Everyone please read and comply!

[Say Again Over]

MK,

Can you tell us what an average controller is making at a halfway busy facility, what type of improvements to the contract are you looking for, just curious.

 

[Lrjtcaptain]

looking at ATC pay Bands
an average controller salary in a moderate facilty would be about 94,000 a year....

We aren't looking for more money, the faa is trying to slash them, get rid of controller incentive pay to live in hard to staff areas like california which are areas that are so dang expensive to begin with. Kind of hard to justify someone living in Iowa or someplace that has good housing prices to make the same amount as someone stuck in california working the same amount of traffic.

get rid of controller in charge pay which pay's 10% per hour for a controller to be in charge and act as a supervisor. Take care of the paper work in case of an incident or accident, monitor positions, spot for controllers and basically run the show and do everything a sup would do.

Doesn't make sense...Alaska enroute has 1 supervisor to every 3 controllers. thats a major cost for the FAA.....hire more controllers, less supervisors.

The budget cuts by the FAA has cost the system alot longterm. ASDE-X was cancelled which was a replacement to the outdated ASDE. STARS was cancelled as a replacement for ARTS.....we are using 1970s technology....They basically don't want to pay for anything. Ghost targets are showing up nation wide and planes are dissappearing off the scopes....We want all of this fixed....

FAA wants to not pay for anything basically...What the long term goal is to turn it into one big business and contract it all....Towers, Tracons, and centers...the first to go will be towers and oceanic sectors of the enroute....Anyone who flys overseas knows the FAA's controllers are on there game compared to the contract work force....We need to make improvements...keep it government, replace the outdated technolgy.

My pay will not decrease regardless...however long term impacts will be felt. IF the current contract is instated, thousands of controllers will retire immediatly and the impact will be severe. I can't think of one facilty in the country that has adequate staffing numbers and its only going to get worse...It may seem the FAA is hiring like they said they would, but the last 2 years, anyone hired has gone to a center. Towers and tracons are loosing people every week. The new hire pay band will be so low that we don't think too many people will accept it and take the job. Moral is low, managers and supervisors are basically making our lives hell. They are sending out the inspector generalls nationwide to sit infront of facility's and monitor people leaving early which I can understand...pay us for 8 we work 8, but we are adults...and they are babysitting us. We are scared as hell to sign or fill anything out becuase one discrepency can get you fired. They are looking for a way to fire anyone anytime. A controller got fired for insubordination 1 day before his retirement....Where is the justification there? The FAA hates me and every other controller out there. We show up, we separate planes and we are constintly harrassed by the bigwigs. Its a hostile enviornment and the public needs to be aware. WE WANT JANE GARVEY BACK AND WE ALSO WANT A DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS! I'm an adult, so treat me like one!

 

[unreal]

I'm glad that people are taking action, especially on this board. I'm a CTI student at the moment, graduating in May.

The new hire pay band will be so low that we don't think too many people will accept it and take the job.

Very true. If this new contract is imposed, I won't accept an offer for employment. I'd absolutely love to become a controller, but I won't do it for the pay that the FAA is proposing. And trust me, I know many others who will decline the job offer if this goes into effect.

It's sad, really. Low morale is even extending into CTI schools. Most of us are scrambling to put our backup plans in motion. I know guys who are starting to apply for MBA school, and I've been personally getting my pilot resume up to date and sent out.

It's looking bad, but let's hope that Congress acts.

 

[Lrjtcaptain]

yeap, im getting my resume together too, id rather be flying then dealing with this crap and the women is doing the same thing.....she is getting her resume together....funny, i ended up controlling cause it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. AFter 9/11 i figured the airlines are hurting, pay is down, lets go do this and be home everynight. The way I get treated here, Id have more respect for myself and my employer and myself if i was right seat at mesa.....and we all know how bad that is.

MK

 

[Hold West]

I'm glad that people are taking action, especially on this board. I'm a CTI student at the moment, graduating in May.



Very true. If this new contract is imposed, I won't accept an offer for employment. I'd absolutely love to become a controller, but I won't do it for the pay that the FAA is proposing. And trust me, I know many others who will decline the job offer if this goes into effect.

It's sad, really. Low morale is even extending into CTI schools. Most of us are scrambling to put our backup plans in motion. I know guys who are starting to apply for MBA school, and I've been personally getting my pilot resume up to date and sent out.

It's looking bad, but let's hope that Congress acts.

Thanks for starting this thread, Lrjtcaptain. Everyone who would support aviation in the US, please visit http://www.fairfaa.com and follow the instructions to notify you Congress that you support giving controllers a fair shake. That's all we're asking is a fair shake. Rather than allowing the FAA to declare impasse (which they have) and unilaterally implement their desired work rules, we want to go to binding arbitration after impasse.

As to what we want, our opening salvo was a 5% across the board pay raise and a 7 hour workday. That went away quickly, as all opening negotiation positions do. Our final pay offer was a 10% cut in the top of our pay bands, and a 3% reduction at the bottom. That coupled with the retirement of thousands of higher-paid employees over the next 5 years would save the FAA 1.4 billion dollars over the life of the contract. But that wasn't enough for them.

The tough part for the system will be when we all retire as fast as we can (22 months for me, but who's counting) and the FAA's inability to hire new controllers at an acceptable pace and train them appropriately comes home to roost.

Good luck to all of us.

 

[BREN747]

Lrjtcaptain count me in on such a worthy cause, painless straight forward process, and mine has been sent.. Be Blessed

 

[JetPilot500]

yeap, im getting my resume together too, id rather be flying then dealing with this crap and the women is doing the same thing.....she is getting her resume together....funny, i ended up controlling cause it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. AFter 9/11 i figured the airlines are hurting, pay is down, lets go do this and be home everynight. The way I get treated here, Id have more respect for myself and my employer and myself if i was right seat at mesa.....and we all know how bad that is.

MK

It is the same story everywhere! Companies (or the government) are trying to squeeze workers as much as they can. This process will continue.

Businesses are trying to reduce spending as much as possible to remain competitive. I am a pilot, however my company is not an aviation business. With all the low cost widgets coming from our worldwide competitors, we are forced to look for new ways to lower our costs just to survive as a company.

Something big is gonna have to change in this world, because eventually, companies will not be able to tighten their belts any further. And workers will not have anything left to give up. If workers have to give up too much, we will have to stop spending. And if we stop spending, our economy goes down the tubes.

Even with the FAA, they are being squeezed with how much tax money (revenue) they are allocated. There is not an endless supply of money going their way. Ok, so you say, just raise taxes. However, in the big picture, that only reduces the spending money of Americans even further which hurts the whole economy.

There are many pieces to the puzzle.

I'm not saying CEO's and the Government are right (or wrong). There are plenty of inequities. However, we all need to try and see both sides of the problems.

JetPilot500