April 1st, 2025 New England Bi-Monthly Regional Update
From Steve Brown, NATCA New England Regional ARVP
Last week, your fellow members took their own leave to do what is arguably the most important thing we do as a labor union—lobby those on Capitol Hill who shape and make decisions for our future as government employees.
We told our stories. Stories about working second jobs to make ends meet, about six-day work weeks and mandatory overtime, about missing birthdays and sports games. We talked about distractions and worries, and we talked about retirements and pay—a lot.
Our message was clear: if you want the best and the brightest, you need to retain the best and the brightest doing the job now. The best way to do that is to build on our pay and benefits.
New England was well represented and worked hard for each of you. Take a moment and ask your activists about their experience on the hill, and make sure to thank them for doing it on your behalf.
NATCA in Washington Recap
From Matt Morgan, NATCA New England Legislative Chair Alternate, BOS
The 2025 NATCA in Washington Event should be considered a great success. As a long-time attendee and state coordinator, this year I was able to get a new perspective as an Alternate on the National Legislative Committee.
As an NLC alternate, I arrived on Friday evening to attend the all-day meetings of the NLC on Saturday and Sunday morning, prior to members arriving Sunday afternoon. These final meetings showcase the incredible attention to detail the NLC and NiW planning committee follow to provide the best product to the membership as possible. It truly is quite a combination of effort; from planning and framing the ask, to manual labor of moving hundreds of boxes of supplies to support the event.
Monday morning, the conference began. The first half of NiW is a one-and-a-half-day conference of education materials, training “the ask”, what to expect on Capitol Hill, and multiple congressional speakers addressing the membership. I can say that the 400 members who attended were engaged and eager to prepare for taking our issues to the Hill. The message from Leadership this year was clear: Tell our truth as controllers. There was no specific language in a bill or relevant legislation; just tell our stories as to what it is like working in the operation today. As a veteran attendee of this event, this is the most freedom we have been given, as state coordinators, to discuss the conditions and struggles our members are facing back home at our facilities.
This year we had speeches from Rep Bacon (R, NE), Rep Sam Graves (R, MO), Rep Larsen (D, WA), and Rep Klobuchar (D, MN). They all gave rousing speeches in support of controllers, and some went into their history being involved in the labor movement or aviation themselves. It was great to hear from all of them and how impactful our relationships in DC can be.
The most impactful future legislation we are currently concerned with is the reconciliation process of the House and Senate spending rules. This process allows a majority-held House and Senate to bypass the filibuster and address funding (taxes/revenue/spending). Long story short, this gives the House and Senate the ability to make extremely drastic cuts to government spending. While the language of reconciliation is not revealed until very shortly before a vote, there is almost no time to be reactive to a reconciliation package. There are many rumors that modest to massive cuts to FERS retirement will be included in such a bill.
“The Ask” this year was a direct preemptive strike to the upcoming reconciliation process. From what is being talked about, retirement cuts are on the table. The primary ask was to protect FERS at all costs with whatever ability they had in the reconciliation process, as well as continue to provide robust funding (yes, this includes pay) to attract the best qualified candidates to the operation. Due to the ask being open-ended and not specific to any legislation, we were specifically told, repeatedly, to speak on ANY and ALL issues at our facility. The guidance was to speak our TRUTH—our WHOLE TRUTH—allowing our activists to speak on any issues plaguing their facility, including pay and staffing.
The second half of NATCA in Washington is taking meetings with Congressional offices with the goal of meeting with every office nationwide. This recap will follow my team in Massachusetts, as that is where I’m the state coordinator. Please reach out to your Reps or state coordinator to hear more specifics about meetings in other states.
The MA visits were some of the most productive I’ve seen. Our shortest meeting was 30 minutes long. We met directly with Representatives Seth Moulton and Lori Trahan and their staff, and were able to meet with staff from offices of Representative McGovern, Keating, Auchincloss, Pressley, Lynch, Clark, and Senators Markey and Warren’s offices. In each of these offices, we spoke at length about how important our retirement is, on how pay has not kept up for years. We explained the “golden handcuffs” of retirement and the mental/physical strain of shift work and only 4 days off a month for a decade can have on someone. We discussed training and staffing issues, and relocation issues that impact hiring the “best and brightest”.
We helped them understand that hiring the “best and brightest” is tough, because the “best and brightest” can see a bad deal from the start. Pay needs to be addressed, and retirement needs to be secured. We told my personal story of working about 70 calendar days in a row last year because my overtime was on my RDOs mid shift, and I know many who had it as bad or worse than I did. We talked about the difficulties at BED and constant training and turnover, losing FAA controllers to DOD/contract positions for a better quality of life.
We talked about the suicide rates spiking over the past 2 years. We told their offices that when you ask a controller nowadays when they plan on retiring, most have the same answer, “The day I’m eligible.” We discussed the many challenges, including: pay, retention, hiring, firing, medical, retirement, mental health, which are all things we talk about in our buildings daily, and they listened. Each office was very receptive, they followed up with questions on many issues, from what the news says about DOGE to noise abatement.
These meetings made a difference, in some way or another, and each person there was able to share personal perspectives on many of the issues we face. I want to thank first time MA attendees Ben Nutter (BED) and Rebecca Dubois (BED) for their efforts to learn and engage. Also, thank you to MA veterans Steven Spiller (BOS) and Andy Brennan (retired BDL, now BAF), and Jason Holland (Region 10). The unique perspective each person had on this team let us address many issues in these meetings, and their efforts to improve the working conditions for all of us should not go unnoticed.
There is a reason we should be active with our Congressional leadership, and we should all support, at a minimum, staying in the conversation. Hope to see you all at next year’s event.
First-Time Experience
From Giordano Mancini-Wagner, BTV
As a first timer attending NiW, I was unsure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised by the friendly and inclusive culture of the event as soon as I arrived. NATCA ensured that every member in attendance was well educated on our goals, objectives, and expectations for the event, as well as giving us the tools and resources we needed.
While in DC, my team had meetings with Senators, Congress members, and their staff. We were able to successfully present NATCA’s message to the people who make the decisions on behalf of all Air Traffic Controllers. Upon leaving the event, I am now a member of the PAC, and have a new perspective on the importance of the work that is done at NiW. I would strongly encourage all new members to attend and will be in attendance myself for years to come.
