FAA Questions Magnitude Of Those Issues

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association told ANN this week three more air traffic controller trainees have resigned from the Oakland Air Route Traffic Control Center in Northern California over the past week, bringing the total number who have quit to 14 in the past year. In a normal year, there are only one or two resignations at this facility, according to the controllers union.

ANN has reported extensively on the contentious battle between controllers represented by NATCA and their employer, over pay and benefits since the FAA imposed a new contract last June, following several months of fruitless negotiations and the FAA's declaration of an impasse.

NATCA states there are currently 161 fully certified controllers on staff at Oakland ARTCC (ZOA), which the union asserts is 98 short of staffing levels established by the FAA and NATCA in 1998. That total is also short of the absolute minimum of 175 controllers called for by updated numbers the FAA released in March... numbers the union claims were put in place without formal study, or justification.

FAA Western Region spokesman Ian Gregor tells ANN that right off the bat, "NATCA is wrong." He says there are actually 171 certified controllers at Oakland, as well as 94 "developmentals" (trainees.) Of those controllers in training, 59 are certified to conduct at least some air traffic control operations, as part of ongoing training.

Gregor also questions the true magnitude of staffing problems at Oakland Center.

"I don't think it's anything unusual," Gregor said. "We expected a wave of controller retirements, as those hired after the PATCO firings in 1981 become eligible. We have a plan in place to handle that."

As for that plan, Gregor concedes it isn't SOP to have 100 developmentals onboard at a facility... but says given the high number of trainees, it's to be expected that some will leave the program. "The number NATCA claims have left -- 14 -- still represents close to a 90 percent success rate," he notes. (NATCA also notes another six people have failed the training program.)

NATCA says Oakland Center has lost a total of 32 controllers and trainees since the FAA imposed work rules, including five experienced controller retirements and seven controllers who left their positions to take FAA supervisor jobs at the facility.

Despite those numbers, Gregor says the staffing situation at Oakland isn't cause for alarm.

"Controllers [at Oakland] do not generally work overtime or six-day weeks, other than for training purposes," Gregor says. "They are also using all of their annual leave; when someone requests a vacation, it isn't denied. This shows we've staffed properly."

As with almost any labor situation, the big question seems to come down pay... and NATCA says trainees who chose to quit the program are citing that as the main reason for exiting, stage right.

"I have been at Oakland Center since September 2006. It is one year later, and I am still at the same salary that I came in at," said trainee Douglas Ridgeway. "I am also making almost $1,000 a month less than I was when I made the decision to separate from the Air Force. ... I sought a career in the FAA so I could make good money and not have to live paycheck to paycheck. Not so I could go into debt."

Ridgeway, who had six years experience working radar control in the military, was "cruising through the training program," in the words of Oakland Center NATCA Facility Representative Scott Conde. "He is now leaving the FAA to go to work for a contractor in Afghanistan."

A husband and wife also resigned from Oakland ARTCC last week, according to NATCA. They also cited pay.

"The FAA has been a long time dream job of mine, and has turned out to be WAY less then I expected," said Patricia Murgatroyd, who along with her husband, Joseph, chose to leave the training program. "The pay is way less than I was originally offered. The management can’t seem to answer questions asked of them. Nobody seems to know the answer to anything except for the controllers who know how to do their jobs, and they are the ones getting the short end of the stick."

Murgatroyd also said O/T remains a problem at Oakland ARTCC, contrary to Gregor's assertions.

"There is so much overtime available and everyone keeps taking their name off the list because if you are on the list you only get one day a week off every week," she said. "People are being pushed through training either way to fast or not getting any training at all. Either case isn’t very safe.

"I love air traffic control and hope to one day to be able to return to the FAA if things ever get better; if the FAA ever realizes that it cannot function without the air traffic controllers and that not just anybody can be an air traffic controller."

Gregor doesn't argue controllers are making less to start than they used to... but he says trainees knew what they signed on for from the start.

"People enter this job with their eyes wide open," he told ANN. "The pay isn't a secret. We made it clear for the better part of a year what we intended to do with pay, to bring it more in-line with other government positions.

"We're not seeing anything particularly unusual in the ZOA training program attrition rate, and that we're confident that we're training the right number of controllers to replace the controllers that we expect will retire or move to other facilities in coming years," Gregor added.

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