PASS Region V held its monthly call last night, welcoming members and nonmembers alike, including new Air Traffic Services employees in the PASS bargaining unit. As to be expected, there were many questions regarding telework, return to work and the vaccine mandate, which may be of interest to all PASS members. Some of the information provided included:

• TELEWORK: Employees are strongly encouraged to read and review the procedures for telework set forth in Article 37 of the ATO collective bargaining agreement (Article 51 of the AVS CBA). Management needs to provide a business need if and when a telework request is denied. Even then, there is an appeals process and employees can ultimately grieve the denial. There is strength in numbers and PASS encourages everyone to pursue their desired telework arrangements while keeping in mind that the particular duties associated with a position may limit some arrangements. However, the FAA must explain why that is so.

• WORKPLACE: Several questions were posed about current return-to-work plans and workplace safety efforts. It is expected that workplace assessments are ongoing but are not necessarily dependent on return-to-work schedules. The requirement for masks and other COVID mitigation efforts are dictated by transmission levels. Because of the omicron variant, transmissions levels are high nearly everywhere and thus masks are generally required. PASS is attempting to get better information from the agency on return-to-work procedures after an employee has had a positive test.

• VACCINES: The vaccine mandate is currently suspended due to the court injunction issued recently. The Biden administration immediately appealed the ruling but it is unclear when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5^th Circuit might issue any ruling on the district court’s injunction.

• NEW REGION V BUEs: PASS is continuing to pursue conversations around transition issues involving Air Traffic employees. This includes advocating for the use of In-Position Increases to reward employees who had a ‘Significantly Exceeds’ rating before being converted to the PASS bargaining unit.

Region IV will be holding its monthly membership call on Tuesday, February 8 at 7:30 pm ET.