SnitchBot
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Rich Santa - I've Opened 2 NATCA CBAs Already. I'm Going to Open the Slate Book, Too.
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FightingIrish2012
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I’ll believe it when I see it. I think he is straight up laying here, but even if it’s true you can argue it’s too late.
2026 means any raise would not start until 2027 at the soonest. That is still so many years wasted if you start the clock at 2021 when the slate book pay chart should have been renegotiated under Biden.
2026 means any raise would not start until 2027 at the soonest. That is still so many years wasted if you start the clock at 2021 when the slate book pay chart should have been renegotiated under Biden.
ClearanceClarence
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This guy is such a fucking weasel. Him, Nick/Jamaal, and Mick will all say whatever they think people want to hear to get elected. All talk, no action from people who have all been in high level NATCA positions for years. It’s a complete joke.
Every Internet ATC forum for the last 3 years: extending the slate book was a horrible move, we need better pay and benefits NOW.
Santa, 2 months before election: those were the next words out of my mouth!
Nick literally said to people he would have kept the slate book for 10 years. Rich opens up 2 contracts. Nick supporters logic “no way rich would have opened up any contracts”. Paul extended contracts, Rich negotiated contracts. So whichever school of thought you like better there’s what’s happened and isn’t an opinion.
And Jamal doesn’t understand the joke because he has never actually trained an air traffic controller.
Raise when?
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all my homies hate rich Santa
Opening both contracts needed to happen but that was the easy part. Rich still has to deliver wins for members in those negotiations for it to be meaningful. He doesn't have to wait until 2026 to address many of the topics he mentioned in the video above. All things pay (A108/b) and TCI are in the purple book for SSS and can be addressed right now.
Based on your recent post, I'm assuming you're "with" Rich, so please pass a message along to him. If he wants to keep his position...Stop talking and start doing. Members want action today not tomorrow. Win NOW with the purple book and show members what the starting point of negotiations will be in 2026 for the Slate book. If he can't deliver prior to election he may want to start packing up the office because it will be an uphill battle for him with his current record.
32andBelow
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If staff support gets a big raise things are going to get worse for him faster not better. He has to figure out a way to bring our contract up with it and get one big across the board raise at the same time
That’s not how a union works, I’d be happy if my brothers and sisters that are covered under these contracts got a raise. Sad to hear nick and his supporters don’t feel the same.
32andBelow
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You thing I support nick? The point is everyone is already mad and then to thing people will wait 2 more years is just going to boil over well before then.
In a perfect world, yes, everyone across the board would get massive raises together. But the reality is each group is covered under different contracts with different effective dates. So the purple book is up first.
With as many times as Ive seen you post about how we should be negotiating with the most labor friendly administration ever...this is our chance. A huge win for those members now would give negotiators a huge advantage and leverage at the table in 2026 with possibly an entirely different administration. So while its not ideal, it's the hand we've been dealt. Eventually, we as a Union have to start taking action and fighting for wins instead of continually kicking the can down the road.
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32andBelow
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You don’t have to mansplain it. I’m just pointing out that their failure to negotiate our contract when they were supposed to is going to make this situation insanely bad.
Logical_Mongoose
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Like BCHOOSIER said, Santa could say that whatever they get for the Purple & Light Blue will be the starting point for the Slate and NATCA anticipates to get more in 2026; that's the best reelection campaigning he could possibly do for himself. But that's still dependent upon substantial wins for the Purple (and Light Blue) Book and not milquetoast improvements.
NATCA, for the sake of their continued existence, can sacrifice some outlier articles that don't apply to the vast majority of us, but they must win some BIG combination of the following for Purple and Light Blue BUEs:
1.) One-time bonus (15% or better) .
2.) One-time pay raise (15% or better).
3.) Modify the June raises to something more acceptable (2.5% should be the minimum goal and ~2.8% should be the true goal).
4.) Align our Annual Leave accrual and cap with the Scientific and Professional positions.
5.) Something else like having FAA funds earmarked for EV charging at all facilities or some other line-item facility improvements.
Santa is still in control of his own reelection fate, but I don't think he could survive a bad or even mediocre Purple Book update. An updated Purple Book that doesn't address #3 at all will be seen as a failure and Santa should start packing now if that's the outcome. Fixing #3 and getting either #1 or #2 will probably be seen as the minimum threshold for an acceptable negotiation outcome. The holy trinity is 1-3; securing some degree of all of them would probably shut most of us up.
If we (Purple Book) lose anything of significance and the gains aren't impressive, then I don't know how Santa could avoid a bloodbath and membership exodus that either leads to his ouster or the eventual dissolution of the union itself. I don't know if he knows it or not, but this is his Cuban Missile Crisis.
32andBelow
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I just don’t see a world where they get a big raise and then the controllers just sit there patiently for 2 more years. Then there’s the fact that they may be negotiating with Vivek ramaswany or some other freakazoid
Logical_Mongoose
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"I just don't see a world where..."
You're far too myopic: if you can't imagine something then it isn't possible to you and if you can imagine something then it is the only eventuality in your mind. Dude, brainstorm.
Santa's position of strength when it comes to reelection is being able to reiterate that the Slate extension had "nothing to do with him", point at this potential Purple & Light Blue win & take credit for it, and "promise" that the 2026 negotiation will be even better because he'd be in control of it and already "won bigly" in 2024.
It won't strongly matter whomever the next administration is if NATCA has a good 2024 agreement they can start off with carbon-copying. They could negotiate with the reanimated corpses of Reagan & Barry Goldwater and come out with an identical 2024 agreement for controllers because it would save both NATCA and the FAA time and money. An easy "win" for both would be to carbon-copy 2024 to 2026 and then add ~7% extra somewhere.
I still think Santa can and will crap the bed on the Purple & Light Blue Books this summer, but I'm saying it isn't out of the realm of possibility for something better to happen if NATCA decided to... you know... do their job.
32andBelow
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Just consider the upstairs guy getting that raise and then the average controller that we all work with being told that you need to wait 2 more years to maybe get it.
Different contracts for different positions. It is what it is.
Logical_Mongoose
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First off, I'm the upstairs guy so watch your tone!
Again, you're admitting to living in your own reality where you can't see anything happening other than what you yourself imagine. I'm not saying your opinion/take is wrong. I'm saying you are doing yourself a disservice because you lack a strategic mindset to see different outcomes and how to extrapolate to them.
If Santa says "I got Support Specialists a 10% raise and 10% bonus, and in 2026 I'm going to get controllers a 20% raise and 20% bonus!" do you really think the "average controller" would be pissed about that and vote against it? Or would they start shopping for what they plan on buying with that 20% raise?
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