NATCA meet and Greet

[ATLTRACON]

Moderator hat off.
The next NATCA meet and Greet at the Academy will be on October 22. Please see below the response I received on the NATCA BBS. I encourage all of you to attend as the Union is your only protection against an employer that could care less as to whether you succeed or not.

Thanks for asking Jonathan, The next M&G will be October 22. Lunch, for those going to the evening shift classes will be at 12:30 at Shorty Small's Restaurant. The big get-together is that night at the LaQuinta. 6:00 or 6:30. I'll forward you the flier when it comes out.


We're having more difficulty getting the word out. Since the students started getting per diem, they don't congregate at the cheaper places to stay like they used to. Also, off-the-streeters aren't as familiar with the FAA/NATCA/Labor/everything else involved with the new career as are DoD'ers, VRA's, CTI's etc. so they don't look for this kind of stuff. And the agency continues to make it difficult for us to advertise by muzzling the instructors. Word of mouth has always been our best avenue to turn people out.

(all comments above are mine and do not reflect the views of NATCA)

Moderator hat now firmly entrenched again

[kp52]

Is this in Atlanta, or in OKC? If it's here, in ATL, I will be in attendance.

[ATLTRACON]

Originally Posted by kp52

Is this in Atlanta, or in OKC? If it's here, in ATL, I will be in attendance.

OKC

[brianjgault]

I'm not sure that lack of information about NATCA activities is based on students having more money than before as much as it is a non-existent advertising of M&Gs. Not sure how much of that is tied to FAA policy, but as someone who is at the Academy, there's not a lot information available to us regarding the Union.

I can honestly say that no instructor has mentioned anything regarding the Union or any Union activities. Again, not sure if this is FAA policy or Raytheon (OU) policy, but it seems like the instructors just try to stay out of any sort of discussion of that nature.

[SoonerATC]

A few months ago, OU came down firmly with a memo "reminding" instructors that the FAA is their (OU's) customer, and that it a conflict of interest to promote Union activities while on the job.

[brianjgault]

Originally Posted by SoonerATC

A few months ago, OU came down firmly with a memo "reminding" instructors that the FAA is their (OU's) customer, and that it a conflict of interest to promote Union activities while on the job.

And there ya' have it. Question answered.

[uva212]

hot potato hot potato

[GQ007]

Does anyone know how often these M&Gs take place in OKC?

[Lalexf]

Originally Posted by ATLTRACON

Moderator hat off.
The next NATCA meet and Greet at the Academy will be on October 22.

Thanks. I'll be there and pass the info on to my class and others that I may meet.

[ATLTRACON]

Originally Posted by GQ007

Does anyone know how often these M&Gs take place in OKC?

They take place once a month and I will post, in the next few days, the rest of the years schedule.

[GQ007]

Cool...Thanks!

[BE58 Driver]

That stinks. I have been here for about 10 weeks and never knew they had these meet and greets until now. I will be done before they have the next one so it looks like all the information I will get will be from my facility. There is no way I am staying in OKC one second longer than actually necessary! Good luck to all. It stinks the FAA makes it so hard to get information out. Oh well nothing new to me.

[GeorgeM]

Originally Posted by GQ007

Does anyone know how often these M&Gs take place in OKC?

You can always find the date for the next one on the NATCA website: http://www.natca.net/about/CTI.msp

[teetee]

This would be REALLY good info. Could the moderator consider posting this in 2 places? Maybe in the main area as well as the OKC/Training area?

[thesoonerkid]

Originally Posted by teetee

This would be REALLY good info. Could the moderator consider posting this in 2 places? Maybe in the main area as well as the OKC/Training area?

or just sticky this thread and update as necessary

[Freezer41]

I'll try and be there. Word is being spread

[ATLTRACON]

Originally Posted by thesoonerkid

or just sticky this thread and update as necessary

done

[ATLTRACON]

The other Meet and Greets for the remainder of the calender year are November 13 and December 16th. Places and times to be announced.

[JT ATC]

I can tell you there is NO NATCA presence anywhere around the Academy. I'm the only non-OTS person in my class and no one seems to know anything about NATCA or whats going on. I"m trying to talk some people into at least attending the meet and greet. I wanted to go to last month's meet and greet, but I was sick.

I'm not pro-union or anti-union, but i'm definetly going to be in the union at least until I get my rating. Then I'll decide where to go from there.

[LeftyLasVegas]

Is there someplace to look online with more info? I'm still awaiting PEPC and TOL and so on but have never heard anything about this until today, either.

Thanks.

