The Professional
Airways Systems Specialists (PASS) has reacted to the FAA's
'unwarranted filing of an unfair labor practice charge against the
union in connection with negotiations over a new contract for
employees in the Air Traffic Organization (ATO) technical
operations bargaining unit. The union characterized the FAA's
action as a misguided attempt to undermine the contract
ratification process, which is central to the PASS's commitment to
union democracy.'
"What we are seeing is the beginning of an FAA propaganda
campaign to misinform and intimidate PASS members," said Tom
Brantley, PASS national president.
"The filing of the frivolous charge is not meant to bolster the
agency's case because, in reality, it has no case. The FAA is doing
everything it can to contaminate the ratification process with
untrue claims that PASS is somehow acting inappropriately. The
agency's statements are intended to turn employees against the
union. With such intentionally deceptive information coming from
the FAA, PASS feels that it is necessary to refute the agency's
claims in detail."
PASS asserts the following are factual responses to some of the
FAA's erroneous statements:
FAA Fiction: "PASS effectively walked away from
the table..."
The Truth: PASS tentatively accepted the
agency's contract offer, thereby concluding negotiations, at which
point both parties walked away from the table.
FAA Fiction: "The FAA once again reiterated its
position that it wants to continue the negotiations in an effort to
reach a fair, voluntary agreement."
The Truth: The FAA made this claim on Thursday,
March 30. On Monday, April 4, the agency's chief negotiator agreed
to meet with PASS's chief negotiator to "sign off" on the remaining
articles. Under the process, this made the articles "tentatively
agreed upon," which raises the question of why the agency would
finalize contract on articles if it felt PASS was acting in bad
faith.
FAA Fiction:
The FAA claims the reason it filed an unfair labor practice charge
is because PASS failed to negotiate in good faith.
The Truth: The tentative mutual agreement
between FAA and PASS, signed by both parties' negotiators, makes
this claim absolutely untrue.
PASS represents more than 11,000 employees of the Federal
Aviation Administration and the Department of Defense who
install, maintain, support and certify air traffic control and
national defense equipment, inspect and oversee the commercial and
general aviation industries, develop flight procedures and perform
quality analyses of the aviation systems.