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On Aug. 31, 2006, just four days after Comair Flight 5191 crashed in Lexington, Federal Aviation Administration Spokeswoman Laura Brown, responding to Associated Press reporter Jeffrey McMurray’s questions about the role that controller fatigue may have played in the accident, tried to assure the public that controllers would not be forced to report to their facility if they did not feel rested enough to work, saying, “If they don't believe they're fit for duty, they're supposed to tell us that. You won't be penalized for not reporting for work." But just three days later, on Labor Day weekend, the FAA unilaterally imposed work rules on controllers. One of those rules took away the ability of controllers to use their accrued sick leave if they felt they were not rested enough to work their assigned shift. It’s outlined in Article 25 of the FAA’s imposed work rules, under Section 3: “Sick leave cannot be granted for rest or minor inconveniences.” Aside from being a punitive measure against controllers as the FAA set aside fair collective bargaining procedures to impose its will, the rest/fatigue issue is a serious safety concern, as identified last week by the National Transportation Safety Board and is more evidence of a worsening staffing crisis as the FAA forces controllers to work tired against their will. Attached is an audio clip from a Sept. 6, 2006 briefing for FAA managers and supervisors in St. Louis on how to implement the work rules on controllers. The speaker is Tom Cassady, the FAA’s manager of field labor relations and customer service group. He works directly under the agency’s chief labor relations official, Joe Miniace. In this clip, Cassady is boasting about reversing the 2-2-1 (two late-day shifts, two early-day shifts, one midnight shift) schedule for the sole purpose of shortening the time off between work weeks. When he is questioned as to the rationale behind such a scheduling practice he responds by stating “they can’t call in sick when they're tired.” The transcript_: CASSADY: Look at your 2-2-1 and reverse it. Start with a mid. Come back on a day. Come back on an evening and see how much time off in between shifts you get. (audience question – unintelligible, but NATCA assumes it had something to do with the fact that controllers won't like the reverse 2-2-1) CASSADY: They don’t like being tired and not being able to call in sick either. Unidentified Female Voice: You end up with not having, uhm, I think you end up with having 32 hours off between your Friday and your Monday. That's the downside to that when we looked at it. CASSADY: OK (audience question - unintelligible) CASSADY: So the thought provoking was look at different ways, not just your standard 2-2-1, because it is an issue right now. They can’t call in sick when they’re tired.
-Doug Church |
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