Deadline For Contract Action Nears

The clock is ticking down to a possible confrontation between the Federal Aviation Administration and air traffic controllers, the likes of which haven't been seen since the early days of Ronald Reagan's presidency (and we all remember how that turned out.)

Monday, June 5, is the deadline for Congress to take action on an impasse between the FAA and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association over its contract talks. Unless lawmakers propose an alternative to the negotiating process before then, the FAA's proposal goes into effect... and that, says NATCA, could lead to one-in-four of the nation's controllers to take early retirement, instead of accepting the new terms.

Throughout the contentious negotiations that eventually led the FAA to declare an impasse April 5, both sides have sniped at each other over controller pay. The FAA has called controllers underproductive and overpaid -- while controllers argue the FAA is looking to cut costs where it can least afford to, on safety.

There are bills in before Congress that, if approved, would extend the deadline by calling for an outside mediator to be called when an impasse is declared... unless Congress comes up with its own compromise settlement.

"If the FAA gets to implement its last offer, the incentive is not there at the bargaining table for it to reach an agreement. It's a very unfair process," said Illinois Rep. Jerry Costello, who along with IL Senator Barack Obama has filed such a bill. "This is about the air traffic control system in the United States; it's about fairness and the safety of the flying public."

Well, it's not ALL About fairness, or safety... politics has its say, too.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that while Costello and his co-author, Rep. Sue Kelly, got 265 house members to back their bill -- more than the 218 required to pass -- House GOP leadership and the administration then began urging the 75 Republicans who gave their support to the bill to back off.

The result? Costello's bill is currently stalled in the House Transportation Committee's aviation panel... and Congress is in recess for the weekend. Which means any agreement will, truly, come at the 11th hour. Monday should be an interesting day. Stay tuned.

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.natca.org