Air traffic controller union is … out of control

As the air traffic control crisis drags on, putting lives in danger and snarling logistics at key travel hubs, a new villain has emerged: the controllers union.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy came up with a smart, fast fix to the immediate staffing crisis (which brings serious safety concerns as well as delayed/cancelled flight chaos): keep senior controllers working a bit longer.

He’d offer cash bonuses to controllers below the mandatory retirement age of 56 to keep them on the job, and maybe work out waivers so some could serve past 56 until turning 61.

(He has other, longer-term plans as well, including moving fast to address the aging-equipment mess left behind by his Biden-era predecessor, Pete Buttigieg.)

Extra pay for crucial work, on a totally voluntary basis with an eye to ending a terrible and worsening problem: Who could have a problem with that?

Why, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association: The union hates the idea, and has voted to punish any controller who signs a waiver with a seniority cap (i.e., you stop accruing seniority the day you take Duffy’s offer). 

The union’s rationale: “Each waiver puts early retirement at risk by showing the Agency [the FAA] and Congress that mandatory retirement is unnecessary.”

That is, a policy that plays a crucial role in driving controller shortages might be “unnecessary,” and NATCA doesn’t want that fact exposed: It would rather the crisis continue.

And the union has the chutzpah to state this publicly.

Looks like President Ronald Reagan didn’t go far enough after smashing PATCO, the original controllers union: He should’ve salted the earth rather than let NATCA form. 

Via NATCA, todays controllers are acting neither in the best interests of the taxpayers who cover their salaries nor the air travellers whose safety they are responsible for. 

Duffy and the president need to hit back twice as hard, before this crisis spirals fully out of control.