NATCA Supports Measure, While PASS Would Take A Pass

The union representing the nation's Air Traffic Controllers has come out in support of the House version of the FAA Reauthorization bill introduced this week, while the union representing many of the FAA's other employees has said "no thanks."

In a statement released soon after House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-PA) introduced the 21st Century Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Reauthorization (AIRR) Act, National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) President Paul Rinaldi (pictured) said the union supports the bill.

Rinaldi said the House version of the bill "fully aligns with NATCA's policies, practices, and core principles. We made sure that we clearly understood how this bill would protect the National Airspace System (NAS) and allow it to continue to grow, as well as how it would protect the men and women who are the backbone of the system. This bill protects our workforce – including pay, benefits, retirement, and collective bargaining rights.

"NATCA is focused on providing a stable, predictable funding stream to operate and improve the NAS. To get our Union's support, any ATC reform legislation must, at a minimum, meet our Four Core Principles for Reform:

Protect the men and women who ensure the safety and efficiency of the NAS in their employment relationship, including their rights and benefits;
Maintain safety and efficiency as the top priorities;

• Provide a stable, predictable funding stream that adequately supports air traffic control services, staffing, hiring and training, long-term modernization, preventative maintenance, and ongoing modernization of the physical infrastructure; and
• Ensure continued service to all segments of our nation's diverse aviation community.

"NATCA remains open to considering any FAA reauthorization or FAA reform proposal, as long as it addresses the problems with the status quo and is not a for-profit model. NATCA also supports the provisions in H.R. 2800, the Aviation Funding Stability Act, introduced by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Peter DeFazio (D-OR)," Rinaldi said.

But the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, AFL-CIO (PASS), the union that represents 11,000 employees at the FAA who ensure the safety of the National Airspace System and the aircraft that use it, are strongly opposed to the House bill.

"At a time when reauthorizing the FAA should be paramount, it is neither a prudent nor responsible decision to introduce legislation that jeopardizes our standing as the world leader in aviation by gambling with risky privatization schemes," said PASS national president Mike Perrone. "As experts in aviation safety, we simply cannot support this misguided legislation," he said. "The House version of the FAA reauthorization legislation, as introduced, shortchanges federal employees at the FAA and the American people."

"Privatizing the largest and most complex aviation system in the world is a risk not worth taking at this pivotal point in its modernization," said Perrone. "Breaking apart the safest system in the world to establish a monopoly is fundamentally flawed. After closely reviewing this legislation, it is clear this plan lacks the protections the dedicated professionals at the FAA deserve and the flying public rely upon."

PASS believes the reauthorization of the FAA is a crucial piece of legislation that should ensure the continued operation and modernization of the nation's aviation system, as well as the jobs of thousands of federal employees. With steady and stable funding, the FAA can continue its progress on modernization and in so doing, protect the safety of the flying public. Privatizing the air traffic control system will reverse major advancements in modernization that have been made while compromising safety.

"The 21st Century AIRR Act is really no different than the bill the Chairman put forward last year, which PASS helped to defeat," Perrone continued. "In the meantime, the committed public servants at the FAA have continued to make great strides with NextGen and put safety first while lawmakers are rehashing the same misguided arguments on privatization."

PASS firmly believes that the safest and most complex air traffic control system in the world must remain in the hands of the federal government, accountable to the American people, and we will work with members of Congress to preserve our nation's status as stewards of the largest and safest aviation system in the world.

(Source: News Releases. Images from file)

FMI: www.natca.org, www.passnational.org