 W Valley Hwy E #101, Sumner, WA 98390

Have a great weekend,

Derek Adams and Amy Sizemore

Facility Update July 29th

Good afternoon all, we thought maybe by now we’d have some concrete information to report to you about the Presidential announcement regarding vaccines but still nothing. As soon as there is new guidance we will let you know.

Convention / CFS

By now you’ve heard that due to covid numbers rising, the 2020 (2021) NATCA Convention has once again been postponed with the new date of December 6-8. This delta variant is proving to be very aggressive. The National Executive Board decided that the risk was too great of a possible super spreader event. Hopefully things will improve in time to make the December date work out. Also, as of today, CFS was cancelled. The new dates are September 12th-14th, 2022.

If anything new comes out, we will send out another short email. See you at Zimmy’s (socially distanced and outdoor) going away tomorrow!

Derek Adams and Amy Sizemore

Facility Update June 18th

Thank you all that showed up for the meeting this past week, it was a lot of business to go over and it’s so great to have some feedback from the facility.

Elections

There was a bit of a miscommunication on dates that were sent in the mail but this is the current, official election timeline:

• Nominations are open now but still must be received by August 15, 2021, 12pm 

• Nominations must be accepted by August 23, 2021

• Ballots shall be distributed on August 25, 2021 

• If needed, duplicate ballots must be requested by September 5, 2021 

• Ballots must be received by September 15, 2021, 12 pm 

• Ballots will be counted on September 15, 2021 

Nomination forms are currently out and located by the mail boxes, just fill it out and put it in the black box.

Backpack Program

NATCA Charitable Foundation has offered us money for the backpack program again this year but we need someone to head this up. I (Amy) normally do but I cannot head it up this year. If you are interested in doing this, please let us know as soon as possible so we can get that going.

Event Planning Group

We have been throwing around the idea of starting up solidarity events but we need help. Do you enjoy planning parties or maybe just have some ideas that you would like to see come to fruition? Do you have some volunteer opportunity ideas to help our community? Chili cook-offs, Super Bowl parties, Softball teams? Maybe you’re just looking for a way to start getting involved with your work family. Please let us know so we can start this group going and start planning events again!

In Solidarity,

Derek Adams and Amy Sizemore

Facility Update July 8th

Greetings from the Northwest Mountain and Alaskan Region Pre-Convention meeting in Denver. We have spent the past couple of days reviewing and discussing all the constitutional amendments that were submitted. We have a lot of information to pass along to you and in turn, we need your input as well. This coming Wednesday is our first in person all members meeting since the start of the pandemic and it is a very important one. We want to be as inclusive as possible and will be offering a hybrid (in-person & virtual) option to ensure everyone feels safe to attend. During the meeting, we will go over each amendment, explain, discuss and get ZSE’s general thoughts on it so we can vote accordingly in Houston. If you would like to attend in person, it will be in the East/West Conference room and food/drinks will be provided. If you prefer the virtual option, the link is here. 

Wednesday, July 14th, 1pm

Pay

With the Juneteenth Holiday being passed into law, there was a little confusion on holiday pay. Depending on your RDOs, it is either on the most recent LES or the previous. If it is on neither, please let someone know right away so we can get it fixed. 

In Solidarity,

Derek Adams and Amy Sizemore

Facility Update June 25th

Good afternoon all, hot enough for you? Haha...just kidding, that’s not a question, it’s def too hot.

MOU negotiations

We will be sitting down with management shortly to hammer out 2022 MOUs. If you have concerns or suggestions for changes you’d like to see, please talk to your rep or email us.

Contract Corner

We would like to add a new section to our update and take some time to go over contract articles occasionally. We’ll start it off by going over a section from Article 24 Annual Leave, specifically Section 14. 

The important takeaway here is that if you’d like to utilize the protections written into this section, you need to follow up your WMT request with an actual conversation with a supervisor. Oftentimes the shift staffing will allow for leave when the request was put in but it isn’t addressed for so long that for whatever reason there was a drop in staffing and then the leave could no longer be approved.

Party! Party! Party!

Although we’ll hate to see him go, we really hope you’ll join in saying goodbye to one of ZSE’s favorite people, Jared Zimmerman. Facility wide parties have long been a great ATC tradition that absolutely needs to make a comeback! Getting to know people outside of work is so valuable in high stress, non conventional work-hour jobs like ours. Can’t wait!

Until next week,

Derek Adams and Amy Sizemore