Post by TCU 2U2 on Feb 20, 2013 6:54:02 GMT -5
posted from stuckmic.com
Sequestration
As previously reported the non-discretionary, mandated government-wide cuts known as sequestration are set to take effect on March 1st if there is not another agreement in place on the mandated debt reduction of $85 billion. The FAA will be forced to cut $483 million – 5% - from the ops budget (other budgets lines will also take the 5% cuts). Being that more than 90% of the operations budget is employees, in order to meet the cuts, the FAA is expecting to institute across the board rolling furloughs for the remainder of the fiscal year. Unlike previous furloughs we do not expect that any furloughs will be repaid, as this one is not a lapse in appropriations or authorization but rather a “save money” furlough. In addition to the furloughs we expect we may also see the following:
§ reduction in facility operating hours and services,
§ the potential cancellation of annual leave
§ training delays
§ a hiring freeze
§ a host of yet-to-be-determined cost-saving measures that would also have a dramatic impact on our workforce.
Last week we completed negotiations on a furlough policy MOU that speaks in broad terms to the furlough process and addresses concerns we had with the agency's policy (EMP 1.27) regarding furloughs. We are working on an associated Q&A for this MOU.
Along with that MOU we are in the process of negotiating implementation MOUs for affected employees within the ATO and other lines of business, which will provide the facreps with the framework for dealing with the logistics of actually implementing the furlough days at the local/office level. These MOUs will likely have an associated Q&A. We are working to have the MOUs completed by the end of this week. If we are really lucky we will never have to use any of it.
We believe that March 1st will come without an agreement but the effects will not be felt until April as the FAA has notification obligations to its workforce before scheduling “save money” furloughs. The soonest anyone will have to take a furlough day would be the pay period beginning April 7th. We hope that by then the Congress will have an agreement in place as they are also have the current Continuing Resolution (spending bill) expiring on March 27th. If they don’t agree on another spending bill by then the government will shut down due to a lack of appropriations. So while March 1st is the date the sequester will go into effect the March 27th deadline has become the backstop for the agreements on how they will deal with the debt/deficit by way of spending cuts, revenue, budgets, etc….
While the conversations/divergence on this has been a part of the congressional agenda and our legislative advocacy for the last two years, the effects to the membership, the national airspace and the country are more real than ever before.
We have given briefings on the specific effect to both Senate and House committee staff and leadership. We have also reached out to the aviation industry groups like AOPA, A4A, NBAA, AAAE and AIA to name a few. We are also working with labor organizations (TTD, ALPA, SWAPA, other Federal Labor Unions and also Federal employee associations, etc.).
Since launching our grassroots email campaign last week, approximately 8,000 people have participated, sending a total of 23,500 emails to Congress (one to each Senator and one to their Representative). This may seem like a large response but since we have 15,000 members and represent 20,000 bargaining unit employees, one would expect that with family and friends also participating, our numbers would be much, much higher. This effort takes less than a minute to accomplish. Sending a few emails may not seem like they would have a big impact, but the importance of doing this cannot be overstressed. Congressional staff does bring up the amount of constituent communications they receive when we visit their offices. It is particularly glaring when they tell us they haven’t heard anything from their constituents so the issue must not be that important in their district.
If you have not already participated, please take a minute and send your emails. We have set up a link (below) that will take you to our grassroots network page to make this process very easy. If you have yet to sign up for our grassroots activism network, you will be able to enter your information. If you were previously in the grassroots database, your information should already be populated. Please ensure that information is accurate.
You will then see some background information on this issue and a template email for your review. You can alter the text of the email, if you like, or you can send it as is. It's that simple. Just click 'send' and your members of Congress will receive an email from you. Please note, some of your Congressional members may ask for more information such as your +4 zip code, the prefix for your name (i.e. Mr., Mrs. Ms, etc) or they may ask what general policy area this email pertains to (you should select Transportation). Please make sure that you’ve completed those questions as well or your email will not be sent.
Don’t hesitate to forward this link to your family and friends as well. The more participants we have, the louder our voice will be. This issue is too important and the consequences are too severe to sit on the sidelines and hope this situation works out. Please click on the link below to make our voice heard!
URGENT ACTION ALERT: Sequestration Cuts To Take Effect March 1st. NATCA Needs Your Help ASAP!
