FAA, Air Traffic Controllers Could Bring Fight to Capitol Hill

With contract negotiations between the air traffic controllers' union and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) becoming increasingly fractured, Congress may have to step in and settle the dispute.

The FAA is unique among federal agencies in that its employees can collectively bargain. Equally unusual is a provision in current law, enacted as part of the FAA's 1996 reauthorization (PL 104-264), that allows the FAA, after certain conditions have been met, to send stalled contract talks to Congress for its review.

Under current law, if Congress fails to act within 60 days, the FAA can impose its contract offer without further negotiations.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) has accused the agency of "checking off the boxes" so it can say its negotiations are at an impasse, giving the FAA the authority to send its contract dispute to Congress.

"There is progress to be reported at each and every session," said NATCA President John Carr. "Unfortunately, FAA management seems to be less focused on good-faith bargaining and more determined than ever to . . . send their negotiations to impasse." Carr said that so far 91 out of 152 articles have been completed.

FAA spokesman Greg Martin said some progress has been made on the "low-hanging fruit," but that substantive disputes about pay and work rules are unresolved. He said the FAA is dedicated to reaching a solution, but that NATCA's current proposal is too expensive.

The controllers' union has proposed a 5.6 percent pay increase. The FAA has proposed a pay freeze, including halting premium pay differentials, which the union says amounts to a pay cut.   Hill Rumblings

Last week, a day after a contentious exchange between the controllers union and the FAA over overtime, sick leave and other issues at a major New York air traffic control facility, four Senate Democrats introduced a bill that would modify the law that allows contract disputes to be sent to Congress.

The bill (S 2201), by Barack Obama of Illinois, Daniel K. Inouye of Hawaii, Frank R. Lautenberg of New Jersey and Patty Murray of Washington, would still allow a contract dispute to be sent to Congress. But instead of letting the FAA impose its last offer if Congress failed to act, it would send the dispute to a binding arbitration panel.

Obama said in a statement that he introduced the bill "to help [defuse] the growing management-labor tension at the FAA."

The Air Transport Association, the major airlines' lobby group, has opposed the bill, citing budget pressures and labor costs. However, it seems unlikely that the bill will be enacted before talks conclude. FAA Administrator Marion C. Blakey has said she hopes talks can finish early this year.   Legal Details

A Senate Democratic aide involved with the measure said that more than anything else, it is intended to communicate the sponsors' opinion on the negotiations.

"We hope [the bill] sends a message of, 'Look, if you guys don't work it out yourselves, we may figure out a different process. You guys have to be crazy to give us a contract dispute -- work it out,' " the aide said.

Complicating matters, the aide said, the FAA is misinterpreting the existing law, which was enacted to allow the agency to retool its personnel system. The 1996 law gave the FAA more flexibility in its hiring practices by essentially removing the agency from the standard federal "GS" personnel system and allowing it to set up its own system.

The ability to send contract impasses to Congress to resolve was written into the law to help ease that major change, the aide said, not to decide small issues of pay or work rules.

"What we wanted to do was make sure the system they were setting up was appropriate," the aide said. "We said, 'OK, we're giving you personnel relief. If you can't figure out how to set up the systems, send it to us.' But none of us wanted to get involved in contract disputes."

Source: CQ Today Round-the-clock coverage of news from Capitol Hill. ©2006 Congressional Quarterly Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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