NATCA Bookshelf

THE DELEGATE NATCA'S BIENNIAL CONVENTION | APRIL 17-20, 2018 12 In 2017, the series of hurricanes – Harvey, Irma, and Maria – that hit Houston, the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast region, South Florida, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and other parts of the Caribbean devastated millions. Because of these hurricanes – and wildfires that also struck parts of the U.S. last year – hundreds of NATCA members either lost their homes or suffered heavy damage. The rebuilding efforts have taken months in some places and will take years in others. Following these disasters, the NATCA family answered the call to help our sisters and brothers. During the harrowing hours and – in the case of Hurricane Harvey – days when the storms were raging around them, members of NATCA made their profession proud. Aviation played a big part in the rescue and relief effort. The aviation community shined as it rose to the occasion and provided critical assistance. The NATCA Disaster Relief Fund – established in 1992 in the wake of Hurricane Andrew – provides assistance to our members who have experienced catastrophic losses of property and helps provide a lifeline during those most desperate times. Since September 2017, the NATCA Disaster Relief Fund has distributed more than $130,000. Nearly 150 members have received $104,000 from the Fund, and more than $28,000 of the Fund was spent to purchase supplies. NATCA has worked to raise money to make these donations possible. Since September 2017, NATCA has received a total of $101,980 for its Disaster Relief Fund. That has come through a combination of donations via a GoFundMe campaign, checks, and voluntary deduction from members' Federal Aviation Administration paychecks. The Fund needs to keep growing. To sign up for voluntary deduction, please go to: natca.org/ disasterreliefform. ✪ NATCA is a diverse union made up of aviation safety professionals in many different workspaces and with many different roles, all contributing to the safety and efficiency of the National Airspace System (NAS). Most of NATCA's members are employed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), but we also represent controllers and other safety professionals employed by the Department of Defense and the four companies within the FAA's Federal Contract Tower (FCT) Program: Robinson Aviation, Inc. (RVA); RVA- CI-Squared Aviation, Inc.; Midwest Air Traffic Control Service, Inc.; and Serco, Inc. Today, we proudly represent hundreds of NATCA brothers and sisters across 100 NATCA FCTs, but the road to representing these towers was not always smooth. In 1993, the FAA contracted out 115 Level 1 towers. In response, NATCA sued the FAA and vigorously opposed that decision through various levels of litigation. During this protracted legal battle, NATCA argued that ATC work was an "inherently governmental function" and that the FAA had not followed the legal process for contracting it out. More than 17 years later, the final decision was issued by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. NATCA had fought the good fight but had lost. By that time, the FAA's FCT program was well established and the world had undergone a major shift in how other countries operated and funded their ATC systems. ATC services had been legally and resoundingly deemed not "inherently governmental." Despite the ongoing litigation and its ultimate outcome, NATCA began focused organizing efforts aimed at all FCTs in the mid-1990s. We firmly believe that all employees who operate and safeguard the NAS deserve strong and steadfast representation, regardless of their employer. Today, there are over 250 towers across 46 states in the FCT program. In March, NATCA chartered its 100th FCT local at Renton, Wash. (RNT), which is operated by Serco, Inc. NATCA is proud to represent all of our members at these 100 FCTs and will continue to aggressively organize all unrepresented FCTs across the NAS. ✪ SPOTLIGHT: DISASTER RELIEF EFFORTS SPOTLIGHT: FEDERAL CONTRACT TOWERS

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