Negotiations between FAA, controllers near breakdown

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association said Friday that talks on a new labor contract with the Federal Aviation Administration had broken down.

"Contract talks are over," National Air Traffic Controllers Association spokesman Doug Church told the Associated Press.

FAA spokesman Greg Martin countered that neither side in the negotiations had declared a formal impasse. The two sides are scheduled to meet again Tuesday. Church characterized that meeting as a formality at which no substantive negotiating would take place.

The talks over a new agreement covering about 14,000 controllers began in July The existing labor contract expired Sept. 30, 2003, but was extended for two years with minor changes.

FAA administrators say labor costs account for 80 percent of their operating budget, which they are trying to reduce as the aviation industry declines. Air traffic controllers are among the highest paid workers in the government, earning two and a half times the salaries of other FAA unionized workers, the agency has said.

Agency negotiators also argue that while the overall number of controllers has remained flat in recent years, the agency's compensation budget has grown. Last July, agency officials estimated that the average controller salary for 2005 was $165,000.

Such figures "are simply inflated by using standard federal benefits" as part of compensation, NATCA President John Carr said last year. Carr added that controllers' salaries compensate for shorter career spans resulting from high job stress.

Under federal law, the FAA can send its final contract offer to Congress when an impasse occurs. Congress then has 60 days to intercede, but if that time passes without action, the FAA offer becomes final.

Four Democratic senators unveiled legislation in January that would tighten the impasse rules. The bill would send unresolved negotiations to binding arbitration if Congress does not intervene.