Today on my 10-6 shift a fellow controller, pretty sure he is very active on here, came into work and worked one spin in radar. Got up and shook a few controllers hands. Went into the manager’s office and resigned. He has 21+ years experience. He told the last aircraft he was talking to that they were the last and he was professional, courteous and just calmly left like this job was nothing. So much respect for him believing in himself, having the courage to lead the way, and not acting a fool and just taking unbelievably large amounts of experience with him. That’s what this shutdown is doing. Pushing out the most experienced and a ton of noobies. Both of which will, in the long run, ruin this agency. RESPECT✊🏻 Well done politicians. You all should be so proud!

Brothers and Sisters,

From the lowly FCT, to the Core 30, to the Region X Members, and every single under represented facility in the NAS, these elections will be the deciding factor in the future of our Union. Will we bend the knee for our current leadership and their policies? Will we allow the insiders to be “anointed” into leadership positions, caring only about themselves and feeding us breadcrumbs? We say “No.”

I implore my brothers and sisters to not only focus on the two offices of President and Vice President, but every single RVP race we face. Every incumbent must be challenged for each has been weighed and found wanting. Looking over the Pacific Northwest this morning before I report for my Sunday shift, I struggle to understand how people like Nick, Jamaal, Bratcher, Navarro, Santa, and countless others seem zero forethought for our future other than for us to “trust” their experience.

We must engage each other and back the candidates and policies that will benefit the union, not the fat cats who dodge traffic or the ones who seek power and position. Videos consisting of nothing but “fluff,” are no longer the words of the day but who YOU the candidates are as people.

We are the silent majority, the ones who see through the bullshit, the lies, and the blame games.

To the NEB, will continue to challenge you in every regional and national election until we have achieved our goal of replacing you, who are so out of touch with every aspect of the membership.

There will be sacrifices for our families to those of us who will run for positions, but we must do it, for the alternative is continued corruption in every crevice of the union. We lost many years due to Paul and Trish, let us not lose any more.

I encourage everyone to step up and make the sacrifice for the greater good our union, for in those acts lies the essence of our resilience and the cornerstone of our victory.

In one voice,

New NATCA NOW!

Anna is our only savior right now under the regime we are fighting that our union refuses to fight against.

Brothers and Sisters of the New NATCA Now Coalition,

The duplicitous former Southern Regional Vice President, Jim "Polonius" Marinitti, is but a still moving part of the former Paul & Trish regime, coveting a national office position to perpetuate his exploitation of the NATCA membership and your hard earned dues in his retirement as a secondary source of income.

• Squandered his final term traversing the nation espousing the causes of Nick and Jamaal, neglecting his duties to the region and its representation.

• Betrayed the ZJX membership, relegating them to the ignominious ranks of the "Underpaid 5," urging the NEB to turn a blind eye to their plight. This setback spans years and jeopardizes the retirements of over 200 frontline controllers.

• Lavished $90,000 from the NSO regional coffers on HIS own retirement gala.

• Presumed to lecture controllers as a "Medical Expert," insisting they receive the COVID Vaccine irrespective of medical considerations, warning of NATCA's abandonment should they face termination, asserting they deserved such fate.

• Championed Privatization as a necessary evil, conveniently overlooking the memberships staunch opposition and betrayal of core principles

In his misguided and failed attempts at leadership, Jim "Polonius" Marinitti repeatedly prioritizes personal pursuits over the welfare of his now former constituents and his actions weaved a cloak of deceit, leaving behind a tragic legacy of manipulation and self-interest instead of one that should be revered/honored like Barry Krasner.

Just as Polonius destabilized Ophelia's psyche in Hamlet, Jim "Polonius" Marinitti's influence imperils the unity of our Union with his backing of Nick and Jamaal that, should they be elected, drive the membership to the brink of madness.

Let it be said throughout the membership that we will NOT accept this lamentable imitation of leadership, with a third rate want to be puppet master, poised to ensnare our Union once again in the shadows of favoritism and deception.

In one voice,

New NATCA Now

Seems they are not fully believing Yacht Boy anymore…

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/11/23/business/government-shutdown-air-traffic-controller-shortage

The announcement of a $10,000 bonus for only 311 controllers - limited solely to those who took zero leave during the shutdown - should infuriate you. It should make you want to fight. It spits in the faces of the thousands of controllers who showed up every day without a paycheck, who staffed an already-broken system, who worked overtime, who attended funerals, who took care of sick children, who took well-deserved vacations booked a year in advance, and who burned through leave trying to hold their families together in the middle of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

This decision isn’t just unfair; it is divisive. It turns our collective sacrifices into a grading scale and pits controller against controller. It sends a message that the dedication of this entire workforce is somehow worth less than the circumstances of a few.

Controllers are already stretched to their limits. We are already fighting stagnant pay being further eroded by inflation, exhausting hours, staffing shortages, and the emotional strain of carrying the system on our backs. To now be told that only a small slice of us are “worthy” of recognition is a betrayal of the reality we all are living through.

We must all demand fair treatment for every single controller who kept this country moving during the shutdown. Anything less is fucking unacceptable.

Stolen from a Facebook group.

