Wednesday, July 20, 2005
A Left to the Gut…
It was learned today that the FSS controller’s protest against the A-76 award to Lockheed Martin failed. The judge, in effect, opined that the process was fair, or at least not tarnished enough to challenge the outcome. His decision was handed to FAA Administrator Blakey about three weeks ago, and her much-delayed decision was handed to the interested parties tonight. Details will percolate out over the next few days.
No doubt a general gloom will spread through the FSSs over the next 24 hours. There was a hope that the general dismemberment of the controller’s futures could have been at least delayed for a time, perhaps long enough for a few more to save their retirements, but that hope is fading fast. Yes, there is still the possibility of the one-year delay as mentioned below in ‘A Surprise in the House,’ but given how Blakey timed the announcement of the protest failure, my feeling is that she’s heard what she needs from the Senate; there won’t be enough support there to give the controllers and pilots a favorable outcome.
No doubt a general gloom will spread through the FSSs over the next 24 hours. There was a hope that the general dismemberment of the controller’s futures could have been at least delayed for a time, perhaps long enough for a few more to save their retirements, but that hope is fading fast. Yes, there is still the possibility of the one-year delay as mentioned below in ‘A Surprise in the House,’ but given how Blakey timed the announcement of the protest failure, my feeling is that she’s heard what she needs from the Senate; there won’t be enough support there to give the controllers and pilots a favorable outcome.
# posted by Skywise @ 9:21 PM 
