Moves Affect As Many As 400 Employees
In its bid to shrink the
number of FAA regional offices from nine down to three, the
agency's Air Traffic Organization is relocating hundreds of jobs --
and will rely on attrition to weed others out. That poses a big
safety problem, according to the National Air Traffic Controllers
Association, which says it has seen a series of reorganizations,
consolidations, and overall downsizing since the creation of the
ATO.
NATCA representatives tell Aero-News the first wave of personnel
shifts -- what NATCA deems "attacks" -- will hit six major cities:
Anchorage, Boston, Chicago, Kansas City, Los Angeles and New York.
Overall, as many as 400 employees could be affected.
"Inadequate air traffic controller staffing has been a problem
for years; now they are attacking jobs that include air traffic
support staff, engineers, and contract officers," said NATCA
President John Carr. "It is going to result in a system that is
less safe, less efficient and less responsive to the needs of the
National Airspace System."
In Boston, for example, NATCA says the FAA plans to relocating
the regional program manager responsible for the new Airport
Surface Detection Equipment, model X radar at Logan International
Airport -- to Atlanta. Meanwhile, airport integration engineers and
operations liaisons who work closely with local FAA and airport
authority employees in Chicago on the expansion of O’Hare
International Airport are to be relocated to Fort Worth, TX.
NATCA says they aren't the only ones protesting the move --
congressional opposition to the FAA’s relocation plan has
been swift, as well.
California congresswoman Maxine Waters wrote a letter to FAA
Administrator Marion Blakey over planned changes at the Los Angeles
regional office. "There is no operational or fiscal justification
for this transfer," Waters wrote. "This ill-advised realignment
will be bad for aviation customers, bad for safety, and bad for the
Los Angeles Regional Office employees."
The agency’s actions have also prompted Congressional
inquiries from Illinois and Massachusetts. The Illinois delegation
believes that the move "raises serious questions about the
FAA’s commitment to the success of the modernization process
at O’Hare," according to NATCA.
"This seems like a pennywise, but pound foolish way to cut costs
at the FAA," said Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy about the
relocations. "Not only has air traffic safety been a heightened
issue in our region lately, but our nation is also facing a
dangerous shortage of air traffic controllers in the coming five or
six years. Now is not the time to shuffle the deck and cut
essential staff support."
The FAA's Russ Chew announced the move to close
regional offices around the country -- and consolidate operations
into three offices representing Western, Central, and Eastern areas
-- in an internal memo obtained by
Aero-News last December.