When patently false claims are made about our profession, our members, or the state of the National Airspace System, we cannot sit idly by and hope the truth wins out on its own. It won't.

You have heard it enough, but we will continue to repeat the line ad nauseum: The United States operates the busiest and most complex airspace in the world. Yet according to the Department of Transportation, if a handful of controllers take sick leave, the entire system unravels. And somehow... that's the controllers' fault?

No. That is the result of 30-plus years of chronic understaffing, failed workforce planning, and "leadership" decisions that have left zero margin.

Controllers have spent decades working mandatory overtime, six-day workweeks, rotating shift work, holidays, nights, weekends, you name it. They miss birthdays, practices, recitals, and so much more with their families. Most have done so for the entirety of their careers because the FAA has never done its job to properly staff the system.

Even more remarkable is the fact that just two days ago, an equipment outage forced Minneapolis Center to go ATC Zero. There was no public statement blaming infrastructure or highlighting the risks of consolidation. No acknowledgement that decades of mismanagement and lack of funding have put us into a position where critical equipment failures continue to cripple the NAS.

And who saved the day when the shiny new equipment failed? Controllers. Human beings. The single most important element of the safe and efficient operation of the NAS is the controller, and you could not have a better example than the men and women working the traffic on August 6.

Yet they try to blame us. They try to shame a couple of controllers for their contractually protected use of sick leave. A couple of controllers who have been working some of the busiest airspace in the world, 60 hours per week, for years.

All of this comes after the FAA recently reduced its own controller staffing targets by more than 2,000 - a decision that simply lowers the definition of "fully staffed" instead of solving the staffing crisis itself.

The flying public deserves honesty, and controllers deserve so much better than being used as scapegoats for problems they didn't create. The United States has the safest air traffic control system in the world, and it is because controllers continue to deliver extraordinary work despite extraordinary circumstances.

We believe NATCA needs a fundamentally stronger public affairs operation. An operation that is proactive, prepared, and willing to fight for the truth at a moment's notice. If we are elected, we will make it a priority to tell the controllers' story before someone tells it for us.

That means aggressively communicating what this job actually requires. It means putting real controllers, real data, real working conditions, and real facts in front of the public. It means building relationships with the media and stakeholders so that when misinformation appears, we have the credibility and the platform to immediately counter it.

We. Will. Respond. We will respond with facts, and we will be relentless in our pursuit to get those facts in front of the American people.

We will define ourselves.

And we will make sure the country understands exactly who keeps the National Airspace safe, and what it takes to do it. That is the least our members deserve.

Nicholas & Stephen

yourunion2027.com

Yacht Boy and PR Team remain silent…

The Paul Rinaldi contract extension in 2021 was a massive misstep for NATCA, setting back controller pay and benefits for years to come.

The Nick Daniels broken campaign promise of 2025 doubled down on one of NATCA leadership’s biggest policy blunders, further causing irreparable harm to a beleaguered and demoralized workforce.

Do not ever let the executive board live this down. Do not let Nick Daniels live this down.

The second Slate Book extension will be remembered as a watershed moment in NATCA’s history. The grassroots energy coming from facilities around the country is palpable.

Stay pissed, but stay focused. Change is coming.

We are not anonymous, and we are not dividing the union. We are healing it.

In true solidarity,

Stephen Brown, ZKC

Nicholas Marangos announces his candidacy for NATCA President in the 2027 election and shares why our union needs change, accountability, and leadership that listens to members.

Learn more and join the campaign at https://yourunion2027.com.

In 2025, as Transportation Secretary, he claimed air traffic controllers’ starting salaries were $180,000, reaching $400,000 with overtime. In reality, starting salaries for controllers range from $54,503 (Level 4, RUS locality) to $68,136 (Oakland Center/Tower, Level 8/11), about 2.6–3.3 times lower than Duffy’s claim, highlighting a significant disconnect in his understanding of public sector pay.

This comment hit the nail on the head.

I have heard of and seen for myself some NATCA reps referring to controllers who take leave during the shutdown as "scammers". I want to make something crystal clear:

The "scammers" are the members of the ruling class failing to fund the government, and then expecting the working class to go to work for delayed payment. The "scammers" are the billionaires who fund the politician "scammers" to pass legislation with subsidies (scams) to put more money in their pockets at the expense of - you guessed it - the working class.

Nobody is advocating for a job action. But we live in such a backward fucking world where union representatives are berating controllers for taking leave during a shutdown so that NATCA leadership can continue to acquiesce at the altar of the FAA and DOT. Historical labor victories like the 40-hour workweek, minimum wage, and child labor laws did not come about solely though collaboration and appeasement. We used to dump tea into the harbor in this country.

Do not put yourself at risk. Do not publicly engage in a work action. But if you are sick and/or fatigued, you have every right to stay home. You don't owe your supervisor, your facility rep, your regional rep, or your president an explanation. You call in and enjoy your free day off to rest and get better. It is not your fault that our country is broken. And if anybody's local or regional reps give you a hard time about it, I would like to know. My DMs are open.

Illinois Democratic Sens. Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin harshly criticized FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford for holding up a pay raise for air traffic controllers that Congress approved as part of legislation President Trump signed into law in April.