saintex2002

— Air traffic controller news — In short, air traffic controllers are *still* waiting to be back paid their 2.8% raise for time worked Jan. 11 through mid-October. It’s the *latest* setback for the nation’s 11,000 controllers. FAA did not comment for our story and NATCA directed questions about the delay to FAA, making it difficult to understand why the already appropriated money is delayed, again, when they knew since April they would have to backpay thousands of employees. In the midst of this, Bryan Bedford is not testifying before Congress today… In April, Congress funded a modest 2.8% raise for controllers. When I asked @FAA_Bryan in August why it hadn’t been paid out, he said FAA was trying to unlock more productivity, which House and Senate Dems decried as a bogus excuse in September, given that 90% of 313 air traffic control facilities nationwide are severely understaffed, many controllers work 60/hr weeks, every week, not my choice. In October, the NATCA union and FAA came to an agreement to pay out the raise and backpay following our continued reporting on it. Now… controllers were told by the union they would see their backpay hit starting Nov. 5, but they opened their paychecks and realized nothing had changed. The FAA would not comment. One controller told me the backpay would cover the cost of a repair to a leaking roof. That controller’s hopes were dashed last week.