Attempts by acting FAA administrator Robert Sturgell to strike a new labor accord with the air traffic controllers union were not welcomed by the head of the organization.
Sturgell recently sent National Air Traffic Controllers Association President Patrick Forrey a letter that addressed controller pay rates.
But the overture did little to sway Forrey who says, “We have a right to a negotiated, ratifiable agreement.”
NATCA for more than a year has been trying to reverse a contract that FAA imposed on the union in September 2006 after negotiations collapsed. An existing law allowed FAA to force those changes after a 60-day Congressional review ended without modification to the administration’s contract proposal.
Language included in the FAA reauthorization approved by the US House of Representatives in September 2007 would require FAA to resume negotiations with NATCA.
The US Senate has not voted on its version of the bill, which includes language that would prohibit FAA from using the existing law in future contract talks, a NATCA spokesman explains.
Despite the differing language in each version of the FAA reauthorization bill proposed by the two chambers of Congress, NATCA is eager for a Senate vote so the legislation moves to conference.
The union’s spokesman notes moving the bill in conference could provide NATCA the opportunity to have its preferred language included.
FAA was not immediately available for comment.
Source: flightglobal.com's sister premium news site Air Transport Intelligence news
Source: FlightGlobal.com