[ATLTRACON]

Originally Posted by LeftyLasVegas

Is there someplace to look online with more info? I'm still awaiting PEPC and TOL and so on but have never heard anything about this until today, either.

Thanks.

http://www.natca.net/about/CTI.msp

http://www.natca.net/assets/Document...yerupdated.pdf

From the NATCA BBS:
Without fail, NATCA has hosted monthly M&G's EVERY month for 2 years now. At a minimum, Paul or Pat or both have attended each one since late '06. Darrell Meachum, the architect of this endeavor has attended all but one. All but 2 RVP's have attended at least one. Trish has been multiple times. Many facreps and other activists including the Reloaded folks have attended many meetings. I have been to all but 2 myself. Kelly Richardson does great work with scheduling, presentations and all the other logistical issues surrounding the meetings.

The facts:

1. NATCA advertises the M&G's in as many ways as possible. The national web site has the flier posted well in advance of the meeting.

2. Each month, I fax the flier to each of 7 of the most prominent FAA advertised housing establishments around town. I swing by those places about every quarter to thank them for their support. I know at least one of them puts individual fliers in each student's mail box when I send them out.

3. NATCA has one bulletin board at the academy. One. It is located near the credit union, which for the students is well off the beaten path.

4. Prior to a letter crafted by OU, we had friendly instructors at the academy that would talk up NATCA and spread the fliers around for us. The letter threatened the instructors with firing if they fraternized with students; discussed NATCA at all with the students, or if they wore any NATCA items including a retirement watch. That means of outreach has obviously dried up.

5. PAACE and the Region X folks have been very helpful in our outreach efforts in the past. Their bulletin boards are well placed re. the students and they post our fliers for us.

6. Although it is only anecdotal evidence, I believe that many students no longer reside at the FAA advertised housing facilities since the advent of per diem. It is slightly harder to reach a mass audience with fliers sent to housing areas when they appear to be more widely dispersed around the metro.

7. We used to do lunch and dinner meetings. When we started getting low turnouts for lunch (less than 10) we eliminated them. About 6 months ago, the agency started a new policy regarding dinner breaks at the academy. The students have been allowed a 30-minute lunch break (it's 5:30, (WINK) be back at 7:00). When the M&G's were to be held however, (those nights only) the students were instructed to be back within 30 minutes or they would be subject to discipline and/or firing. On M&G nights. Therefore, lunches have been reinstated by NATCA effective a few months ago. That insures that the night shifters can come have lunch and visit with the leadership before going to class.

8. The numbers of students at any one time varies and the inputs vary during the calendar year. During the months of DEC. and JAN., there seems to be fewer attendees. Regardless, with the exception of the last meeting (September) turnout is always heavy. We routinely feed and water anywhere from 80 to 130 for dinner. We have no idea why the turnout last month was so low. (around 15) All of our notifications were conducted as usual.

Moving forward, we obviously desire to reach the broadest audience possible. We will continue our previous advertising efforts to get the word out. I will be meeting with Kelvin Hale, Region X employee Friday at the academy. We will survey the area, looking for additional ways to get our word out. Any areas that we can find to post the info, we'll attempt to utilize those resources.

Additionally, we'd ask that any facility that has knowledge of their new hires, and are able to make contact with them, please do so. tell them about the M&G's. Talk to your Reloaded region reps and help them help you. With fewer CTI's and VRA's coming in, our outreach efforts to the OTS's will be more difficult. They don't know about NATCA where the other groups probably do. I assure you that NATCA is up to the task of maximum outreach. We've altered our approach many times, adapting to the conditions and will continue to do so.

If anyone has any questions, I'll be happy to get an answer for you. Just post them here for all to see. If anyone has other ideas on advertising, we'd love to hear them.

[atcwoody]

Hello everyone,

My name is Jeff Cox. I'm a controller at OKC and help with the monthly meet and greets for academy students. We'd love for each of you to visit us next month, November 13th. Lunch will be at Shorty Small's Restaurant, (Reno and Meridian) @ 1230. Dinner will be that evening @ 6:00. Dinner is at the LaQuinta Inns and Suites, 1/2 mile south of Shorty's on Meridian just south of I-40.

If you have any questions about the meet and greets or anything else involving your stay in OKC, feel free to contact me at your liesure.

Jeff Cox
405.414.3231
jcox@natca.net

[nathanw]

Is there a meet coming up soon? I emailed Mr. Cox but no reply (yet).

[SoonerATC]

February 16th.

http://www.natca.net/assets/Document...r-February.pdf

[nathanw]

gracias