Opinion ID: 186611
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The 2003 Bargaining Impasses and the FSIP

Text: 26 NATCA represents around 16,000 employees of the FAA. After a lengthy period of negotiating with the FAA on behalf of 11 bargaining units, involving approximately 1800 union members, the parties reached a bargaining impasse. When their attempt to reach resolution with the assistance of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service failed, NATCA filed a formal Request for Assistance from the Impasses Panel on July 8, 2003. During the same month, PASS filed a series of formal Requests for Assistance from the Panel when its efforts to negotiate with the FAA on behalf of four bargaining units, representing approximately 4000 FAA employees, had similarly stalled. 27 On September 22, 2003, the FAA responded by filing an objection to the FSIP's jurisdiction. Based on its interpretation of the provisions of the 1996 FAA Act, the FAA argued that the Unions' Requests for Assistance should be denied, because Congress had decreed that disputes between the FAA and its unions concerning changes to the Personnel Management System should be directed, first, to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, and then, if agreement cannot be reached, to Congress. The FSIP had no role to play, according to the FAA. In this case, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service procedure had been exhausted, so the proper remedy, the FAA argued, was for the FAA to make the required submission to Congress. 28 The Unions replied in turn that the FAA's construction of the 1996 FAA Act was wrong. The crux of the Unions' argument before the Panel was that 49 U.S.C. § 40122(a) governs procedures for negotiating changes to the Personnel Management System and that subsection (a) has no application in the context of recurring collective bargaining between the FAA and its unionized employees. And, further, according to the Unions, 49 U.S.C. § 40122(g) expressly confirms that Chapter 71, which governs labor-management relations, applies to collective bargaining disputes between the FAA and unions representing agency employees. 29 On January 9, 2004, the Panel issued its decisions. In each case, the Panel explained that [a]fter due consideration of the request for assistance ... the Panel in accordance with its regulations, 5 C.F.R. § 2471.6(a)(1), declines to assert jurisdiction because it is unclear whether the Panel has the authority to resolve the parties' impasse. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, Washington, DC and NATCA, AFL-CIO, Case No. 03 FSIP 144 at 1 (Jan. 9, 2004), reprinted in J.A. 25 ( NATCA Decision ); Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, Washington, DC and PASS, AFL-CIO, Case Nos. 03 FSIP 149, 150, 151, and 157 at 1 (Jan. 9, 2004), reprinted in J.A. 29 ( PASS Decision ). The Panel found that the FAA ha[d] raised arguable questions concerning whether the Panel has the authority to resolve collective bargaining disputes over the compensation and benefits of FAA's bargaining-unit employees. NATCA Decision at 3, reprinted in J.A. 27; PASS Decision at 4, reprinted in J.A. 32. The Panel thus concluded that the various statutory provisions subject to conflicting interpretations[ ] must be addressed in an appropriate forum before the Panel commits its resources to assist the parties in resolving the merits of their impasse. NATCA Decision at 4, reprinted in J.A. 28 (emphasis added); accord PASS Decision at 4, reprinted in J.A. 32. The Panel assured the parties that its determination would not prejudice any party's right to file another request for assistance should an appropriate forum determine that the FSIP indeed continues to have jurisdiction over collective bargaining disputes between the FAA and the Unions over compensation and benefits. Id. The FSIP's Letter to PASS added that its determination was neither an explicit nor implicit endorsement of the FAA's statutory interpretation. See PASS Decision at 4 n. 4, reprinted in J.A. 32 n. 4. 30 On January 30, 2004, the Unions filed suit against the FSIP and the Authority in the District Court. The Unions sought a declaration that the Panel's decisions violated its mandatory statutory duties under 5 U.S.C. § 7119 and thereby deprived NATCA, PASS, and the affected FAA employees of their statutory rights. See Nat'l Air Traffic Controllers Ass'n v. Fed. Serv. Impasses Panel, CA No. 04-138, 2005 WL 418016, at  (D.D.C. Feb. 22, 2005). The Unions also sought an order directing the Panel to provide assistance in resolving the Unions' impasses with the FAA. Apparently, that same day, in accordance with the procedures set forth in 49 U.S.C. § 40122(a)(2), the FAA submitted to Congress its final bargaining proposals for the 11 NATCA-represented units, together with a statement that it intended to impose the agency's proposed changes sixty days following the transmittal. 31 On February 22, 2005, the District Court granted summary judgment to the FSIP and the FLRA, holding that it lacked jurisdiction under Leedom to entertain the Unions' complaints. The Unions filed a timely notice of appeal on March 9, 2005. On June 10, 2005, the FAA notified NATCA that it intended to implement the terms and conditions of employment that the agency had submitted to Congress. Subsequent developments indicate that the dispute between NATCA and the FAA is now moot. The parties agree, however, that the dispute between PASS and the FAA is not moot, because bargaining between PASS and the FAA remains at an impasse, just where it was in 2003.