Peter Roskam has, from time to time, styled himself as an advocate for air safety. You may recall how in late 2007, Roskam sent a much-publicized letter to the FAA’s Henry Krakowski, expressing concern about the adequacy of staffing levels in the air traffic control system in the light of a couple of then recent near misses in the skies surrounding O’Hare Airport.
Roskam was correct in his assertion that there have been staffing issues . Those problems are a legacy of his own Republican party’s union busting activities.
In 1981, Republican President Ronald Reagan fired the majority of U.S. air traffic controllers during a strike of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) for better pay and working conditions and a work week more conducive to safety. Because so many of the current population of controllers were hired at the time of the PATCO strike, a large number are now approaching retirement age.
In 2006, under Republican President George Bush, the Bush FAA further complicated the matter. When an impasse developed in contract negotiations with the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (the successor to PATCO), the Bush Administration imposed a new contract that included staffing cuts and lower starting pay for controllers. The Bush intervention prompted a surge in retirements that caught the FAA unprepared.
As in many areas of government, the Obama administration and the Democrats in Congress are now left to clean up the mess left by the Republicans ideological misadventures.
This past week, the House voted on H.R. 915, the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act of 2009. The bill provides funding for the FAA’s operations and for for improvements to the air traffic system through 2012. According to Rep. Jim Oberstar, Chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure,
The bill contains several provisions critical to improving air safety. It directs the FAA to increase the number of aviation safety inspectors, creates an independent Aviation Safety Whistleblower Investigation Office within the FAA, provides funding for runway safety programs, calls for additional inspections of overseas aircraft repair stations, and requires the FAA to study and update its regulations regarding flight-crew fatigue.
The bill also attempts to rectify the unfair treatment that air traffic controllers have received at Republican hands. Again, according to Rep. Oberstar:
It is extremely important that there be a fair resolution of the controllers’ concerns. The best technology in the world will not improve our air traffic control system if the workforce operating this technology is distracted by resentments over unfair treatment. H.R. 915 mandates a new dispute resolution process, patterned after Postal Service regulations, to make it clear that labor-management disputes between FAA and its organized employees are governed by a fair and impartial process, including binding arbitration. This new process would apply to the ongoing dispute between the controllers and FAA. The Obama administration has announced that it will begin negotiations with Air Traffic Controllers to resolve this dispute. I am hopeful that this will begin a process leading to a new contract acceptable to both parties.
H.R. 915 also amends the Railway Labor Act (RLA) to clarify that employees of an “express carrier” shall only be covered by the RLA if they are employed in a position that is eligible for certification under FAA’s rules, such as mechanics or pilots, and they are actually performing that type of work for the express carrier. All other express carrier employees, such as truck drivers and baggage handlers, would be governed by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). This change would remove the disparity in current law that Federal Express drivers are governed under the RLA, which requires organization for collective bargaining on a nationwide basis, while drivers for UPS and other express carriers are governed by the NLRA, which permits organization on a local basis.
The provision in the RLA that Oberstar refers to is apparently a result of FEDEX’s past efforts to thwart organization of its employees.
H.R. 915 passed the House on Thursday 5/21 by a vote of 277-136, mostly along party lines. The bill must now be considered by the Senate.
Peter Roskam voted against H.R. 915. The strength of his ideological stance against organized labor trumped whatever concern for air safety he may possess.
