After exchanging final pay proposals on April 4, the Federal
Aviation Administration walked out of talks with the
National Air Traffic Controllers Association over a new
labor contract, and unless Congress intervenes within 60
days after FAA submits its final proposal for review, the
agency’s offer will take effect.
Lawmakers have demonstrated a willingness to intervene.
Over 150 Representatives have signed on to a House bill
introduced by Sue Kelley, R-N.Y. — identical to one
introduced in the Senate in January — that could force
FAA to resolve labor disputes with unions through binding
arbitration as a last resort. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.,
introduced the Senate version on, which now has about 30
Democratic supporters and no Senate Republicans.
The agency and the NATCA, which represents about 20,000
controllers, among the highest paid workers in the
federal government, have been locked in a struggle since
last July over a new contract. The prior contract
expired in September, but remains in effect until a
new one can be reached. FAA controllers are one of the
few groups in the executive branch allowed to bargain
over pay.
The union said the final talks only lasted a few minutes
and were not meaningful. It said its final offer
maintained $1.4 billion in savings, and that it offered
to continue talks through federal mediation but the
agency — which sought $2 billion in savings — turned
it down.
According to the FAA, the union rejected a proposal that
would preserve current salaries and benefits for the
existing workforce, implement a new pay scale and
eliminate two types of premium pay — controller
incentive pay and controller in charge premium pay —
which the agency says have contributed to a 75 percent
increase in the average salary and benefits package for
controllers from 1998-2006 to about $170,000 per year.
FAA said the union sought to guarantee increases and
keep pay scales close to their current levels for all
controllers, something it called “an excessive pay
structure for the long term.”
