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Dear All,
Are we having fun yet? (Correct answer: You bet your sweet ass we are!)
Below you will find a fun letter to management in compliance with Article 2. You may add, delete, modify, discard, or just ball it up and throw it at your pinhead manager. Whatever you do, though.......don't forget to make a designation in writing to your manager. If we're asking THEM to abide by the contract, we should, too.
"Dear Manager,
In an attempt to administer the new collective bargaining agreement with trust, honor and integrity, I am writing you this letter in order to comply with Article 2, Section 3.
Principal Representative: _______________ Principal Representative designee: ______________
As I'm sure you are aware, the two individuals identified above are the only individuals authorized to deal with you or your designee. In accordance with Section 9 of Article 2, I must insist that you not meet or deal with any other Union official.
Additionally, you may consider the following designations to stand in full force and effect until recinded by me in writing:
Crew A: _______________ Crew B: ______________ etc. etc.
These individuals will serve as tour representatives during any given tour of duty, and are the only representatives authorized by me to meet and deal with first line supervisors. In the event that one of these representatives elects to designate an alternate in accordance with Article 2, Section 3, said representative shall make such designation known to the afffected supervisors. Again, I must ask you to insure that your management team is fully cognizant of their responsibilites under the NATCA/FAA Agreement of September, 1998, and further ask you to insure that they do not meet or deal with any other union official.
Please consider this letter a continuing request for additional representation in accordance with Article 2, Section 5. During any meeting between you or any of your designees and me or any of my designees, the individuals identified as union representatives shall be accompanied by one (1) other representative. It is my sincere hope and desire that this correspondence will give you the advance notice necessary in order to insure that this contract provision can be applied with minimum impact on our facility.
As I'm sure you are aware, Article 2, Section 17 contains the precise language which must be followed with respect to official time. I would like to meet with you at your earliest possible convenience to discuss the scheduling of this time, and procedures we will use in the event I elect to avail myself of the opportunity to designate said time.
The official time contained in this Article is granted "to prepare for meetings with Management and perform other representational duties." It is not for meetings with you. Additionally, the official time contained in this Article is "exclusive of time provided for by the Federal Service Labor- Management Relations Statute and other provisions of this Agreement."
In order that there be no misunderstanding, I would like to state for the record some examples of that very simple language:
-->Meetings with you are not covered under Section 17, they are covered in "other provisions of the Agreement", to wit Article 2 Section 10. -->Meetings with new facility employees are not covered under Section 17, they are covered in "other provisions of the Agreement", to wit Article 2 Section 14. -->Article 7 negotiations are not covered under Section 17, they are covered by the Federal Service Labor Management Relations Statute. -->Presentation of grievances are not covered under Section 17, they are covered in "other provisions of the Agreement", to wit Article 9, Section 8 Step 1. -->Preparation and presentation of answers in discipline cases are not covered under Section 17, they are covered in "other provisions of the Agreement", to wit Article 10, Section 10. -->Furlough response preparation is not covered by Section 17, it is covered in "other provisions of the Agreement", to wit Article 10 Section 11. -->Operational error investigations and representation are not covered under Section 17, they are covered in "other provisions of the Agreement", to wit Article 64, Section 9.
In summary, there are many, many references to official and/or duty time in the Agreement. The negotiating teams were very clear at the table and the bargaining history reflects the fact that the terms, "official time" and "duty time" are interchangeable. Each and every reference which is not contained in Section 17 is exclusive of Section 17 time. I believe it is in our best interests that you develop a system for tracking Section 17 time, and insuring that other time is not counted against it. I look forward to your correspondence on tracking this time, so that we may open negotiations on it.
Mr. ___________ serve's as NATCA Local ______'s designee on matters relating to the schedule. Mr. _________'s duties fall under the perview of Article 2, Section 22. Mr. _____________ will require eight (8) hours of duty time per month in order to continue his Agency sponsored duties. Please advise me at your earliest convenience as to whether or not you will be able go grant Mr. ________ this time. In the event that you are not, you may consider Mr. _________'s participation terminated effective immediately. Mr.________, Mrs.___________, and Ms.____________ serve this facility on the local weenie-rubbing team. While their meetings have been conducted on duty time, they have received no time to prepare for these meetings. In accordance with Article 2, Section 22, I request and require that Mr._________, Mrs.____________ and Ms.___________ be granted two hours of duty time immediately preceeding each of the local weenie-rubbing team's meetings in order to prepare. In the event that you are not able to provide this time, please consider these Union designee's participation terminated effective immediately.
