The Professional Airways Systems Specialists (PASS) has reacted to the FAA's 'unwarranted filing of an unfair labor practice charge against the union in connection with negotiations over a new contract for employees in the Air Traffic Organization (ATO) technical operations bargaining unit. The union characterized the FAA's action as a misguided attempt to undermine the contract ratification process, which is central to the PASS's commitment to union democracy.'

"What we are seeing is the beginning of an FAA propaganda campaign to misinform and intimidate PASS members," said Tom Brantley, PASS national president.

"The filing of the frivolous charge is not meant to bolster the agency's case because, in reality, it has no case. The FAA is doing everything it can to contaminate the ratification process with untrue claims that PASS is somehow acting inappropriately. The agency's statements are intended to turn employees against the union. With such intentionally deceptive information coming from the FAA, PASS feels that it is necessary to refute the agency's claims in detail."

PASS asserts the following are factual responses to some of the FAA's erroneous statements:

FAA Fiction: "PASS effectively walked away from the table..."

The Truth: PASS tentatively accepted the agency's contract offer, thereby concluding negotiations, at which point both parties walked away from the table.

FAA Fiction: "The FAA once again reiterated its position that it wants to continue the negotiations in an effort to reach a fair, voluntary agreement."

The Truth: The FAA made this claim on Thursday, March 30. On Monday, April 4, the agency's chief negotiator agreed to meet with PASS's chief negotiator to "sign off" on the remaining articles. Under the process, this made the articles "tentatively agreed upon," which raises the question of why the agency would finalize contract on articles if it felt PASS was acting in bad faith.

FAA Fiction: The FAA claims the reason it filed an unfair labor practice charge is because PASS failed to negotiate in good faith.

The Truth: The tentative mutual agreement between FAA and PASS, signed by both parties' negotiators, makes this claim absolutely untrue.

PASS represents more than 11,000 employees of the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Defense who install, maintain, support and certify air traffic control and national defense equipment, inspect and oversee the commercial and general aviation industries, develop flight procedures and perform quality analyses of the aviation systems.

FMI: www.passnational.org, www.passcontractalert.org