Out of Control

In advance of contract negotiations with air traffic controllers next week, the FAA fired a shot across the bow of the controllers union yesterday, issuing a report concluding that labor costs account for 80 percent of the agency's operating budget and that the first three years of the 1998 labor contract cost five times more than initially projected, as "total controller compensation ballooned from $1.4 billion to nearly $2.4 billion." The least subtle line in the press release touting the report noted that controllers are "already among the highest paid civil servants."