Below are NATCA's unedited comments on the pending vote.
In an attempt to stifle today’s legitimate
Congressional debate on a bill (HR 5449) that would restore
fairness and accountability to collective bargaining disputes, the
Department of Transportation (DoT) and the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) have resorted to using taxpayer money to
distribute misleading letters on behalf of non-governmental
advocacy groups. The misinformation campaign is in opposition to
legislation that would restore fairness to collective bargaining at
FAA.
On Monday night, the eve of the bill’s consideration
in the House of Representatives, the Department of Transportation
was circulating letters obtained from organizations including
Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform and the American
Conservative Union. These letters included numerous misleading
statements attempting to tie this straightforward legislation to
everything from re-regulation of the airlines to privatization of
air traffic control. The DoT is well aware of the
inaccuracies and still has chosen to circulate letters that include
a contract price tag that ignores the fact that the union has
already offered the taxpayers $1.4 billion in
savings.
The DoT appears intent on intimidating Congressional offices
by participating in threats of a negative "score" from conservative
groups in their annual rankings. This unprecedented misinformation
campaign by a federal agency seems designed to instill fear in
Congressional members who are ready to vote their conscience.
Instead of allowing a clean vote on a clear issue, the rhetoric
attempts to intimidate members into crushing federal workers and
their rights to collectively bargain.
Meanwhile, the FAA yesterday attempted to cloud the issue
further, announcing that it would ignore legitimate Congressional
debate and declaring that contract changes would take effect
immediately. Despite the forceful language used by the FAA, the
announcement also included an admission that the Agency has no idea
how long it will take to actually implement the
changes.
"No changes have been made, but the FAA wants to give that
appearance in order to convince Congress that it is too late to act
- nothing could be further from the truth," according to John Carr,
President of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
(NATCA). "The nation's air traffic controllers deserve better than
a boss who, rather than sit down and discuss the issues with them,
actively seeks out shrill voices to attack its own
workforce."
"The FAA continues to assert that its proposal is fair but
it continues to use its resources to prevent any effort that would
allow for a process where the proposal is reviewed by another
government agency with expertise in the area," continued Carr. "If
the FAA proposal is fair, why are they afraid of review by a panel
appointed by the President?" Carr further pointed out the ironic
fact that the Heritage Foundation is actively opposing legislation
to use the Federal Service Impasses Panel to resolve the dispute,
even though the chair of the Panel is also currently the Vice
President of External Relations for The Heritage
Foundation.
HR 5449, which the
House of Representatives is expected to vote on tomorrow, does not
approve the Agency proposal or the Union's. The bill would simply
restore accountability to the labor relations negotiating process
at FAA to make sure both sides receive a fair hearing.
The FAA isn't responding to NATCA's challenge over
Congressional strategies, but does say NATCA is bluffing on the
issue of early retirement.
NATCA President John Carr says those eligible could
leave the FAA between now and the end of next year, and NATCA says
this new contract is enough to push many of them over the edge. But
the FAA says it doesn't believe controllers will retire early at
all.