In December we released a white paper on the impacts of sequestration and will release a 2nd version this week. Thus far based on our advocacy, our message has resonated and been used:
HILL & WH
o From the White House podium Danny Werfel of the OMB told WH reporters that the sequester will force FAA “to cut resources in a way that’s going to impact the air traffic controller workforce.” He quoted NATCA’s December Sequestration White Paper, noting that controllers could be severely affected by the sequester, though that effect will be less thanks to the tax relief deal in January.
o Congressman Yarmouth (R-KY) on MSNBC
o Appropriations Ranking Member Nita Lowey (D-NY) on MSNBC, CNN and other news outlets was decrying the impact that sequestration will have on aviation.
o Rep. Albio Sires (D-NJ-8), Rep. Janice Hahn (D-CA-44), Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA-1), Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD-8) all spoke on the floor of the House on the issue of sequestration and air traffic controllers.
o Senator Chris Coon (D-DE) spoke out again on the issue at the Senate retreat.
o Numerous members of congress have started asking for our guidance on the impact on aviation for sequester press conference they intend to hold (i.e. Jim Moran & Rosa DeLauro)
o The House Appropriations Committee Democratic Staff also released a report outlining the effects the cuts will have on aviation.
o AND…in January, using figures from NATCA’s December sequestration white paper, the President noted that tens of thousands of federal employees, including air traffic controllers, would be furloughed if sequestration cuts take place.
House Votes to Extend Federal Pay Freeze
Last week the House voted on an extension of the pay freeze for the federal workforce. Prior to the vote, NATCA Government Affairs sent out emails to the hill letting them know of NATCA's objection to the pay freeze and signed on to a Fed-Postal coalition letter opposing the bill. In addition, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) sent multiple Dear Colleague letters objecting to HR 273, including one specifically for our workforce. (All are attached).
Many of our friends in the House had a tough time with this vote, and called us personally to explain why they would be voting for the bill. At the end of the day, because the bill tied federal employ pay to Congress’s pay they had to vote no. We explained that while we understood their difficult predicament, this is a vote that directly hurts our membership. The Senate has no plan to take up this legislation, however we all know this will not be the last time we have to fight this battle.
The Week
Most of the week we were in meetings on the Hill, with Industry and with the FAA on the impacts of sequestration. Paul did fly to NE region to spend a couple of hours with them at their regional meeting and then flew back and forth on Thursday to Costa Mesa to speak with the basic rep class.
Have a great week and more to follow this week or next,
Paul Rinaldi – NATCA President
Trish Gilbert – NATCA EVP
Team Update February 18th
Sequestration
As previously reported the non-discretionary, mandated government-wide cuts known as sequestration are set to take effect on March 1st if there is not another agreement in place on the mandated debt reduction of $85 billion. The FAA will be forced to cut $483 million – 5% - from the ops budget (other budgets lines will also take the 5% cuts). Being that more than 90% of the operations budget is employees, in order to meet the cuts, the FAA is expecting to institute across the board rolling furloughs for the remainder of the fiscal year. Unlike previous furloughs we do not expect that any furloughs will be repaid, as this one is not a lapse in appropriations or authorization but rather a “save money” furlough. In addition to the furloughs we expect we may also see the following:
§ reduction in facility operating hours and services,
§ the potential cancellation of annual leave
§ training delays
§ a hiring freeze
§ a host of yet-to-be-determined cost-saving measures that would also have a dramatic impact on our workforce.
Last week we completed negotiations on a furlough policy MOU that speaks in broad terms to the furlough process and addresses concerns we had with the agency's policy (EMP 1.27) regarding furloughs. We are working on an associated Q&A for this MOU.
Along with that MOU we are in the process of negotiating implementation MOUs for affected employees within the ATO and other lines of business, which will provide the facreps with the framework for dealing with the logistics of actually implementing the furlough days at the local/office level. These MOUs will likely have an associated Q&A. We are working to have the MOUs completed by the end of this week. If we are really lucky we will never have to use any of it.
We believe that March 1st will come without an agreement but the effects will not be felt until April as the FAA has notification obligations to its workforce before scheduling “save money” furloughs. The soonest anyone will have to take a furlough day would be the pay period beginning April 7th. We hope that by then the Congress will have an agreement in place as they are also have the current Continuing Resolution (spending bill) expiring on March 27th. If they don’t agree on another spending bill by then the government will shut down due to a lack of appropriations. So while March 1st is the date the sequester will go into effect the March 27th deadline has become the backstop for the agreements on how they will deal with the debt/deficit by way of spending cuts, revenue, budgets, etc….
While the conversations/divergence on this has been a part of the congressional agenda and our legislative advocacy for the last two years, the effects to the membership, the national airspace and the country are more real than ever before.
