PUBLIC AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT
OPPOSING PROPOSED RETIREMENT BENEFITS CUTS
During NATCA in Washington last week, NATCA members met with nearly every
member of Congress and communicated our vigorous opposition to any legislation that
would attack federal employee wages and benefits. Congress should not try to balance
the federal budget on the backs of federal employees, including NATCA members, by
making cuts to their wages and benefits.
While NATCAvists hit Capitol Hill, we got an opinion/editorial column by President Paul
Rinaldi placed in The Hill newspaper (and published online) which outlined why we are
opposed to cuts to retirement benefits. Paul wrote, in part:
"Controllers continue to perform these essential duties while working shorthanded due to
a years-long staffing crisis. The number of fully certified controllers is at its lowest level in
three decades after dropping by almost 1,000 since 2013. There is a risk that this
sustained staffing crisis will lead to reduced capacity, meaning more flight delays. The
staffing crisis also hurts the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) ability to develop
new technology and modernize the system, while at the same time restricting the ability
of veteran controllers from training newly hired developmental controllers.
"Although the FAA has made hiring a priority in recent years, nearly one out of every five
controllers is eligible to retire today. And if they believed their retirement benefits were in
jeopardy, many of these retirement eligible controllers could decide to retire before
mandatory age-56 retirement. For this reason, the Office of Personnel Management's
(OPM) proposed cuts to federal employee retirement benefits are deeply concerning
because they could motivate retirement-eligible controllers to end their careers sooner
than anticipated."
Read the full op/ed column here.
MORE ON STAFFING: PAUL's TV INTERVIEW
In April, Paul did an interview about the controller staffing crisis with the Washington,
D.C., bureau of Scripps Television, which owns many local television stations and other
media outlets around the country and sends content out to them for use in their
broadcast. One story may end up on several different stations within a matter of a couple
of days. That happened with us this month when several stations ran the story. Here are
three of the places where the story aired:
ABC 15 Arizona
KTTS radio, Missouri
KGTV San Diego
NATCA IN WASHINGTON 25
th
ANNIVERSARY
We've got full coverage for you about last week's 25
th
anniversary NATCA in
Washington event. Click on each link to take you to that material.
NiW Today – Briefing book.
NiW Today – Complete coverage of NiW 2018
Photo Album
NATCA DAB MEMBERS' SAVE COVERED BY LOCAL ORLANDO TV STATION
Click here to view and watch.