In a nutshell, Mr. Manager, anyone who is currently serving in any capacity which falls under Article 2, Section 22 must be provided time not only to meet but also to prepare. I will entertain any offers you have on this subject, however it is important that this point be crystal clear: In the event that you are unable to provide duty time as I have described, you may consider that individual's designation and therefore participation terminated immediately. All issues previously handled by said individual(s) will revert to me, and all negotiations on those subjects will vest themselves with me for processing in accordance with Article 7 and the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute.
In closing, I would like to direct your attention to Article 6, Section 3 of the new NATCA/FAA Agreement. This section is grounded in federal law, and is one of the bedrocks upon which federal sector unionism stands. This section is also wholly non-negotiable, and not subject to interpretation. As I'm sure you know, there have been many instances of abuse concerning this section by agents of management acting on your behalf. Whether in the halls or in the operational quarters, supervisors are engaging bargaining unit members in formal discussions ranging from pay and benefits to parking, hours of work and credit hour policies.
I request that you insure that your management team is aware of their responsibilities under federal law, and I require that they cease and desist from their illegal conduct immediately. Failure to comply with this contract provision will result in an Unfair Labor Practice being filed against this Agency, and against you and the offending supervisors as agents of management.
Mr. __________, we have much work to do. The new collective bargaining agreement is specifically designed to IMPROVE WORKING CONDITIONS FOR AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS. It says so, right in the front. And as the exclusive representative for air traffic controllers as certified by the Federal Labor Relations Authority, the final analysis as to whether or not something improves working conditions for air traffic controllers in THIS facility falls upon...........ME.
I will work WITH you when your spirit matches the agreement, and I will fight you with every means at my disposal when your spirit does not. This process can be enjoyable and productive, or it can be painful and laborious. The choice is yours.
If you have any questions concerning this correspondence, please do not hesitate to contact me so that we may schedule a mutually agreeable time in which to deal with them.
Sincerely,
Joe Facrep
Facility Representative
NATCA Local XXX
Try this one on for size:
Mr ATM,
This correspondence further clarifies my position with respect to the delegation of official time for Mr. BUM.
While researching this subject I discovered that the Agency attempted to include training, briefings, details, customer liason, and other activities associated with the National Airspace System in their definition of "Operational Requirements." The Agency's submission of these terms was included in their second counter-proposal on the subject definition.
The Agency was unable to secure these terms. In point of fact, the Agency agreed to the Union's second submission on the subject, and the language agreed upon by the parties appears in the NATCA/FAA Agreement of September, 1998.
As I'm sure you are aware, arbitrators have long held that a party cannot achieve through arbitration that which they voluntarily gave up during collective bargaining. It is the Union's position that the Agency voluntarily forfieted these terms for purposes relating to the definition of "operational requirements."
I hasten to add that my research on this subject has further disclosed that the parties neither contemplated nor discussed sick leave or annual leave in any way, shape, form or fashion with respect to the term, "operational requirements." As a matter of fact, I have it on very good authority that both negotiating teams were adamant that this "term of art" be very narrowly defined, in order to prevent the misconceptions, confusion and abuse which have been associated with it in the past. It is precisely for these reasons that the parties undertook to define the term, and for precisely these reasons that the term we now use is so narrowly defined.
The definition we will be working with for the next four years, ten months and twenty days is clear and unambiguous. The definition we will be working with does NOT include sick leave, annual leave, blood leave, court leave, military leave, home leave, snow leave, training, details, Operation Raincheck, Combined Federal Campaign drives, or any other project, program or function which is not "necessary to sequence and separate air traffic, provide aviation information, navigation assistance, and landing information."
Mr. ATM, I have carefully designated my official time on a weekend day in an attempt to minimize impact to this facility, and my designee has asked for annual leave in order to fulfill his responsibilities. The bargaining unit members you and I jointly represent deserve your cooperation in this regard. I urge you to approve Mr. BUM's contractually-provided and statutorily protected representational time forthwith, and I request that you find it in your heart to approve his request for annual leave as well.
Read the Preamble, Mr. ATM, and do the right thing. Trust. Honor. Integrity. Your employees are counting on you.
Sincerely,
Joe Facrep
Facility Representative
NATCA Local XXX
Hand letter to the ATM, and post on bulletin
board. If he approves it, find and dandy. Everbody wins, him
included.
If he doesn't, nuke him: Grievance on the leave, ULP on the rep
time, and an information request on each.
Good Luck.
XXXOOO,
JTB
