You don't understand? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/confused.gif

David, we've now even named the airport after "him"! What's to understand? He does n wrong! It's just incredible! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Mike,

A full and complete response would be so far off track from what belongs on this board, so I'm not going to go too much into detail. But I will hit a few points.

First, I'd love to see the academy running at full capacity in the way it was designed, which was as a screening facility, not as a training facility. The training that the academy did for centers was a three-week long introduction to radar. Most centers stopped having students take this class at the academy about 12 years ago. So now, yes, the recruits come straight from Minnesota to centers. Even while this class was offered, and if it is still offered for some centers, it can't really qualify as training when a controller needs to go back to their facility and train on the job for 2-3 years with someone watching their every move. In the old days, the academy would fail more than half of the people who entered for the basic three-month ATC course that started controllers' careers. This was a great way to screen applicants who didn't have the aptitude. For centers and, I believe, for most of the other specialties, this screening process has long passed by the wayside. The result being less-qualified and less-talented controllers.

As for the pay, you're right, you're not going to go back and get a retroactive pay raise for a position you did not hold, nor will your pay be as a high as it would be if you never left your field facility. So, yes, in some ways you got a raw deal. If you did go back though, in most cases you're going to get some raise and continue to earn at higher levels than in your present position.

One of the motivating factors in the pay reclassification was that many field facilities couldn't get staffing. Now, for the first time since the strike, previously hard-to-staff facilities such as Oakland Center are having a better time attracting and retaining controllers and morale has shown a marked improvement. If you go back to a pay scale similar to the old one, the same staffing problems will return. Why work traffic when you can sit at a desk and make the same money?

I don't begrudge your efforts. However, I felt this thread was inappropriate here as it packaged a pay issue as a safety issue and tried to frighten frequent fliers into action on what is an internal pay issue. Though you try to present it as an equal pay/equal work issue, it's not. Nor was it a crack in the system, it was a deliberate move to get controllers working airplanes.

I sincerely wish you good luck with your efforts. BTW, I'm not a controller.




[This message has been edited by letiole (edited 10-11-2000).]

Letiole,

I'm really TRYING to let this thread die http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif But.. I do need to make one more clarification: Mike is my brother and the author of the document in the link from the first post. I posted it here - without Mike's knowledge - and I assure you I was not trying to "package" this discussion as anything and I certainly wasn't motivated to frighten anyone! I thank you for your input. I am always open to debate on this or other issues because I take interest in issues that exist around me. I posted this - after consulting with a very senior participant on this board - on the off chance that others might find it a different kind of issue and perhaps share my viewpoint. It is sufficiently complex and arcane that I wasn't sure anyone would even bother really reading it! I certainly was not expecting a "go girl" response.

If you will view my history here, I have been supportive of logic, fairness, and relationships. I have made an effort to make thoughtful or useful contributions on FT, and I believe I'm undeserving of an attack on my motivations and the implication that I am somehow trying to manipulate my friends at FlyerTalk.

This is absolutely my last post on this thread. In the words of a sage philosopher.. "let it go, Louie"!

Not Louis Fletcher! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif