NATCA Bookshelf

THE DELEGATE NATCA'S BIENNIAL CONVENTION | APRIL 17-20, 2018 13 1989 The initial collective bargaining agreement between NATCA and the FAA for the air traffic controller unit is silent as to seniority. In practice, seniority is negotiated at the local level between the NATCA facility representative and the manager at each facility. 1993 Article 83 of a new collective bargaining agreement between NATCA and the FAA for the air traffic controller unit gives NATCA full authority to define seniority for bargaining unit employees: "[S]eniority will be determined by the Union at the local level." 1996 At the NATCA Convention in Pittsburgh, Resolution 96-062 is adopted and establishes a national seniority policy. This policy becomes Section G of the 1996 NATCA By-Laws. The new national seniority policy: (1) defines seniority as "NATCA Bargaining Unit Time;" (2) establishes a first tie breaker as "EOD/FAA date;" (3) establishes a second tie breaker as "SCD date;" (4) establishes that a lottery may be used as the third tie breaker; and (5) provides that individuals have forty-five (45) days to return to the bargaining unit or "NATCA bargaining unit time" is reset to the date they return to the unit. 1998 Article 83 of a new collective bargaining agreement between NATCA and the FAA for the air traffic controller unit maintains that "[s]eniority will be determined by the Union" but drops "at the local level" from the provision. 1998 At the NATCA Convention in Seattle, Resolution 98-002 is adopted and amends the national seniority policy so as to include only a deduction for any time spent outside the bargaining unit after September 30, 1996 rather than a reset of seniority upon return to the unit. 2002 At the NATCA Convention in Cleveland, the Convention delegates approve an amendment to the national seniority policy to require the lottery tie-breaker to occur at the local level. The Convention delegates also approve an amendment regarding the use of seniority for the leave- bidding process. All of the seniority provisions are relocated from Section G of the previous By-Laws to Section A of the 2002 NATCA By-Laws. 2004 Section A of the 2002 By-Laws becomes Section A of the Standing Rules. The Convention delegates approve an amendment to make "Cumulative NATCA Bargaining Unit Time" the primary basis for seniority and to use "NATCA Bargaining Unit Time" as the first tie-breaker, "EOD/ FAA" as the second tie breaker, "SCD" as the third tie-breaker, and "lottery…determined at the local level" as the fourth tie-breaker. 2006 At the NATCA Convention in Boston, the criteria of the national seniority policy are moved from NATCA Standing Rule A-3 into the NATCA Constitution as Article XV. 2008 NATCA President Pat Forrey issues seniority guidance as part of the assimilation of the flight service unit. The guidance provides that only time spent as a flight service employee at a flight service facility in Alaska, as opposed to flight service facilities in other parts of the country, will count toward NATCA seniority dates. 2008 At the NATCA Convention in Miami, the Convention delegates adopt a new Section 2 to Article XV to provide that re-employed annuitant NATCA bargaining unit employees shall have their initial seniority date adjusted to reflect the date they rehire into any FAA NATCA bargaining unit. The Convention delegates also adopt a new Section 3 to Article XV which provides that any bargaining unit member who accepted a supervisor or management job after June 6, 2006 and returns to the bargaining unit thereafter would have a cumulative seniority date set to his or her return date. 2009 On October 1, a new collective bargaining agreement between NATCA and the FAA for the air traffic controller unit replaces the work rules unilaterally imposed by the FAA in 2006. Article 83 of the agreement continues to provide that "[s]eniority will be determined by the Union." A new section in Article 83 provides that "[t]he Union may only change seniority one (1) time during the life of this Agreement." The new agreement also contains a provision in Article 108 (the pay article that had gone to binding arbitration) which creates an exception to NATCA's national seniority policy. The exception provides that bargaining unit employees who return to the unit from a temporary promotion will have their seniority "reinstated as though the employee had never left the bargaining unit position previously assigned without accruing seniority for the duration of the temporary promotion." This exception imposed by the binding arbitration process is only applicable to employees in the air traffic controller, traffic management coordinator/specialist, and NOTAM units. In all other NATCA-represented units of FAA employees, individuals returning from temporary promotions that were commenced after June 6, 2006, continue to have their seniority date set to the date they return to the unit (in the same manner as all FAA unit employees returning from permanent promotions). 2012 At the NATCA Convention in Denver, the Convention delegates amend Section 3 of Article XV to provide that any bargaining unit member who accepted a supervisor/management position after September 12, 2008 (rather than June 6, 2006) and returns to the bargaining unit would have a cumulative seniority date set to his or her return date. This amendment is in response to several years of litigation over the retroactive portion of the policy adopted by the Convention delegates on September 12, 2008 and, as an outcome of that litigation, remediates the retroactive portion of the policy by inserting the date of the adoption of the 2008 amendment. (An exception to this policy continues to exist, however, for employees who return to the air traffic controller, traffic management coordinator/specialist, and NOTAM units from temporary promotions commenced after September 12, 2008, due to the pay provision in the 2009 agreement covering those units that was the result of the binding arbitration process.) 2016 On July 24, a new collective bargaining agreement between NATCA and the FAA for the air traffic controller, traffic management coordinator/ specialist, NOTAM and flight service specialists goes into effect. The new agreement contains the same Article 83 language regarding the Union determination of seniority as the 2009 agreement. Article 108 also carries forward the provision from the 2009 agreement that following the conclusion of a temporary promotion, the employee's previous Union determined seniority will be reinstated as though the employee had never left the bargaining unit position previously assigned without accruing seniority for the duration of the temporary promotion. FCT Facilities NATCA has collective bargaining relationships with three contractors who operate NATCA-represented facilities in the Federal Contract Tower Program. The collective bargaining agreements with these contractors differ from the agreements with the FAA in that the contractors will not agree to seniority provisions that allow NATCA to unilaterally determine the seniority policy for the employees at the contract facilities. Federal labor law requires NATCA to bargain in good faith with these contractors in reaching an agreement; NATCA, therefore, cannot fail to bargain over seniority provisions for these agreements even though the NATCA Constitution establishes a national seniority policy. The policy in the NATCA Constitution is only applicable for units where the determination of seniority has been left by agreement to the unilateral determination of NATCA. ✪ NATCA SENIORITY: A TIMELINE

• Cover