1st Contract Since Firings : Air Traffic Controllers in Accord With FAA

Air traffic controllers have reached tentative agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration on their first union contract since President Reagan fired 11,400 controllers in 1981.

“It’s a clear victory for both the FAA and the union,” said union President R. Steve Bell, who predicted easy approval of the agreement by the National Air Traffic Controllers Assn.’s 7,000 members. They make up just over half of the nationwide controller work force.

“It represents a new spirit of cooperation between labor and management at FAA, in sharp contrast to past problems,” said FAA spokesman John G. Leyden.

The tentative contract was signed late Thursday after a third round of talks in Baltimore, Md. The negotiations began in Washington in November.

The union won the right to represent the 13,000 controllers in June, 1987. The former union, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization, was forced into bankruptcy and decertified after Reagan’s mass firings of most of its members during the strike.

The contract does not cover salaries, which are set by Congress, or any matter that would significantly increase cost of the operation.

It covers some working conditions, guaranteeing breaks for employees and changes in working positions after every two hours. The controllers monitor and control air traffic at about 400 installations around the country.

The contract also sets up several committees on safety, technology and other matters, a development that union negotiator Elizabeth Thomas of Tamiami, Fla., said would give the union more involvement in FAA decision making.

Among provisions are participation of the union in accident investigations that involve a controller’s actions, immunity for controllers who report deficiencies in the system, local and national committees on keeping a safe workplace, and evaluation of possibly setting up a program to deal with job stress.

Controllers earn between $19,000 and $55,000 a year, depending on experience and the number of operations conducted at their assigned facilities.