NATCA: Why Air Travel Is Safer
 |
If you’re getting ready to board a plane home after Thanksgiving or still fretting about safety in the crowded holiday skies for the upcoming holidays, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA)—the people who guide you home—offer five reasons to feel better about air travel.
Here they are in a nutshell, and click here for more details.
- There are more controllers on the job, nearly a 4 percent increase of fully certified controllers.
- Runways are safer than ever, with the number of serious runway incursions having dropped by 50 percent between 2009 and 2010 after falling by 52 percent the year before.
- Major steps have been taken to reduce controller fatigue this year, including staffing that ensures at least two controllers are on duty at all times.
- The aviation community is collaborating to mitigate delays with pilots, aircraft dispatchers, airport operators and other members of the aviation community and the system wide delays are decreasing, especially around the holidays.
- The aviation safety culture is at its strongest with NATCA and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) committed to improving the safety of the air traffic control system, including a voluntary safety reporting program, the Air Traffic Safety Action Program.
Flight Attendants Offer Holiday Travel Tips
 |
You’ve made it through the parking lot, baggage check, security and are finally ready—somewhat frazzled but ready—to board your plane for your long-awaited holiday trip. The Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA) have some tips for you that will help ensure you and your family travel safely and securely and ease the strain on passengers, children and fellow travelers.
AFA-CWA President Veda Shook says, “As first responders in the aircraft cabin, flight attendants’ primary responsibility is to protect the safety and security of our passengers.” She adds: Read the rest of this entry »
Report: U.S. Aviation System Safest in the World
National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) President Paul Rinaldi says “the most important piece” of a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) study on aviation safety is this: “The [Federal Aviation Administration] FAA has taken several steps to further improve safety at and around airports.”
The GAO study found an increase in the rate of reported runway incursions and other reported incidents of aircraft coming too close to each other. The FAA says a new system of more accurate incident reporting accounts for some of the increase.
As a result of this culture change, the FAA expected to see an increase in reported operational errors. More information will help us find problems and take action before an accident happens, which will help us build an even safer aviation system.
Republicans Use ‘Extortion Tactics’ to Shut Down FAA
The Republican shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has thrown 4,000 FAA employees out of work, and some 70,000 construction workers employed on airport improvement projects can’t go to work because Republicans have blocked funding for the agency and the projects.
In a letter to House and Senate Republican leaders, Mark Ayers, president of the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD), says he is outraged by the “extortion tactics” and “political brinkmanship” that are creating even more “hardship for building and construction trades families” in an industry already suffering high unemployment.
Our members expect their elected leaders to resolve their differences without resorting to ultimatums. Once again, our members are frustrated that an extreme minority has succeeded temporarily by using extortion tactics to undermine the jobs of my members.
Republican Attack on Workers’ Rights Puts Aviation Safety at Risk
 |
UPDATE: Both the House and Senate adjourned this afternoon without taking action on the FAA bill, ensuring a midnight shutdown. Senate Republicans blocked a move for a temporary extension of the agency’s funding.
At midnight tonight, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is slated to run out of money and be forced to suspend vital operations because House Republicans want to deny aviation and rail workers a simple majority vote—the same process that applies to electing lawmakers—on whether to join a union.
Republicans are holding a temporary funding bill hostage because they want to overturn a new rule adopted last year by the National Mediation Board (NMB) that says air and rail elections should be decided by a majority of votes cast. Previously under the Railway Labor Act (RLA), which covers rail and airline workers, each worker who did not cast a vote in a representation election was automatically counted as a “No” vote.
Edward Wytkind, president of the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department (TTD), says:
Republican leaders are doing the bidding of a few airline CEOs who refuse to allow this bill to move forward unless it eviscerates fair union election rules. No wonder the public is growing weary of the majority leaders in the House and their tactics.
Here Are the Faces of the Voices that Guide You Home
 |
Steve Wallace is an air traffic controller in Miami with 20 years on the job and as he says in this new video from the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA):
I have to be 100 percent, 100 percent of the time.
The video notes that 750 million people fly through U.S. air space every year and that controllers handle more than 134 million take offs, landings and other operations each year. Each day, more than 70,000 flights take off and land safely. Says Denise Spencer, a 17-year controller in Seattle:
My voice is the voice that guides you home each and every day.
The video features several other controllers who speak about their dedication to safety and pride in their profession. NATCA spokesman Doug Church says the video is a response to the negative publicity following the recent incidents with controllers—mostly on overnight, one-person-staffed facilities—falling asleep. He says NATCA’s 20,000 controllers were upset with those who had performed unprofessionally.
Do You Know Where the Plane You’re Traveling in Has Been Repaired?
 |
|
When you step aboard a flight on a U.S. airplane, you probably assume that plane’s major maintenance work has been performed by certified mechanics at the one of the carrier’s U.S. hangers. That’s not necessarily so.
The nation’s major airlines now send more than 20 percent of their planes to repair stations in developing counties, including those in central America, Africa and Asia for major maintenance, including, complete overhauls where the aircraft is stripped to the bare metal then put back together.
Transport Workers (TWU) President James C. Little says it’s time to blow the lid off the “airline industry’s dirty little secret” of offshore maintenance:
Our union is going to tell the public that offshoring means your plane has a lower standard for maintenance. It means the licensure and security standard for the mechanics and their helpers who worked on that aircraft is questionable, and it means that federal regulators had limited access to facilities where the plane was repaired.
Air Traffic Controllers Ratify Contract After Three-Year Battle with Bush FAA
A three-year battle for workplace justice came to a successful conclusion yesterday when the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) announced controllers had ratified a new three-year contract with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
NATCA says the new pact throws out the Bush-era FAA’s 2006 imposed work and pay rules and restores fairness and stability to the collective bargaining process. The overwhelmingly approved contract takes effect Oct. 1. The contract covers a set of new work rules that both NATCA and the FAA agreed to at the negotiating table earlier this year. Other contract articles, including pay, were decided through a binding arbitration this summer.
NATCA President Patrick Forrey calls the new agreement
a testament to our membership that they have endured the worst time in our union’s history, working towards and holding out for a contract that was negotiated in a fair process and agreed to by the parties.
Hang Up and Fly—Tell Senate to Back In-Flight Cell Phone Ban
 |
|
If you get a chance, take a minute and do your part for airline safety and passenger sanity. The Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA) ) is urging the U.S. Senate to maintain the ban on in-flight cell phone use. Click here to send your senators a message.
The ban was included in the House-passed version of the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill (H.R. 915) in May. The Senate is expected to act this summer. The union says:
“Cell phone usage in the cabin would create a new security risk, compromise flight attendants job of safely executing an emergency evacuation, and ability to maintain order within the cabin amongst cabin noise and tension.”
Aviation Unions Outline FAA Fixes
The nation’s aviation unions told Congress yesterday that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) must improve its labor management relations after a contentious eight years under the Bush administration; address flight crew fatigue; improve aviation maintenance safety; and modernize the air traffic control system.
At the Senate aviation subcommittee hearing on the FAA reauthorization bill, Patrick Forrey, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), told the panel:
A restoration of what was once a great collaborative relationship is only possible with the existence of a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) and a fair process for negotiating future CBAs and other labor agreements. Air traffic controllers have been working under FAA-imposed work and pay rules for nearly 1,000 days.
