NATCA Bookshelf

OVERVIEW National Air Traffic Controllers Association | www.natca.org NiW Today 1 Welcome To those of you attending for the first time, thank you for stepping up to be part of this significant event. To our returning activists, we are deeply grateful for your continued leadership and commitment to advancing our Union's legislative priorities on Capitol Hill. Since we last gathered, we have secured significant legislative victories that directly protect our profession, our benefits, and the future of federal employees. Through the tireless work of our National Legislative Committee, NATCA activists across the country, our Government Affairs team, and others on our national office staff, we successfully fought back a series of harmful proposals during the federal budget reconciliation process that would have undermined federal employees and their unions. We protected the integrity of the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) program by preventing an increase in the share of premium contributions paid by employees. We also defeated multiple proposed changes to the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) that would have unfairly shifted costs onto the workforce. Among those victories: n A proposed 4.4% FERS contribution rate for all federal employees — We first secured an exemption for air traffic controllers, then worked with allies to defeat the provision entirely. n A proposed 15.6% FERS contribution rate for newly hired employees — Again, we protected ATCs first and ultimately helped defeat it for all federal employees. n A proposed elimination of the supplemental annuity — We ensured controllers were exempted and then defeated the proposal outright. n A change from a High-3 to High-5 average salary calculation for retirement benefits — successfully blocked after initially protecting ATCs. n A proposal to impose at-will status or an additional 5% FERS contribution increase on newly hired employees — first stopped for ATCs, then for all feds. In addition, we defeated proposals that would have imposed a filing fee for Merit System Protection Board appeals, charged unions for the use of official time and office space, and taxed union dues and federal employees' charitable contributions. These were direct attacks on federal workers and organized labor — and together, we stopped them. We also continued educating Congress on the harmful effects of the recent government shutdown on aviation safety and the National Airspace System. Our advocacy helped move lawmakers toward ending the 43-day shutdown and worked to minimize the Jan. 31 shutdown to just four days — reinforcing that aviation safety professionals must never again be used as leverage in political disputes. Several members of Congress told us that they voted to end the shutdown specifically because of the advocacy of the air traffic controllers and other aviation safety professionals NATCA represents. At the same time, we have advanced forward-looking legislation to strengthen safety and support our workforce. The Mental Health in Aviation Act of 2025 has passed the House and is gaining momentum in the Senate. This important bill would improve the special issuance medical process, allowing controllers to regain their medical clearances more efficiently while maintaining the highest safety standards. Nick.Daniels. President Mick.Devine Executive Vice President Welcome to NATCA in Washington 2026!

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