Against the Wind - National Air Traffic Controllers Association

Ruth
Marlin
Executive Vice President
2000 — Pre s e n t
Op e r a t i n g in i t i a l s: SL
HOm e t O w n : Joppatowne, Maryland
sp O u s e / CHildre n:
Scott / Sean
Ot Her tr i v i a:
Hiked across the Grand Canyon
in t e r e s t s:
Skiing, art, entertaining
Peter Cutts
ATC FACiliTies
Cu r r e n t:
pr e v i O u s: ZMA
NO National Office
Center
Ruth Marlin stumbled into the profession of air
traffic control, but she quickly developed a
passion for NATCA and a vision for increasing the
union’s influence. While selling ads for the Yellow
Pages in Deerfield Beach, Florida, she heard a radio
commercial about the FAA’s entrance exam for
controllers and took the test one Saturday morning
“because I had nothing better to do.”
By the time the agency hired her eleven
months later, she’d worked at a chiropractor’s office
and maintained the computer network at a venture
capital firm. Although not thrilled about the prospect
of living in Oklahoma City during training,
“I had a really good time at the academy,” Marlin
says, and she soon discovered the exciting challenge
of her new career.
After checking out at Miami Center, she
began lobbying to get involved in the union local
and was appointed treasurer (later elected to two
terms). Then-facility rep Tim Leonard encouraged
Marlin’s activism and she was assigned to attend
Lobby Week. Those four days in Washington in
1994 changed her life in NATCA.
“It was great. It was three hundred people,”
she says. “It was that big NATCA love.”
Rubbing shoulders with so many activists
who shared similar interests energized her. Among
the participants was Trish Gilbert, a former Hous-
Pr e v i o u s NATCA Po s iT i oN s / AC h i e v e m e N T s
Chairwoman of Nat’l. Leg. Comm., Southern Reg.
Leg. Comm.; South Florida leg. rep; liaison to FAA;
earned B.A. and M.A. at George Meany campus.
hir e d
Dec.
1990
ton Center facility rep whom Marlin regarded as
an idol because “she had clearly earned the respect
of her peers with her effortless leadership style.”
Marlin returned to Miami with a heightened sense
of political awareness, became the center’s first
legislative rep, and helped create the South Florida
Legislative Committee to lobby for preserving the 5
percent operational differential paid to controllers.
Like other legislative activists, Marlin viewed
Congress as a needed ally as much, if not more,
than the FAA. To help increase membership awareness
in this regard, she spearheaded a philosophical
shift in Lobby Week, a $200,000 annual event,
to a more educational orientation rather than
focusing on a single issue.
“It’s an open door,” Marlin says. “Fac rep
training is for fac reps. Conventions are for delegates.
But Lobby Week is for anyone who wants to
show up and learn.”
The evolution of the renamed NATCA in
Washington occurred while Marlin served as
chairwoman of the National Legislative Committee,
experience that paved the way to her election
as executive vice president in 2000. Her work in
the legislative arena has attracted accolades from
many members. One of her most cherished compliments
came several years ago from Trish Gilbert,
who told Marlin she was her idol.