I have to tell you... it's severely depressing working for the FAA right now. You'd think that the organization that used to pride itself on being the world leader in aviation safety would be a place where sheer and utter stupidity didn't ever show up, or if it did that people would immediately take action to fix the situation.
Instead, these days, it seems to be rewarded.
My union, NATCA, doesn't have a contract. Or, more properly, we have a contract with language regarding its expiration that says...
If negotiations are not completed prior to the expiration date, this Agreement shall remain in full force and effect until a new Agreement is reached.
To me (and anyone else, I'm sure) this language seems fairly clear- the present contract (agreement) stays in effect until a new agreement is reached. That would mean that both parties have to AGREE to something new, right?
Not in the FAA's world. Or, more specifically, not in George Bush's FAA. In President King George's FAA, they can just do whatever they want, and they do.
So after reaching impasse in negotiations on a new contract, the FAA has decided that they can simply implement their last, best offer.
Included in this are several changes in working rules and conditions. One of them is a new dress code. Apparently the idiots running the FAA think that an air traffic controller, who the public never sees, will do a better job in "business casual" attire than the controller can do in a comfy pair of jeans and a T-shirt.
How, exactly, "business casual" helps me to vector airplanes, I'm not sure. To be sure, some people dress like absolute slobs, and there is a little something to the theory that a neat, clean, not-slobby appearance will lead to a better working environment... or will it?
Anyway, they're implementing the new rules on September 3rd. On that date, they'll change how we bid vacation time, the dress code, how we bid days off, how we can call in sick, and several other things.
You'd think that with a new set of rules, unilaterally implemented over the strenuous objections of the union, that the FAA would brief the controller work force on the new conditions, wouldn't you?
And they are. Briefings start on September 10th.
Yes, you're reading that correctly. The new rules will be enforced starting on September 3rd, and the workers will be told of the new rules on the 10th.
When it was pointed out to the managers (by both the union representative and management's supervisory workforce) that enforcing rules first, then briefing people on what they are later doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense, the answer was... nothing.
That's not just pathetic; it's almost criminal. And these are the people in charge of ensuring the safety of the flying public?
I'm embarrassed to work for the FAA right now with these tards running the show.