Facility Cleanliness:<\/strong> PASS raised your concerns about cleaning and disinfecting in the workplace, especially the equipment being used. Health officials report that the virus can live in the air for up to three hours, on cardboard for 24 hours, and metals and surfaces for three days. All equipment and surfaces should be wiped down before touching in addition to regular handwashing. The agency knows that a shortage of disinfecting products is a problem and they are working on it. More supplies should be en route to your facilities.<\/p>\nJanitorial contracts will be modified to increase the frequency of cleaning between shifts (including temporary bathrooms). In instances where a known exposure to COVID-19 has occurred, deep cleaning contracts will be standardized to ensure they meet Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines.<\/p>\n
We have been assured that the highest levels of the FAA are focusing on personal protective equipment that is in short supply nationwide. We will continue to press the agency to get this equipment to you as soon as possible.<\/p>\n
Testing for COVID-19:<\/strong> Many of you report not being able to get tested, but that falls under the jurisdiction of local and state health officials. However, we were informed today that the agency has put in a request to the Department of Health and Human Services that critical infrastructure employees in ATO should be added to the exception list for testing.<\/p>\nReturning to Work:<\/strong> The representative of AAM said they are discussing with the CDC how to bring back exposed employees after their 14-day self-quarantines have ended. PASS has been invited to join those calls.<\/p>\nMaintenance Moratorium:<\/strong> We reported over the weekend that a maintenance moratorium has been issued. This is not the equivalent of a holiday moratorium and log entries remain vitally important. Any periodic maintenance missed should be logged as code 55 on the next event to assure the system keeps the schedule on track. The agency is trying to remain flexible about which tasks are completed and is reviewing the logs daily to stay on top of what is critical. Some periodic maintenance may be taken off the schedule if deemed not critical.<\/p>\nMaintenance Logging Issues:<\/strong> PASS expressed concern about facilities, especially those in remote areas, that are having internet connectivity issues for the purpose of data entry. In these instances, we have been assured, paper logs are permitted.<\/p>\nUse of G-Cars:<\/strong> We asked about the more liberal use of government vehicles to reduce the risk of exposure. It was reiterated that there is no change to policy pertaining to the proper use of G-cars; however, the use of your POV may allow for more efficiencies and distancing from others in the workplace. It is always recommended that you wash your hands before and after using a G-car that is shared and to wipe down the handles and steering wheel before use.<\/p>\nSwaps:<\/strong> Many of you have raised the issue of not being able to swap shifts in order to isolate employees from one another as much as possible. The agency is going to consider increasing the level of review to make swaps happen more easily when requested.<\/p>\nI want to remind all that our collective bargaining agreements remain in full force and effect during this period. We will continue to protect your contractual rights and enforce the agency\u2019s obligations. This is obviously a unique period of time requiring both the FAA and PASS to approach situations in a different way than normal (for example, teleworking is much more available than ever before). We will continue to keep you apprised of decisions that are made because of the uniqueness and urgency of this situation.<\/p>\n
Another issue worth highlighting is that many state and local jurisdictions have issued strict stay-in-place orders that prohibit the movement of most in the population. The FAA is supposed to provide more guidance to FAA employees as how to handle such occurrences. You should discuss this with your management officials.<\/p>\n
Again, I want to thank all of you for the work you are doing to keep the NAS running as efficiently as possible even as the airlines are reducing flights. Our top priority is to protect you and your families and this improved and regular communication with the agency will help us to do that.<\/p>\n
In solidarity,<\/p>\n
Mike Perrone<\/p>\n
National President<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PASS Sisters and Brothers: As I told you over the weekend, we are now having daily calls with Tech Ops senior managers including the service area directors. Today, we were joined by a representative of the Office of Aerospace Medicine (AAM). Also starting today and going forward, the PASS National ATO OSH rep, Bob Seagrave, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainsite.maxesio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainsite.maxesio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainsite.maxesio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainsite.maxesio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainsite.maxesio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mainsite.maxesio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainsite.maxesio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainsite.maxesio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainsite.maxesio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}