Against the Wind - National Air Traffic Controllers Association

Beth
Thomas
Traffic Management
Specialist
2001 — Pre s e n t
Op e r a t i n g in i t i a l s: ET
NATCA archives
HOm e t O w n : Altoona, Pennsylvania
Ot Her tr i v i a:
Completed the Boston Marathon in
3 hours, 15 minutes
in t e r e s t s:
Running
ATC FACiliTies
Cu r r e n t:
pr e v i O u s: HGR, BGM
TMB, FLL,
AAT-120
ATCSCC Command Ctr.
Towers
Evaluations
In the chess game of life, Beth Thomas has landed
on many squares across the board: operating
room nurse, air traffic controller, labor organizer,
manager. While she usually plays on the side of
rank-and-file workers, her eclectic background
drives the benevolent Thomas to seek strategies
where everyone wins.
Her union orientation was grounded in
the hills of Pennsylvania, where family members
mined coal and kept the railroads running.
Her management philosophy was influenced by
Maslow’s theory of satisfying the hierarchy of
human needs. Those views have been honed by
professional experience.
A better retirement plan prompted her to
leave nursing and join the FAA. She also realized
it would be easier to help her former husband,
Chuck, and his colleagues, who were all fired
PATCO strikers, from within the agency. Despite
four years in the Air Force, the FAA’s autocratic
rule still turned her off. “There are better ways of
doing business that involve common, decent courtesy,”
she says.
Thomas quit 3½ years later after tiring of the
commute between upstate New York and her home
in Tampa, Florida. Yet her desire to improve workers’
rights still burned bright. As an organizer for
AFGE and MEBA, she traveled almost constantly
from the summer of 1985 until NATCA was certified
in July 1987.
Facing antagonism, apprehension and apa-
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
1988 contract team; national chairwoman for
Employee Assistance Program and Critical Incident
Stress Mgmt. Team; Southern Region QTP coord.
hir e d
Dec.
1981
thy, the diminutive Thomas stood firm and won
over many skeptical controllers.
“You have to have a union,” she has always
maintained. “There isn’t another avenue, as one
person, to have your voice heard and be recognized.”
After certification, she organized nurses at
four hospitals in South Florida before the FAA
rehired her at Tamiami Tower. When Quality
Through Partnership came into vogue, Thomas
went back on the road again as the Southern Region
coordinator and discovered that collaboration
sessions could be testier than organizing meetings.
“People don’t want to give up their territory,” she
says.
Encouraged by QTP’s potential, Thomas
became air traffic manager at Tamiami for two
years, an experience that reminded her people—
not programs—cultivate successful relationships.
She moved on to Air Traffic Evaluations and
transferred again to the FAA Command Center in
December 2001.
Through it all, Thomas has steadfastly maintained
her relationship with NATCA, either as a
full member or an associate. Her long-distance run
with the union reflects another passion. She has
competed four times in the Boston Marathon, as
well as others. But Thomas frequently slows down
long enough to savor life, spending free time with
her non-NATCA family: a mother, sisters, nieces
and nephews, and their children.