Usually, the opening of a new location – whether it’s a coffee shop or a hardware store – is a cause for celebration. It bodes well for the general economy.
Of course, if your business is a Wendy’s then you’re probably not happy to see a new Sonic opening up. Sunoco is never happy to see a new BP station opening in the neighborhood.
Another new ATC Tower location has just been announced: the airport in Destin, Florida has been approved for a control tower. (newspaper coverage here). Key points:
- County Airports Director Donovan announced last week that the Federal Aviation Administration has accepted the airport into its contract tower program.
- The Aviation Trust Fund, a federal reserve of tax dollars levied on airline tickets and operations, will provide funding to operate the tower.
Here’s what I don’t get: the Feds are paying to open a new tower. They’re not staffing it with government controllers, and they’re not going to run it via big-league rules; they’re going to pay a sub-contractor to run the tower, and the sub-contractor will hire non-Fed controllers for B-scale wages. Isn’t that called union busting?
How can it be that a Democratic administration, which supports the Davis-Bacon Act in ensuring that union wages are paid in federal contracts, is staffing a new facility with non-union lower-paid contractors, and putting them to work in an environment that doesn’t meet Fed standards? Think they have a two-hour rule?
I’m not a smart guy, but if we’re splitting and reducing Fed facilities while government money is funding new B-scale non-union contractor startups, doesn’t that sound like we’re being run out of the industry?
Essential Reading 2.0 to 3.0
I might be wrong, but aren’t some of those contract controllers also union controllers?
This is what happens when an agency gets too big and too full of itself. Instead of getting smaller under good old Bush they split off the ATO, basically doubling the size of ineptitude. Left hand doesn’t know, care to know,or remember proceedures from before, and the right hand doesn’t know or care to know what the left is doing. NATCA should be all over this, but Rinaldi is working hand in hand with Babbitt to make sure the afore-blogged about up/down facilities are being combined up and sold off. His interest is NOT with the Union.
Here’s an inconvenient truth: NATCA represents “controllers” in over 60 Federal Contract Towers. They represent both the FAA controllers in FAA facilities, and the B-scale contract controllers in contractor-run FCT (federal control towers).
Does NATCA have conflicting roles? Yes.
Where is NATCA’s growth market? FCT’s.
Will NATCA criticize FCT contract towers? No.
Will NATCA represent people whether its FAA or FCT? Yes
There’s no doubt NATCA gets a lot more income from an FAA tower than a contract tower because of the salaries and staffing. They have diversified their position – with a foot in both camps, NATCA will survive if all the FAA facilities are contracted out.
I think it complicates the situation.