FAA USES SCARE TACTICS ON BILL THAT WILL BACKFIRE, PASS SAYS

Details: Published: July 18, 2013

WASHINGTON, DC – Failing to win its privatization argument with Congress, the Federal Aviation Administration is resorting to bullying tactics with its own employees, the Professional Airways System Specialists said today.

“Having ignored the very real threat that its ill-conceived privatization scheme presents to air safety it is sad to see the agency use scare tactics against its own hard-working, dedicated employees,” said Tom Brantley, national president-elect of PASS, the union representing FAA systems specialists who would be exposed to contracting out if the reauthorization bill passed in its current form. “That’s going to backfire both on the Hill and in the agency.”

FAA Administrator Marion C. Blakey sent a “Dear Colleague” email to many of its employees today, the union said, claiming there might be “the possibility of a furlough” if the administration’s version of its reauthorization legislation doesn’t pass as is before the end of this fiscal year Sept. 30. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” Brantley said, “and the administrator knows it. Congress can extend authorization until a bill is completed,” he noted. “Other reauthorization bills did not pass before their original authorization ended, but the agency would rather stoop to terrorizing its own employees with this phoney threat of a furlough.”

“The administration is getting desperate,” Brantley said, “because they finally figured out neither the public nor Congress is buying a contracting out scheme that would auction off thousands of jobs critical to the nation’s air safety.”

At issue is a congressional conference committee report on the FAA reauthorization bill, filed just prior to Congress’ August recess. PASS officials note that the report disregards language in the Senate version of the bill that included bipartisan efforts to protect the systems specialist workforce, yielding to White House pressure and opening the door to privatizing the functions performed by systems specialists.

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PASS represents more than 11,000 employees of the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Defense who install, maintain, support and certify air traffic control and national defense equipment, inspect and oversee the commercial and general aviation industries, develop flight procedures and perform quality analyses of the aviation systems. For more information, visit the PASS website at www.passnational.org.