Step Challenge Team/ZSE F1 Fantasy League

All,

The annual NCF Step Challenge is coming up soon. The challenge begins Sunday, March 26, 2023, and runs for 45 days, ending on Tuesday, May 9, 2023. The registration fee is $25 per person. All proceeds to benefit the NATCA Charitable Foundation. GEG has won the step challenge the last 2 years and it’s time to show them that ZSE is better. Sign up HERE and be on the lookout for a ZSE team to join. I know we have a ton of athletes out there, all that bike riding and snowboarding y’all do counts.

Also, with F1 exploding in popularity over the last few years I wanted to see if there is interest in doing a ZSE F1 Fantasy league. It is pretty straightforward forward and the instructions make it easy. It is a salary cap league and I set it to where you only have to set up one team. For this inaugural year, I figured we could just do it for fun and maybe talk stakes next year. If there is enough interest I will try to get a trophy by the end of the year.

Click this link to join: https://fantasy.formula1.com/en/leagues/join/C2RXILBMQ07

Drew

Facility Update February 21st

TEAM Training

By now, most of you have gone to the TEAM briefing. This program will replace the training folders and, eventually, most of CEDAR. I have been working with the front office to replace and add open computers for controllers to use. All four computers in the debrief rooms have been replaced, and there are four additional computers to use in what used to be the QC cubicle area. These are all available to be used at any time. Some of the debrief rooms are being used as break rooms, which may become problematic after April 1st when TEAM goes into effect, and training reports must be typed up. 

Convention

You’ve probably already seen the announcements, but in case you haven’t, our biennial Convention is this year in Fort Lauderdale. This is the event that has the ability to shape our union and implement policies that guide our leadership. As the saying goes, it is an excellent opportunity to see “how the sausage is made.” If you are interested in going, you can sign up HERE.  If you aren’t ready to go for the whole convention but would like a quick introduction to what goes on at Convention, our pre-Convention meeting will be from May 30 - June 1st in Las Vegas.  If you are interested in either event, please reply to this email, we need to get a head count.

Still looking for some volunteers to create an events committee… Please let us know if you’re willing to help out. Thanks in advance!

Amy

Correction

All,

In the section of our previous email regarding Letters of Confirmation of Discussion and their differences from Letters of Admonishment, I incorrectly titled it “Letters of Confirmation of Discussion vs Letters of Reprimand.” Letters of Reprimand are something completely different and are, without any doubt, disciplinary. All the content is still correct, just the header was wrong.

That was bugging me so I wanted to get that cleared up for the 4 of you that read these emails. 😂

I hope everyone has a good spread for the Super Bowl whether it be points or charcuterie. If you happen to be at work during the Super Bowl, enjoy the datacomm run.

Drew

Facility Update February 10th

We are nearly finished training for Datacomm, and the trial runs are becoming more frequent. So far, so good. It’ll be nice to have this all put behind us, and we can get the training department back up to 100% training speed. We’ve got a lot of trainees upstairs, if you get a couple of minutes, go stop by and say hi. :)

All Members Meetings

Chico posted the list of all the meeting dates for the year, it’s on the bulletin board. Once again, they are spread out all over the week, so everyone has the chance to attend. Please try to make at least one this year, and it’s the best place to get input from you, so we are sure to keep this local going in the direction you all want it to.

Events Committee

We are looking to gather a group of people that are interested in planning events for the facility. These are great ways to grow and strengthen our relationships in the facility, which are very important in a high-stress job like this. The next event we need help with is a picnic this summer. NATCA’s “birthday” is in June, we’ll be a whopping 36 years old this year, and it’ll be an excellent opportunity to get families together! If you would like to help, please let us know.

IST Cadre

Please let your area rep know if you’re interested in teaching IST this next round, the cadre training is March 14-15 or 16-17, and the workforce training is April 23rd - May 6th.

From Drew:

Letter of Confirmation of Discussion vs. Letter of Reprimand

I previously briefed you all on Letters of Confirmation of Discussion (LOCOD) and how they are non-disciplinary ways for the Agency to record that they discussed something with you. I.e., Signing in late, violating the 8 or 9-hour rules, and not checking CEDAR. The Agency has taken the stance that Letters of Admonishment are also non-disciplinary (if it says so in the letter). This is incongruous with Article 10 of the CBA. Article 10 Section 12 states that Letters of Confirmation of Discussion shall not be considered disciplinary in nature but may be used to document future disciplinary actions. The contract does NOT state the same for Letters of Admonishment, so it stands to reason that because Letters of Admonishment are covered under Article 10 (Titled Disciplinary/Adverse Actions), Letters of Admonishment would be considered disciplinary in nature.

The Agency has taken the position that Letters of Admonishment are “informal discipline” and, therefore, not technically “discipline.” For obvious reasons, we disagree.

All this is to say that if you are called back to the supes office or asked to sign something, please ask for a rep. If the agency does not see what they are doing as “disciplinary,” then they (in their minds) will not meet the threshold for having to offer you one. So to avoid any confusion at all, always ask for a rep.

We have yet to be able to effect a change to this position because we have not had a case of a Letter of Admonishment that clearly should have been something lesser. If this happens, we will try to make that case to them. 

TL;DR: ALWAYS ASK FOR A REP.

In Solidarity,

Amy and Drew

Facility Update January 13th

We had some successful trial runs of Datacomm the past three nights. It sounds like a couple of minor changes to make, but all in all, it went well. I believe we’re doing one more round of 3 mid shifts and then the next trial run after that should be on the swing shift. We’ll get some dates to you shortly.

CA-1 Changes

The current version of the American Rescue Plan Act expires January 27th, and the process for submitting a CA-1 for covid will be changing. Currently, you just had to be at work within the last 21 days to have a CA-1 claim accepted. Starting January 28th, the current procedure to file a CA-1 will no longer be accepted without a written narrative report from a physician supporting both the work exposure and the causal relationship between the exposure and the infection. With this new addition, you will need to use SL if you test positive. The testing EA will still be available.

Constitutional Amendments

The deadline to submit amendments to the National Constitution is February 20th. We have a regional pre-convention meeting May 30th-June 1st and Convention is Jun 20th-22nd. There will be an all-members meeting to discuss all the amendments and decide how our facility wants to vote on them, but the date for that has yet to be set. If you have an idea for a change, but you don’t know how to write it up, please get in touch with Drew Stewart, he will be glad to help you.

Amy