A publication of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Issue link: http://natca.uberflip.com/i/706293
LABOR RELATIONS DEPARTMENT N ATCA SETTLES HEALTH AND WELFARE CONTRIBUTION RATE GRIEVANCE WITH SERCO INC. On July 14, 2016, NATCA and Serco, Inc. executed a settlement agreement resolving the outstanding grievance that NATCA had filed regarding Serco's failure to bargain a new health a nd welfare contribution rate in August of 2 015, for the 2016 fiscal year. Serco has agreed to increase its health and welfare contribution from $4.02 per hour to $4.27 per hour, r etroactive to October 1, 2015. This increase to $4.27 per hour brings Serco's contribution rate in line with the current Service Contract Act Health & Welfare rate mandated by the Departme nt of Labor. Serco has thirty (30) days from the date of settlement to make whole all bargaining unit employees who did not receive the $4.27 per hour rate as of October 1, 2015. POCs: Director of Labor Relations Ryan Smith, Assistant Director of Labor Relations Erina Hammond, Senior Labor Relations Attorney Chris Gant, and Labor Relations Attorney Damien Maree . NATCA LABOR RELATIONS PREPARES FOR FLRA HEARING ON AOV The NATCA Labor Relations Department is preparing for a hearing on August 2, 2016, before the Federal Labor Relations Autho rity (FLRA) in Washington, D.C. The hearing concerns WA - RP - 15 - 0067, a petition filed by the FAA in December of 20 15 seeking to clarify AFSCME's Headquarters bargaining unit, and SF - RP - 16 - 0010, a petition NATCA filed in October of 2015 to represent employees in the field office of the Air Traffic S afety Oversight Service (AOV). The FLRA has consolidated the two matter s because in both, the FLRA is making arguments about the boundaries of AFSCME's Headquarters bargaining uni t. NATCA expects that the hearing will last through August 5, 2016. POCs: Special Counsel to the President Eugene Freedman, Director of Labor Relati ons Ryan Smith, and Assistant Director of Labor Relations Nicole Vitale . VOICE SWITCH HEADSET On July 14, 2016, NATCA was briefed on the Voic e Switch Headset (VSH) program. The VSH project was conceived in 1996 to address operational and logistics support shortfalls related to air traffic controllers' headsets when tone protection was introduced and headset s were standardized. By year 2000, approximately 20,000 headsets were replaced. The primary focus of this current effort is replacement of obso lete head sets and accessories. The FAA will continue to contract with Pla ntronics as it has since 1999. The following models are obsolete and will no longer be supported: H91/H91N monaural "muff" style including noise canceling; H101/H101N binaural "muff" style inc luding noise cancellation; and CA12CD wireless headset base. Changes will not be made to model H31CD, which is used by approximately 80% of the workforce, and model SDS1046, which is infrequently used but applicable to emergency transceivers. Replacement of headsets will be ac complished at the local level. NATCA and the FAA have collaborated extensively on the headset program and will continue with the roll out of the Voice Switch Headset and Handset (VSH) Reference Guide. POCs: Jon Shedden, NATCA NVS and NEXCOM Representative and NATCA Labor Relations Representative Melinda Kim . BRIEFING REQUESTS