Too Few Eyes on the Sky?

With a skirmish over privatization settled for now, Federal Aviation Administration unions are fighting over staffing requirements. In November, FAA Administrator Marion Blakey pledged a one-year moratorium on air traffic control privatization. It expires Oct. 30. "Our only fight right now is the staffing issue," says spokesman Doug Church of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. NATCA estimates that more than half of the nation's 15,000 air traffic controllers will be eligible to retire by 2011, and it claims FAA is not doing enough to prepare.

The union repeatedly has expressed concern about insufficient staffing at the Elgin, Ill., approach control center for Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. NATCA says controller stress is rising with the workload-a record 1.4 million operations in 2002. FAA says the Chicago center is almost fully staffed with about 100 controllers, but NATCA says one-quarter of them are trainees who must work with a fully trained controller at all times. With controllers working mandatory six-day weeks, errors increased from four in 2002 to 24 through October 2003, the union notes. January brought news reports that Elgin controllers are handling up to 118 landings per hour during peak travel times. FAA agreed to hire three more, but sent a team to evaluate the facility first.

Employees who maintain and certify the air traffic control system have similar worries. In March, a federal arbitrator found FAA in violation of a staffing agreement with the Professional Airways Systems Specialists union. The ranks of inspectors and technicians had fallen below 6,100, and PASS had filed a grievance. The arbitrator ordered FAA to hire about 200 workers to meet the safety minimum.