Federal Aviation Administration

FAA ready to negotiate air traffic controllers’ pay and benefits

The FAA's Administrator, Bryan Bedford, did not directly answer whether the Trump administration's threats to fire controllers for taking sick leave during the shutdown had affected their morale.

Photo: Sean Duffy

In a hearing before the United States House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee (T&I), Bryand Bedford, the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), has said that he is ready to negotiate air traffic controllers’ pay and benefits, saying that the controllers’ union’s President has his personal number.

Responding to a question by Valerie Foushee, a Democrat from North Carolina, who said that members of the National ATC Association (NATCA) had expressed difficulties in getting updates about staffing levels and asked whether Bedford would commit to providing regular and timely ATC staffing level updates, Bedford said that Nick Daniels, the President of NATCA, has “my personal number.”

“If he needs information, I am available to him and the rest of the team at NATCA,” Bedford continued, adding that he thought that they “have a good relationship.” The FAA’s head promised that “collaboration will be better,” noting that both sides have “some serious issues that we need to address within our collective bargaining agreement [CBA].”

“Things that they, I think, want to address in terms of pay and benefits, and things that we need to address in terms of staffing efficiencies and training.”

However, Bedford warned that there is “a lot of work to do there,” highlighting that there is no “magical fix” to alleviate the controller staffing shortages faced by the FAA. “[…] certainly, it is going to require a strong partnership between [the FAA] and the union to get it done.”

During his election campaign, Daniels promised to address pay issues, but “the second he was elected, [he] shifted completely toward equipment,” a controller previously told The Engine Cowl. In one of his pre-election campaign videos, Daniels remarked that NATCA would not be “worth our salt as a union” if it did not improve the conditions of the CBA that was signed in July 2016 and later extended to July 2026.

At the same time, Bedford echoed similar statements by Donald Trump, the President of the US, and Sean Duffy, the Secretary of Transportation, about controllers who took sick leave during the 43-day shutdown between October 1 and November 12.

“[The] FAA was short-handed prior to the lapse in funding. No one can argue that the lapse in funding was anything other than painful for those federal workers who were called to work without pay for what turned out to be the longest, six-week shutdown in history,” Bedford stated.

The FAA’s Administrator noted that “nobody wants to see it happen again,” adding that federal employees do have an obligation to show up to work, even if they are unpaid for their time. “It is illegal for our controllers to have a job action,” or a strike, Bedford pointed out.

“We saw two facilities at the very end of the lapse, where we had ATC Zero because none of the controllers showed up for work. So, we do have to ask some tough questions, […] was that a job action, and if it was, it is just not tolerable.”

Bedford was then again pushed by Hillary Scholten, a Democrat from Michigan, about Trump and Duffy’s threats to fire people if they did not show up to work during the shutdown. “I mean, people get sick during a government shutdown, threatening to fire them and making people afraid, forcing them to potentially come to work when they are under the weather, do you think that has an impact on morale?”

In response, Bedford said that Scholten mischaracterized Duffy’s words, with Scholten immediately responding that Duffy “specifically threatened to fire people if they did take sick [leave].”

“The question here is whether you think that has an impact on morale. I have certainly heard from ATCs directly that it has, and I am curious if that has risen to your level.”

Bedford answered that the FAA’s culture “needs a reset,” and one of the way to do so was to “talk about how can we support our people,” including hiring the “right” and the “best” people, and “give them the best training, the best tools, and that is what we are focused on doing right now.”

With Scholten’s time running out during the hearing, she did not press Bedford further following his answer, pivoting toward a question about the need for a new tower at Gerald R. Ford International Airport (GRR) in Grand Rapids, Michigan.