Get to Know AFL-CIO's Affiliates: National Air Traffic Controllers Association – AFL-CIO
This is the next post in our series that will take a deeper look at each of our affiliates. The series will run weekly until we’ve covered all 63 of our affiliates. Next up is the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA).
Name of Union: National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Mission: To advance the status, professionalism, pay, benefits and working conditions of all air traffic controllers and other aviation safety-related employees through collective bargaining, political action and other lawful concerted activity.
Current Leadership of Union: Nick Daniels was elected the eighth president of NATCA in October 2024. Prior to being elected president, Daniels served on NATCA’s National Executive Board as regional vice president for the Southwest Region. Daniels has worked as an air traffic controller for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for 21 years, including the last 19 years at Fort Worth Air Route Traffic Control Center, where he served three terms as NATCA local president and facility representative, and two years at Dallas-Addison Air Traffic Control Tower. Prior to joining the FAA, Daniels served his country from 1998 through 2003 in the United States Marine Corps, achieving the rank of E-5 Sergeant as a 7252 Tower Air Traffic Controller and a 7253 Radar Air Traffic Controller. Daniels was honorably discharged.
Mick Devine serves as NATCA’s executive vice president. Daniels, Devine and 10 regional vice presidents make up NATCA’s National Executive Board.
Number of Members: Nearly 20,000
Members Work as: Air traffic controllers, aircraft certification specialists, automation support specialists, aviation technical system specialists, Department of Defense air traffic controllers, Drug Abatement Division/Compliance and Enforcement Branch inspectors, engineers and architects, federal contract tower air traffic controllers, financial management, flight procedures team, flight service specialists, Regional Counsel’s Office/Legal Division, staff support specialists, traffic management coordinators, traffic management specialists, and U.S. Notice To Airmen (NOTAM) office specialists.
Industries Represented: Air traffic controllers throughout the federal and private sectors and other aviation safety professionals working for the FAA.
History: In 1968, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) formed. The union represented air traffic controllers until 1981, when members went on strike, and President Ronald Reagan fired everyone on strike.
In the mid-1980s, with the help of AFGE, the Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association (MEBA) and John Thornton, who had been active in PATCO, FAA controllers began organizing a new union to bring solidarity back to the profession. The NATCA founding convention was held in late 1986. In 1987, NATCA was certified by the Federal Labor Relations Authority as the exclusive representative of air traffic controllers.
Because of the organization’s history, NATCA’s organizers understood how politics can affect federal employees’ rights, pay and working conditions. Since its founding, NATCA has worked to become a legislative and political powerhouse. Throughout the 1990s, NATCA worked tirelessly to transform pay for controllers, working with Congress to exclude the FAA from the statutory pay system in 1996 and ultimately negotiating a new pay system based on air traffic volume and complexity in 1998.
The same year, NATCA became a direct affiliate of the AFL-CIO and organized the FAA’s Engineers and Architects bargaining unit, its first unit of non-operational FAA employees.
In 2006, after several months of bargaining, the FAA walked away from the table in order to exploit a provision of the 1996 collective bargaining law and, on Labor Day weekend, unilaterally imposed terms and conditions of employment, including a pay cut for new hires by more than 30%. This attempt at union-busting only made NATCA stronger, as members rallied and became more politically active.
Shortly after President Barack Obama was sworn in, he ordered the parties back to the table, and a fair collective bargaining agreement was reached in short order. NATCA then moved forward with a half million grievances that had reached the arbitration stage during the imposed work rules.
NATCA worked hard to change the law to ensure that no work rules would ever be imposed again, and Congress passed binding mediation and arbitration for all future negotiations.
The 2009 agreement allowed NATCA to forge a new collaborative relationship with the FAA as they worked together to develop and implement new technologies and procedures to make the National Airspace System (NAS) safer and more efficient. The parties developed the Partnership for Safety, which includes programs to address safety concerns in operations, fatigue education and awareness, management of distractions in the NAS, and professional standards, among other topics.
Always pushing the envelope for federal sector bargaining, NATCA signed off on an agreement with the FAA in 2016 that formalized the collaborative process to ensure that it would not be subject to political winds.
Current Campaigns/Community Efforts: Every day, NATCA members control more than 70,000 flights carrying 2 million passengers and millions of tons of cargo through the NAS. Most of NATCA’s members are federal employees, and NATCA fights to protect federal workers and their rights. NATCA has long advocated for accurate staffing targets for certified professional controllers—the journeyman level of the profession—to meet the FAA’s operational, statutory and contractual needs. The vast majority of the FAA’s 313 air traffic facilities are currently understaffed. NATCA has also raised concerns about the need to modernize both the facilities where controllers work and the equipment that they use to maintain the safest, most complex, most efficient airspace system in the world.
Although NATCA is busy with its advocacy efforts 365 days a year, its advocacy culminates each year at its annual lobbying event, NATCA in Washington.
NATCA’s commitment to safety and training is on display each year with its Communicating For Safety (CFS) event, which has become the industry’s leading aviation safety conference. At CFS, NATCA presents the Archie League Medal of Safety Awards and the Region X Commitment to Safety Award to recognize the best saves by controllers and other aviation safety professionals each year.
Learn More: Website, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, X
© 2025 AFL-CIO. All rights reserved.
source
This article was autogenerated from a news feed from CDO TIMES selected high quality news and research sources. There was no editorial review conducted beyond that by CDO TIMES staff. Need help with any of the topics in our articles? Schedule your free CDO TIMES Tech Navigator call today to stay ahead of the curve and gain insider advantages to propel your business!
