Against the Wind - National Air Traffic Controllers Association

in other metropolitan areas. Marlin later served as
chairwoman of the Southern Region Legislative
Committee for several months before moving on to
lead the National Legislative Committee.
In the wake of the Chapter 71 battle, which she
regarded as a “coming of age” in NATCA’s education
about legislative activism, Marlin set about changing
the nature of Lobby Week. Scheduled in advance, the
annual event might not coincide with a timely issue,
and this could diminish its effectiveness.
Marlin hoped to promote training and
long-term relationships with Congress “that
would enable us to work issues in the district
year round rather than have our grass-roots
legislative success hinge on a few days in
D.C.,” she says. Krasner and McNally agreed,
and the union held its first no-issue “NATCA
in Washington” in 1997.
With other goals in mind and hoping
to avoid being typecast, Marlin decided against
running for a second term as National Legislative
Committee chairwoman. A year later, she worked on
terminal and en route issues as a full-time NATCA
liaison in Air Traffic Requirements at FAA headquarters
before returning to the boards at Miami Center
in the spring of 2000. During this time, she decided
to campaign for executive vice president at the urging
of Jim Poole, the Great Lakes Region vice president.
Like Carr and many other members, Marlin was
2000
frustrated by the recent lack of communication from
headquarters and believed that a top-down attitude
had started to disenfranchise the rank and file.
When the ballots were counted, Faville placed
a distant third. Marlin surpassed Schwitz, but neither
carried a majority. Voters faced a distinct choice.
Schwitz had a strong labor-relations
background, ran the national office
in McNally’s absence, and represented
continuity at headquarters.
Marlin was part of
the younger generation of
controllers hired in the past
decade, someone who embraced
open communication,
and sought to achieve
the union’s goals by influencing
Congress and the
news media.
During a runoff election,
Marlin did not campaign
and continued to focus on re-certifying
at the center to help stay in touch with life in the
field, a decision she now calls “foolishness.” Indeed,
her original 458-vote lead dwindled to just sixteen
votes in the runoff. Ballots were tabulated in the firstfloor
conference room at headquarters using dollarbill
counters and workers conducted several tallies to
verify the results.
Aug. Sep.
31
The FLRA certifies NATCA as the exclusive bargaining representative
for 263 FAA workers in the Airports Division and
airport district offices.
8
Chapter 6: Spreading its Wings
213
Ruth Marlin: After attending the union’s
Lobby Week in 1994, she became a strong
advocate of maintaining close ties with
lawmakers in Congress. / NATCA archives
The FLRA certifies NATCA as the exclusive bargaining representative
for 13 FAA workers in the Airworthiness Programs
Branch.