ManBearPig
Forum Sage
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Not gonna quote stuff, but doing an extension of the slate book was the right move. Shit wasn't going to get better for us by opening the contract up for negotiation. It was saved NATCA a shit ton of money.
NATCA leadership on those leaving the union
- Thread starter Phillyman2633
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Yeah this is what we’re told, specially the people who ask or are actively involved in local/national stuff. The real issue is all the other members (read the majority) that sort of sat here and got told “Yeap contract is extended. You’re welcome!” I wish they would have at least gave an explanation of their decision process in some sort of national email. Sure some people would have been upset still, but at least all of paying due members would be in the know
It's the decision to do it without the input of the membership that is a sticking point for myself and many others. If we had to vote to ratify, we should have to vote to extend. National could give us their recommendation, but it shouldn't be their decision to extend, it should be a national vote of all membership.
ManBearPig
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I'm split on this. On one hand, yeah we should get a say. On the other, it's difficult to give membership all the information they need to make a rational decision. Remember, we work with a lot of idiots.
What else were they going to spend our money and dues on? Travel, food, parties, booze? Going away gifts for Paul and Trish? What’s the plan for 2024 in another election year? Renew again to get through that administration. Writing is on the walls for the long term future.
ManBearPig
Forum Sage
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From what I have heard, that's basically the plan. If it looks like an unfriendly administration will be elected, get an extension.
When NATCA went to negotiate the slate book, the Obama administration's opening pay scale was basically the white book pay scale. It doesn't matter what party is in charge, FAA management doesn't like us.
If all we are paying for is correcting pronouns and no significant changes are happening to the contract that’s benefiting the members then what’s the point in the union? Continue status quo forever. It has gotten so big and representing far beyond ATCS that they are out of touch on a lot of
Issues and have the same talking points for too many years. The next retirement wave is on the brink of happening and they aren’t even predicting it.
Using your logic, a vote on ratifying the Slate book in the first place shouldn’t have happened because of that very reason. If we can vote to ratify, we should be able to vote to extend.
First time I’ve heard that. This kind of defeats any argument NATCA makes to vote in a supposed labor friendly administration, then.
Peter Gibbons
Legendary Member
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Not original poster, but you can absolutely think (ideally) the government (as an extension of the American populace) should do things in the interest of it's constituency, and at the same time recognize that same government, (as an employer) may not always do things in the interest of an individual, along with middle and lower management issues being far removed from the FAA being a gov entity in regards to the gov's responsibility to it's people.
That said, this newsletter was hot garbage, I'll associate with who I want, and maybe instead of being vindictive, we as a union should ask why so many people are leaving, and why a great many more are so apathetic on union issues in general... I'm willing to bet, as previously mentioned we would have lost a great many more if people weren't worried about being blackballed on ncept.
I'm about as pro union as they come, but some of the decisions natca has made the last few years don't exactly line up with my vision of what looking out for your membership looks like.
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They’re gonna extend the contract two years before it expires? 2026 is the end of the extension. It’s going to be very interesting.
National does fail tremendously at filling in the general populace. I'd love an official answer as to why the contract was extended at the time it was and not right before Biden leaves office to try to protect us from a possible anti-union administration a bit longer. I'd also like to know what proposals would have been shot down and what negative changes would have happened.
Instead, the slate book was extended randomly. No benefits gained. Some could argue the 1.6% raise isn't really that great especially with the rising cost of living and staffing issues at a lot of facilities.
ManBearPig
Forum Sage
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Voting to extend or not extend is a little different. By voting to not extend, you are essentially voting for an unknown contract. It could be the white book, or it could be the green book. Voting for a specific contract, you have a tangible starting point for additional negotiations if it is voted down. Slate book is pretty damned good. It could be better, but I would have voted to extend, if asked.
Labor friendly = just slightly better than anti-union.
Basically all other unions ratify their contract. Pilots, flight attendants, grocery store workers, retail workers, auto workers, they all have votes
Any more info?
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But privatisation is too big an issue to trust to the membership, only the NEB should make that decision… /roll eyes…
Contract negotiations are extremely expensive. Imagine how mad all the trolls would be if we spent a million dollars on a new contract that was anywhere from worse to not much better.
No dues were spent on going away gifts.
Travel, food, parties and booz are easy buzz words buts it’s really your leadership team traveling away from family to meet the membership in person. Would we rather they didn’t make themselves available in person?
It could be worse so we better not dare hope or try! That’s a philosophy to live by if I ever heard one
Just playing devil's advocate here, and I underlined/bolded part of your post myself.
I'm a third of the way through my career, and I've spent equal time at both facilities I've worked. I cannot recall NATCA national leadership visiting either facility I've been at. Regional leadership visited my first facility once, I have not seen regional leadership at my second. The only time I recall NATCA national leadership "visiting" a location I was at was during a "Meet and Greet" while in initial training in OKC, when I wasn't part of the union. I will say that one afternoon during the first week or two at my first facility the FACREP took a group of us AGs out for lunch, and from what I've heard pre-covid, AG's at my second facility received this experience as well.
I'm not saying leadership doesn't travel and visit places, as today's email showcases the EVP visiting OMA/R90/SUX. I'm just saying I cannot recall them visiting where I've been at the same time I was there.
As far as the rest of it: whether it be privitisation, covid response, training delays, or the contract extension, I think transparency would go a long way with the membership. This way whether we agree or not with the union's stance or actions, we can at least see their reasoning. If they can blast out emails selling the virtues of sunch inane things as the re-wording of M in NOTAMs, they sure as hell can send out a small summary of "this is why we support/oppose insert major issue/action." I wouldn't expect it to be done for every little thing, but issues such as the 4 I listed are pretty important that affect the whole membership.
Ironically, within the last year Santa has been to the center I left and the center I’m at. But I can’t remember anyone outside of the region visiting during my first 14 years.
There’s other avenues that these guys leave their families to visit membership, like the convention. I’m with you though, a little more transparency goes along way. Most people are reasonable and just want to know what’s going on with their Union.
