The Federal Aviation Administration announced today it will implement its proposed pay and benefit cuts on air traffic controllers.
Negotiations between the FAA and the air traffic controllers union have been deadlocked for months, and according to current law, if the FAA reaches an impasse in negotiations, it can submit its best offer to Congress. If Congress doesn’t act in 60 days, then the FAA proposal is automatically validated.
At issue is the amount of pay and benefit cuts for air traffic controllers over the next 5 years.
The FAA is proposing 1.9 billion dollars in cuts. Spokesman Geoffrey Basye says the agency has been as generous as it can.
“They will go from making $165,900, which is their average right now, all the way up to $187,000 a year, so for the rank and file controller out there, they can feel very good about the money they will continue to earn under the FAA’s new contract.”
For the 38 air traffic controllers in Nashville, like Michael Rogers, the issue is about more than pay. Rogers says he’s concerned about fair negotiations.
“They stayed at no, we want to save 2 billion dollars over 5 years, and even though we went to 1.4 billion, they never came down any. And the reason we feel like they did was that they knew they could send it to Congress and 60 days later, they could just get what they want.”
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association is supporting a bill that would remove the 60-day window provision language for all contracts submitted to Congress on or after April 1, essentially sending both parties back to the table.
The House is scheduled to debate that bill tomorrow.
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