A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/617391
LABOR RELATIONS DEPARTMENT AOV REPRESENTATION HEARING POSTPONED NATCA had been scheduled to participate in a representation hearing before the Federal Labor Relations Authority on Dec . 16, 2015, regarding issues raised by NATCA's recent petition to represent a new bargaining unit o f employees within the Air Traffic S afety Oversight Service (AOV). NATCA's petition seeks to represent the employees in AOV - 200, who work in field offices in Renton, Washington; College Park, G eorgia; and Fort Worth, Texas. On Dec . 8, 2015, only a week before the pre - hearing conference, the FAA filed a motion to postpone the hearing, alleging that its key witness was unavailable. NATCA filed an opposition to the motion, arguing that the FAA knew or should have known about the scheduling conflict long bef ore December 8, 2015, and further arguing that the FAA's eleventh - hour effort to delay the petition was calculated to unnecessarily delay the resolution of NATCA's petition. The Authority granted the FAA's motion to postpone the hearing on Dec . 10, 2015, and ordered that the hearing be rescheduled for Feb . 3, 2016. NATCA POCs: NOC Chairman John Bratcher, NOC Committee Member Torrey Reich, Special Counsel to the President Eugene Freedman, Director of Labor Relations Ryan Smith, and Labor Relation s Attorney Nicole Vitale . OPM SF - 312 The Agency briefed NATCA on OPM SF - 312, Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement, on December 8, 2015. NATCA had filed a grievance on the use of this form on November 9, 2015, alleging that the Agency had begun u sing this form without notif ying or negotiating with NATCA. During the briefing, the Agency stated that SF - 312 is an OPM - created form that the Agency has been using since July of 2013. Employees must sign one part of SF - 312 when they initially obtain the ir security clearances. They sign the second portion of the form when they vacate a position that requires a security clearance, either via retirement or other separation from the FAA or by transferring to another FAA position that does not require a clea rance. Use of the form is req uired by Executive Order 13526. Recently, the FAA became aware that not all FAA facilities were using SF - 312. Some were using FAA 1600.25, a form initia lly created in October of 1968. The requirements are essentially the sa me, but Executive Order 13526 superseded the use of FAA 1600.25 and n ow requires the use of SF - 312. To the FAA's knowledge, all FAA facili ties now use the correct form. This issue initially arose because certain employees were asked to sign SF - 312's port ion on "Security Debriefment Ack nowledgement" upon retirement. These employees did not sign SF - 312 when they initially received their security clearances and were thus enti rely unfamiliar with this form. NATCA POCs: Phil Barbarello, Eastern Regional Vice President Dean Iacopelli, Southwest Regional Vice President Andrew LeBovidge, and Labor Relations Attorney Nicole Vitale . BRIEFING REQUESTS On December 15, 2015 , NATCA requested a briefing on the FAA 's Federal Housing Guidelines. We are currently waiting for a response from the Agency regarding our request. NATCA POCs: Labor Relations Attorney Greg Shoemaker, Labor Relations Attorney Suzanne DeFelice, and Labor Rela tions Coordinator Kendal Manson.