Name of Union: National Air Traffic Controllers Association
Mission: To advance the status, professionalism, pay, benefits and working conditions of all air traffic controllers and other aviation safety-related employees through collective bargaining, political action and other lawful concerted activity.
Current Leadership of Union: Nick Daniels was elected the eighth president of NATCA in October 2024. Prior to being elected president, Daniels served on NATCA’s National Executive Board as regional vice president for the Southwest Region. Daniels has worked as an air traffic controller for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for 21 years, including the last 19 years at Fort Worth Air Route Traffic Control Center, where he served three terms as NATCA local president and facility representative, and two years at Dallas-Addison Air Traffic Control Tower. Prior to joining the FAA, Daniels served his country from 1998 through 2003 in the United States Marine Corps, achieving the rank of E-5 Sergeant as a 7252 Tower Air Traffic Controller and a 7253 Radar Air Traffic Controller. Daniels was honorably discharged.
Mick Devine serves as NATCA’s executive vice president. Daniels, Devine and 10 regional vice presidents make up NATCA’s National Executive Board.
Number of Members: Nearly 20,000
Members Work as: Air traffic controllers, aircraft certification specialists, automation support specialists, aviation technical system specialists, Department of Defense air traffic controllers, Drug Abatement Division/Compliance and Enforcement Branch inspectors, engineers and architects, federal contract tower air traffic controllers, financial management, flight procedures team, flight service specialists, Regional Counsel’s Office/Legal Division, staff support specialists, traffic management coordinators, traffic management specialists, and U.S. Notice To Airmen (NOTAM) office specialists.
Industries Represented: Air traffic controllers throughout the federal and private sectors and other aviation safety professionals working for the FAA.
History: In 1968, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) formed. The union represented air traffic controllers until 1981, when members went on strike, and President Ronald Reagan fired everyone on strike.
In the mid-1980s, with the help of AFGE, the Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association (MEBA) and John Thornton, who had been active in PATCO, FAA controllers began organizing a new union to bring solidarity back to the profession. The NATCA founding convention was held in late 1986. In 1987, NATCA was certified by the Federal Labor Relations Authority as the exclusive representative of air traffic controllers.
Because of the organization’s history, NATCA’s organizers understood how politics can affect federal employees’ rights, pay and working conditions. Since its founding, NATCA has worked to become a legislative and political powerhouse. Throughout the 1990s, NATCA worked tirelessly to transform pay for controllers, working with Congress to exclude the FAA from the statutory pay system in 1996 and ultimately negotiating a new pay system based on air traffic volume and complexity in 1998.
The same year, NATCA became a direct affiliate of the AFL-CIO and organized the FAA’s Engineers and Architects bargaining unit, its first unit of non-operational FAA employees.
In 2006, after several months of bargaining, the FAA walked away from the table in order to exploit a provision of the 1996 collective bargaining law and, on Labor Day weekend, unilaterally imposed terms and conditions of employment, including a pay cut for new hires by more than 30%. This attempt at union-busting only made NATCA stronger, as members rallied and became more politically active.
Shortly after President Barack Obama was sworn in, he ordered the parties back to the table, and a fair collective bargaining agreement was reached in short order. NATCA then moved forward with a half million grievances that had reached the arbitration stage during the imposed work rules.
NATCA worked hard to change the law to ensure that no work rules would ever be imposed again, and Congress passed binding mediation and arbitration for all future negotiations.
The 2009 agreement allowed NATCA to forge a new collaborative relationship with the FAA as they worked together to develop and implement new technologies and procedures to make the National Airspace System (NAS) safer and more efficient. The parties developed the Partnership for Safety, which includes programs to address safety concerns in operations, fatigue education and awareness, management of distractions in the NAS, and professional standards, among other topics.
Always pushing the envelope for federal sector bargaining, NATCA signed off on an agreement with the FAA in 2016 that formalized the collaborative process to ensure that it would not be subject to political winds.
Current Campaigns/Community Efforts: Every day, NATCA members control more than 70,000 flights carrying 2 million passengers and millions of tons of cargo through the NAS. Most of NATCA’s members are federal employees, and NATCA fights to protect federal workers and their rights. NATCA has long advocated for accurate staffing targets for certified professional controllers—the journeyman level of the profession—to meet the FAA’s operational, statutory and contractual needs. The vast majority of the FAA’s 313 air traffic facilities are currently understaffed. NATCA has also raised concerns about the need to modernize both the facilities where controllers work and the equipment that they use to maintain the safest, most complex, most efficient airspace system in the world.
Although NATCA is busy with its advocacy efforts 365 days a year, its advocacy culminates each year at its annual lobbying event, NATCA in Washington.
NATCA’s commitment to safety and training is on display each year with its Communicating For Safety (CFS) event, which has become the industry’s leading aviation safety conference. At CFS, NATCA presents the Archie League Medal of Safety Awards and the Region X Commitment to Safety Award to recognize the best saves by controllers and other aviation safety professionals each year.
Learn More: Website, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, X
© 2025 AFL-CIO. All rights reserved.
source
This article was autogenerated from a news feed from CDO TIMES selected high quality news and research sources. There was no editorial review conducted beyond that by CDO TIMES staff. Need help with any of the topics in our articles? Schedule your free CDO TIMES Tech Navigator call today to stay ahead of the curve and gain insider advantages to propel your business!
