Take Positive Action
Posted by Paul Cox on July 25th, 2009
My quest for global domination the office of President, Seattle Center Local, NATCA, has begun. I threw my hat into the ring for the FacRep job.
One of the semi-occasional criticisms that you see slung around the NATCA BBS and community is “well, what have YOU done for NATCA?” The implication is that whoever’s doing the asking has given far more time and done far more work on behalf of the union than whoever it is they’re asking.
Thing is, you don’t have to be a facility representative or run for President to do something for the union. Plainly, the most basic thing you can do is join- that’s obvious. (Plus, it gives you a vote, a say in how things go, and that freedom is precious in our world. I’ve been to several places where people don’t even have a vote, or if they do, it’s meaningless. Why on earth do we, in America, throw away our own right by not exercising it?)
The next most basic step is to join the NATCA political action committee and donate. All NATCA members should be in the PAC, even if it’s just five buck a pay period. (If everyone gave at least 5, man, we’d get a LOT done.)
These things, though, are more passive in nature. You sign something once, and you’re in. You vote maybe once every other year in local elections, every third year in national ones.
My campaign is based on the idea of NATCA needing to do more stuff in an affirmative manner. I think the union- from the entire national group, to the local scale, and even on an individual scale- needs to Take Positive Action.
What’s positive action? It could be running for a rep job, as it is in my case. It could be writing a letter to the editor of your local paper, or calling your Congresscritter to urge a vote in favor of a bill that we need to pass. It could be calling that Congresscritter to THANK them for their vote.
It could be mentioning to your friends and family how the Bush Administration screwed over its workforce, or linking to someone on Facebook, or volunteering for a Congressional campaign, or volunteering at work for a committee on some new technology, or maybe serving on a training review board.
There’s a ton of ways that people can help out- and we need more people to do more of those things. We can’t have these superpeople in NATCA that we expect to do everything; they’ll burn out. And we can’t expect our dues money to cover everything; there’s not enough.
Even if you disagree with one thing or another that the union does, or a policy that they’ve undertaken, the proper thing to do is to try and change it through your political right (voting)… but meanwhile that doesn’t mean you turn your back on the union. Instead, find something else that you can do. Like chit-chatting with pilots? Volunteer to work a booth at a local fly-in or trade show. Have a local college program for potential trainees? Go down and talk with them.
Some of these things are things that will seem like they’re “helping” the FAA. That’s because they are. I know it’s controversial to help the FAA; I’ve been in favor, over the past few years, of letting the upper level of FAA’s management rot and do everything on their own.
This is for a couple of reasons. First, it’ll display how incompetent they are (and this has come true). Second, they’re the ones that insisted on this; they wanted it this way, so fine- let ‘em.
But times are changing. At the top, they’re starting to say “work with your employees, treat them well, be fair” and things like that. We’re on the verge of a new contract that was fairly negotiated. Even if we don’t get everything we wanted, the reality is that we can’t (or shouldn’t) stomp our feet like a spoiled little kid. Instead, we’ve got to say “okay, let’s move ahead” and drive onward.
In NATCA terms, part of taking positive action might mean filing more grievances or getting tougher on LMR. I’m okay with that- in fact, I think we need to do that. But that does NOT mean we should try and burn down the FAA. Our actions, in the long run, will make it a better place to work and a better safety organization for the nation.
Let’s Take Positive Action and move into the future, shall we?
(Anyone curious- and of course particularly ZSE NATCA voters- are welcome to view my still-growing web site at www.takepositiveaction.net. I’m adding content over the next day or two, so check back if you are interested!)
July 25th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
I'd vote for you if I was at Seattle. You have done so much to get people motivated to challenge the folks who have done harm to the nation's air traffic controllers.
July 26th, 2009 at 2:06 am
Best of luck in the election, Paul. I'm sure you'd do a great job.
July 26th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
You'll be a great FacRep and perhaps one day you can be a real asset to NATCA at a national level….. Thanks for all of your hard work on behalf of all BUMs.
July 26th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
Paul, as you know I steer clear of union matters. But as for "positive action" and "curious":
FAA’s Steven Ray (Steve) Kelley, NY/NJ/PHL Airspace Redesign Project Manager.
A supposed U.S. Government federal official.
Like you have never seen him before.
In a toga. Drinking. At that beach in Sandy Hook. Out with a bunch of guys and young boys in togas and tunics.
The photoblog:
http://ejectsturgell.blogspot.com/2009/07/setting...
http://removesturgell.blogspot.com/2009/07/settin...
http://indictsturgell.blogspot.com/2009/07/settin...
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Setting The Record Straight: Attacking FAA’s Steven Ray Kelley And His Aero Nautical Velvet Mafia
“Something Familiar.
Something Peculiar.
Something For Everyone.
A Comedy, Tonight.”
In Solidarity – From Your Friends at Quiet Rockland
July 26th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
We will need hard working activists like you Paul to hold FAA managers accountable, to the letter of the new CBA.
My belief is that whatever agenda Babbitt chooses to pursue at FAA, it will probably take as long as it did Garvey to implement her agenda.
The current crop of FAA ATO managers is so arrogant, so drunk with the power of the Bush Blakey ripoff and beat down of the controller workforce the last several years, it's going to take a good 15-18 months to knock some of the sass out of them.
Clinched fist, or gloved hand Paul, we got a heap o work to do.
July 26th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
Thanks for stepping up, Paul. Best of luck.
Don Brown
July 27th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
I think your blog is pretty despicable. I mean seriously, you must really have "The End Justifies the Means" tattooed on your forehead. Absolutely disgusting. Once again, just as when you posted that horrific entry on the TEB midair that was guaranteed to cause anguish to any friends or relatives of the victims who read it, you just don't care who ends up as collateral damage in your attack on this guy. I don't know where all those photos came from but I doubt the people depicted in them intended for them to be fodder in a witch-hunting blog that portrays their lifestyle in as sordid a light as possible. Shame on you. And what's the biggest laugh of all is, you're obsessed with THE WRONG GUY! I'm pretty sure Kelley didn't come up with this plan, he's the figurehead and he does what he's told. I have to think your ranting rhetoric does a better job at marginalizing your group and making you look like hysterical NIMBYs than anything the FAA could do. Once again, shame on you.
July 27th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Quintana2 is obviously one of Steve Redesign Kelley's boat buddies. The ends DO justify the means. Steve Redesign Kelley is evil, and Kelley IS the correct guy to go after. Kelley killed 6 people in a mid-air. The whole aviation world knows that. Go get em, Quiet Rockland. Quintana2? I enjoyed your picture on the blog, too.
July 30th, 2009 at 6:14 am
Paul has my vote and let it be known that the competition takes pleasure in kicking puppies! I'm kidding… the competition doesn't take pleasure in kicking puppies… or so I've been informed.