In September 2006, George Bush’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) unfairly exploited a perceived legal loophole and unilaterally imposed work and pay rules on the air traffic control workforce. The FAA abandoned good-faith negotiations, created a false impasse and, when Congress was unable to act quickly enough to stop it, unilaterally implemented the new rules. The imposed work rules put 96 percent of the existing workforce over the maximum of the pay bands and cut pay for new hires by more than 30 percent. It eliminated certain rest periods, removed career advancement opportunities, allowed the revocation of vacation time and ushered in a new management culture that created a deplorable work environment for controllers.
Unsurprisingly, these changes have been accompanied by plummeting morale and have led to a mass exodus of air traffic controllers from the FAA workforce. In fiscal year 2007 and the first half of FY 2008, 2,582 controllers have left due to attrition. While the FAA claims these losses were the natural outgrowth of an aging workforce, the data do not support this statement. Of the 2,582 who left, only 30 controllers—1 percent—had reached their mandatory retirement age, while 343 left the workforce before they were even retirement eligible. Attrition has shattered all FAA predictions, as more and more controllers are leaving as soon as they are able.
Because of this, U.S. skies and runways are being watched by the smallest number of certified controllers in more than 15 years. Controllers who remain are suffering increased fatigue as they are being forced to compensate for understaffing by working six-day weeks and performing duties designed for between two and four individuals while on the job. Lack of experience is also a problem, as the attrition wave took with it a total of more than 40,000 years of experience. Most of those hired as replacements are still in training—it generally takes three to five years to complete air traffic controller training—but are already being relied upon to work traffic.
For the flying public, this has meant excessive delays and a decline in safety. Even the FAA has described a “significant increase in operational errors across the country,” and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and Government Accountability Office (GAO) both have expressed concerns over runway incursions and fatigue. According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 2007 also has seen the lowest airline on-time rate since such statistics were kept, and this year is poised to be even worse. Less-experienced and fatigued controllers are unable to safely process aircraft as efficiently as their well-seasoned or well-rested counterparts, causing an increase in errors and slowing down the system to avoid errors.
The contract negotiations process at the FAA for all of its bargaining units is a situation in need of immediate attention. For example, FAA employees in bargaining units represented by the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS) also are being prevented from participating in a fair process. In the Technical Operations bargaining unit, 98 percent of technicians represented by PASS rejected the FAA’s proposed agreement at the end of 2006, but it remains unclear when the negotiations process will begin again due to legal proceedings initiated by the FAA. Furthermore, negotiations over collective bargaining agreements for other PASS bargaining units covering aviation safety inspectors, flight inspection pilots, procedures development specialists and airborne technicians have been at impasse for over five years. In another example, headquarters FAA bargaining unit employees, represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), have been without a collective bargaining agreement since early 2001 when the agency refused to sign an agreement that had been reached by the parties’ negotiators and ratified by the employees. They are currently in mediation in a second attempt to reach a contract.
The president and Congress should act immediately to prevent further deterioration of this vital piece of American infrastructure. They must curb the attrition of experienced FAA employees by taking steps to restore fairness in FAA labor-management relations. It should be a priority of this Congress to include, on any moving piece of legislation, language that would require the FAA to return to the bargaining table to negotiate in good faith with the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) and submit to neutral, binding arbitration in the event of an impasse. To protect the safety of the aviation system, an overarching change must be made in order to allow all FAA bargaining units to participate in an equitable contract negotiations process.