We have given briefings on the specific effect to both Senate and House committee staff and leadership. We have also reached out to the aviation industry groups like AOPA, A4A, NBAA, AAAE and AIA to name a few. We are also working with labor organizations (TTD, ALPA, SWAPA, other Federal Labor Unions and also Federal employee associations, etc.).
Since launching our grassroots email campaign last week, approximately 8,000 people have participated, sending a total of 23,500 emails to Congress (one to each Senator and one to their Representative). This may seem like a large response but since we have 15,000 members and represent 20,000 bargaining unit employees, one would expect that with family and friends also participating, our numbers would be much, much higher. This effort takes less than a minute to accomplish. Sending a few emails may not seem like they would have a big impact, but the importance of doing this cannot be overstressed. Congressional staff does bring up the amount of constituent communications they receive when we visit their offices. It is particularly glaring when they tell us they haven’t heard anything from their constituents so the issue must not be that important in their district.
If you have not already participated, please take a minute and send your emails. We have set up a link (below) that will take you to our grassroots network page to make this process very easy. If you have yet to sign up for our grassroots activism network, you will be able to enter your information. If you were previously in the grassroots database, your information should already be populated. Please ensure that information is accurate.
You will then see some background information on this issue and a template email for your review. You can alter the text of the email, if you like, or you can send it as is. It's that simple. Just click 'send' and your members of Congress will receive an email from you. Please note, some of your Congressional members may ask for more information such as your +4 zip code, the prefix for your name (i.e. Mr., Mrs. Ms, etc) or they may ask what general policy area this email pertains to (you should select Transportation). Please make sure that you’ve completed those questions as well or your email will not be sent.
Don’t hesitate to forward this link to your family and friends as well. The more participants we have, the louder our voice will be. This issue is too important and the consequences are too severe to sit on the sidelines and hope this situation works out. Please click on the link below to make our voice heard!
URGENT ACTION ALERT: Sequestration Cuts To Take Effect March 1st. NATCA Needs Your Help ASAP!
In December we released a white paper on the impacts of sequestration and will release a 2nd version this week. Thus far based on our advocacy, our message has resonated and been used:
HILL & WH
o From the White House podium Danny Werfel of the OMB told WH reporters that the sequester will force FAA “to cut resources in a way that’s going to impact the air traffic controller workforce.” He quoted NATCA’s December Sequestration White Paper, noting that controllers could be severely affected by the sequester, though that effect will be less thanks to the tax relief deal in January.
o Congressman Yarmouth (R-KY) on MSNBC
o Appropriations Ranking Member Nita Lowey (D-NY) on MSNBC, CNN and other news outlets was decrying the impact that sequestration will have on aviation.
o Rep. Albio Sires (D-NJ-8), Rep. Janice Hahn (D-CA-44), Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA-1), Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD-8) all spoke on the floor of the House on the issue of sequestration and air traffic controllers.
o Senator Chris Coon (D-DE) spoke out again on the issue at the Senate retreat.
o Numerous members of congress have started asking for our guidance on the impact on aviation for sequester press conference they intend to hold (i.e. Jim Moran & Rosa DeLauro)
o The House Appropriations Committee Democratic Staff also released a report outlining the effects the cuts will have on aviation.
o AND…in January, using figures from NATCA’s December sequestration white paper, the President noted that tens of thousands of federal employees, including air traffic controllers, would be furloughed if sequestration cuts take place.
House Votes to Extend Federal Pay Freeze
Last week the House voted on an extension of the pay freeze for the federal workforce. Prior to the vote, NATCA Government Affairs sent out emails to the hill letting them know of NATCA's objection to the pay freeze and signed on to a Fed-Postal coalition letter opposing the bill. In addition, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) sent multiple Dear Colleague letters objecting to HR 273, including one specifically for our workforce. (All are attached).
Many of our friends in the House had a tough time with this vote, and called us personally to explain why they would be voting for the bill. At the end of the day, because the bill tied federal employ pay to Congress’s pay they had to vote no. We explained that while we understood their difficult predicament, this is a vote that directly hurts our membership. The Senate has no plan to take up this legislation, however we all know this will not be the last time we have to fight this battle.
The Week
Most of the week we were in meetings on the Hill, with Industry and with the FAA on the impacts of sequestration. Paul did fly to NE region to spend a couple of hours with them at their regional meeting and then flew back and forth on Thursday to Costa Mesa to speak with the basic rep class.
Have a great week and more to follow this week or next,
Paul Rinaldi – NATCA President
Trish Gilbert – NATCA EVP
Team Update February 18th