Against the Wind - National Air Traffic Controllers Association

level of respect and trust between the agency and the
controller community.
When President Krasner assembled the third
contract team in early 1997, the chief negotiator
turned to Bernie Reed again to serve as chairman.
Like the previous group, the ten members who
joined Krasner, Reed, and Labor Relations Director
Bob Taylor engaged in team-building exercises before
immersing themselves in research and bargaining
preparations. The pile of materials they accumulated
measured roughly five feet high by ten feet wide and
was trucked to each meeting location.
As in 1993, the walls of the NATCA hotel caucus
room were plastered with lists of contract goals,
proposed articles, and pending tasks. This time,
laptop computers littered the tables. Team members
took along a mini-refrigerator and brought in a pallet
of soft drinks. During one negotiating stint, they survived
on pizzas from a nearby restaurant that offered
a magnet with each delivery. By the time the controllers
checked out of the hotel two weeks later, magnets
blanketed the fridge.
Although the lack of Title 5 restrictions enabled
the two sides to talk about pay, existing law still prevented
them from negotiating health and retirement
benefits. A new memorandum from the FLRA also
imposed a significant burden—chiefly on the union.
The parties were now subject to the FLRA’s “covered
by” doctrine, which determined the validity of unfair
1995
labor practice charges based on one of three prongs.
The most far-reaching prong stipulated that no
charge could be filed if the parties “reasonably should
have contemplated” the subject, even when it wasn’t
explicitly spelled out in the contract. Given the vast
array of workplace issues, this language sent shivers
up the controllers’ spines.
“Can you imagine having to reasonably contemplate
everything?”
team member
John Carr says.
“We were doing
a contract
literally with
no net.”
To protect
the union, NAT-
CA proposed to the
agency that they abide
by just one of the three prongs: If the contract “expressly
contained” a subject in question, an unfair
labor practice charge could not be filed. For anything
not spelled out in the bargaining agreement, the
union would still be able to file charges.
The agency’s Ray Thoman, who postured
against Steve Bell and the first negotiating team, initially
refused to sign the Memorandum of Understanding.
But the FAA was interested in modifying
the union’s national seniority policy, which had been
Jan. Feb.
10
Ballots are counted in the election to organize traffic management
coordinators, who vote 279 to 169 against joining NAT-
CA. In May 2000, they vote in favor of union representation.
28
Chapter 5: The Art of the Deal
163
Round Three: Bernie Reed, left, served as
contract team chairman for a second time
in 1997-98 while Barry Krasner assumed
the role of chief negotiator. / NATCA archives
Denver International Airport, occupying 53 square miles, begins
operations during a snowstorm. The last major airport to open
in the United States was Dallas-Fort Worth in 1974.