Terms Controller Retirements "An Attrition Tsunami"

Coming off the Tuesday report from DOT's inspector general, NATCA president Patrick Forrey had a Wednesday appointment to speak in Congress. In remarks to the House Subcommittee on Aviation, Forrey appeared to recognize the rhetoric in the union's fight with the FAA may be obscuring an important fact.

He prefaced his discussion of the FAA's failure to address controller attrition with the comment, "...before I get to that portion of my testimony, I wanted to tell the Subcommittee that the men and women I represent are among the most dedicated and professional employees found in government. I worry that sometimes, that fact might get lost on Members of the Subcommittee, because of the focus on our Labor dispute with the Agency."

Forrey then plunged into statistics in support of a controller shortage he warns creates an unacceptable compromise to safety. He noted that while the FAA brags of retaining 3450 trainees between fiscal 2005 and the end of fiscal 2007, only 538 have been fully certified, or about 16 percent.

The NATCA chief says the FAA failed to plan for the retirement wave by hiring only 13 controllers in 2004, then, when contract talks collapsed in 2006, followed up with imposed work rules he blames for, quote - "...an attrition tsunami that has seen nearly 2,700 controllers and trainees leave the system since."

Forrey told lawmakers it's no coincidence that delays, near misses, and runway incursions have all increased as the number of controllers has diminished. He proposed four steps to stem what he calls a crisis.

"First, the FAA and NATCA must return to the bargaining table to complete contract negotiations," Forrey said. "Doing so will help to retain the veteran controllers... responsible for on-the-job training that turns a trainee into a certified controller...their retention is essential to maintaining safe operation of the system.

"Second, the FAA must work with NATCA and the National Academy of Sciences, or another independent third party, to not only re-establish scientifically-based staffing ranges for each facility, but also to establish concrete limits on trainee ratios...

"Third, standardized training must continue to be the foundation... The FAA must stop issuing blanket waivers on training to chronically understaffed facilities.

"Finally, in order to avoid such crises in the future, the FAA must work collaboratively and cooperatively with NATCA, on all issues affecting air traffic controllers or their operations."

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