[which is illegal, according to the Union]
Is what we can expect from our employers when we unionize, as technologists. Hardball tactics.
Good to see how it's played, to prep for that likely future, as our jobs will face restrictions with AI eventually replacing some of us, squeezing some humans out of the workplace.
I feel money is in its own reality.
>Good to see how it's played, to prep for that likely future,
For those that monitor critical infrastructure where down time is not allowed...just imagine your manager having to do that while you are on a picket line. Imagine the power you will have
That there aren't more strikes in the modern economy (until recently) was one sign of how unbalanced things were.
> An individual may not accept or hold a position in the Government of the United States or the government of the District of Columbia if he—
> (3)participates in a strike, or asserts the right to strike, against the Government of the United States or the government of the District of Columbia; or
[0]: https://casetext.com/case/stewart-v-washington
[1]: https://casetext.com/case/national-association-of-letter-car...
See: Rail workers' strike.
Though if a strike in another industry threatened the whole economy, no doubt that would quickly change.
Rasie our f***ing pay.
Opinions are my own and do not necessarily reflect the Federal Aviation Administration.
(I'm close to retirement eligibility, so instead of working until I'm 56 - the mandatory returement age, I'm going to retire sooner. Because there has been a struggle to hire an adequate number of controllers over the past decade or so, no one is really going to replace my vacancy which causes shortstaffing and everyone else to be that much more overworked, but when the FAA does fill that spot, it will be by someone who is not as good because people who would be better will be attracted by better salaries and work-life balance in other jobs.)
Or like a coworker said: a monkey can do our job 99% of the time, it's the other 1% where we earn our pay.
If I had a M-F/9-5, I wouldn't have the same issue about the pay, however there are 15,000 controllers across the U.S., and none of them have a M-F/9-5. If the U.S. airspce was restricted to M-F/9-5, then our economy would grind to a halt, billions if not trillions would be lost in productivity, our military would be tied with its hands behind its back, etc.
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I used to recommend ATC as a career for people, not anymore. I've heard of other controllers telling people that they convinced to become ATC that they're now sorry that they did. When talent leaves, and talent recomends to other talent to choose a different career, there's going to be problems down the road. The adoption of technological advancement over the past several decades in U.S. ATC has been abysmally-slow, I'm afraid it won't make up for the brain drain.
Pay a little more money now while there are still good controllers that can train future good controllers, or pay a lot more in other ways later when the talent is gone and can't come back.
Opinions are my own and not necessarily that of the Federal Aviation Administration.
This tactic is useful in ensuring that you always have a few people who can _probably_ keep the lights on, even if they are sub-optimally practiced at those systems.
Plenty of senior technologists acting as team leads would fall under one of those categories.
Maybe with lower level positions, but I think the trend in those is to automate them away.
There could be a future where base IT is like teamsters where no one can touch the WiFi unless they have a union card.
There are a lot of things that a union can do that would be nearly impossible for non-unionized employees to ask for.