Against the Wind - National Air Traffic Controllers Association

110
1989
Against the Wind
FYI
officer. When TRACON management finally permitted
NATCA an office at the facility, they stationed
a beat-up desk behind a radarscope in the control
room with a phone shared by all controllers. Local
President Joe Fruscella had to buy a lamp and light
bulbs.
Today, NATCA occupies two offices: one for the
membership and another for its ten-member Executive
Board. Virtually every other local in the country
also has an office and at least one computer.
As the locals established themselves, membership
edged upward. About 6,000 controllers—44
percent of the work force—belonged to the union
when the first National Executive Board took office.
By early 1989, membership exceeded 50 percent. David
C. Abbott from Billings Tower/TRACON in Montana
put NATCA over the halfway mark by becoming
its 6,859 th member.
Membership milestones during NATCA’s early years
Date Members No. in Unit Percent
October 31, 1988 6,000 13,200 45
February 2, 1989 6,859 13,717 51
July 26, 1990 8,610 14,000 62
October 19, 1990 10,600 14,000 75
13
Jan. Feb.
NATCA and the FAA reach tentative agreement on their first
contract. The three-year pact includes seventy-seven articles.
2
About 2,000 more
joined during the
summer of 1990,
thanks to concerted
efforts from an
organizing committee
headed by
Atlanta Center’s
Rick Woolbright,
before the union instituted
an initiation fee.
The fee—equal to one year of dues, or 1 percent of a
controller’s base pay—was temporarily waived during
a few other organizing drives during the 1990s.
Membership broke the 10,000 mark within three
years of certification and gradually increased to 82
percent by 2002.
In its eagerness to attract recruits, NATCA
stumbled early on with a program designed to refund
a member’s lifetime dues upon retirement. Trish Gilbert,
a newly hired Houston Center controller, had
no union background but joined NATCA because
the innovative program called the O.N.E. Dues Back
Trust appealed to her.
Executive Board member Ed Mullin, ever on the
lookout for ways to boost membership in his difficult
Southwest Region, proposed the plan after hearing
that seven other unions participated in it. Skeptical
that it sounded too good to be true, he sought advice
Tower controller David C. Abbott in Billings, Montana,
becomes the union’s 6,859 th member. For the first time since
NATCA was certified, membership exceeds 50 percent.