Controller Stages Informational Picket

Jeff Gaffney, local president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, cut a lonely figure at Richmond's airport yesterday.

Standing in an assigned space away from the front entrance, Gaffney handed out bookmarks to airport employees heading to work.

"I do hope they get a raise and we can keep the old guys," said one airline worker who declined to give her name.

The union says its labor-contract impasse with the Federal Aviation Administration will spur one in four controllers - nearly 4,000 members - to retire by the end of next year. A staffing shortage could disrupt airport operations, the union says.

Despite reaching some workers, the union leader was missing his target audience of arriving passengers. They drove by without stopping, and he didn't have any placards to get their attention.

"Gosh darn, if we could get to the actual users of the airspace system and get them educated, I'd think the airport would support that," said the soft-spoken Gaffney.

Airport police issued a permit keeping the informational picket several hundred feet from the terminal's entrance. That was consistent with previous requests from unions, airport officials said.

Gaffney's leaflet highlighted the dispute between the nation's 15,000 air-traffic controllers and the FAA, which oversees the nation's airspace and airports.

Congress has until June 5 to take up a bill that would force both sides to return to the table. The FAA made its final offer in April. The union gained the support of Rep. Robert C. Scott, D-3rd, who has backed the bill.

Gaffney has not swayed the two other area congressmen whose constituents use Richmond International Airport - Reps. Eric I. Cantor, R-7th, and J. Randy Forbes, R-4th.

"Congressman Cantor still hopes that both sides can find a solution that benefits the controllers, the controllers' families and the flying public who the controllers work hard to keep safe," Geoff Embler, Cantor's press secretary, said in a statement.

Forbes praised the work of the air-traffic specialists but said he opposes the bill for economic reasons.

Forbes said base pay for controllers was $113,615 last year, with total compensation of $166,000. Union officials say the average pay is $105,000 and argue that their total pay package - including health care - is standard for federal workers.

"While I am concerned about the retiring controller population and want to ensure that we can meet the needs of the next generation of air-system controllers, it has been estimated that the demands by the NATCA would cost taxpayers an additional $600 million," Forbes said.

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