Just get my fucking plane up and down in one piece. OK?

[Dr.Phool]

I don't give a shit if you're sitting there bare-assed naked, or if you're wearing brown shoes with a blue suit, or are dressed in a pink tutu and a mink coat.

Who the hell is running the the FAA now? Monica Goodling? Ann Coulter?

Air-traffic controllers, FAA collide over dress
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Michael Sangiacomo
Plain Dealer Reporter

An air-traffic controller in Oberlin was reprimanded because his aquamarine pants were "not gender appropriate."

The dressing down came after the Federal Aviation Administration imposed a dress code for controllers, and the two now have added a fashion fight to their already strained relationship.

A few male controllers at another facility protested the dress code crackdown by coming to work in dresses. Another wore an all-purple outfit - save for white pants - with purple snakeskin shoes.

(snip)http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/lorain/118301967881420.xml&coll=2

"In light of all the problems facing controllers and the FAA, it seems silly that the agency has become the fashion police," said Melissa Ott, union spokeswoman for workers at the Cleveland Air Route Control Center in Oberlin.

FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said the agency wants controllers to dress professionally.

She said the union is overreacting to a simple dress code that would not raise an eyebrow in the business community.

Ott said the case of the veteran controller admonished about the color of his pants was just one of several incidents nationwide. A couple of women with knee problems hurt themselves when they were ordered - despite doctor's orders against it - to wear dress shoes.

(snip) Read the full article. A lot of stupidity ahead.

[Robb]

1. Aquamarine pants. What's next?

Periwinkle? Salmon? :rofl:

[Cha]

26. I'm guessing I could never

be an air traffic controller ..my haircut is definetly not "gender approved".

"Get the fucking plane down in one piece!"! For sure, dude.

[KansDem]

29. Do you REALLY want air traffic controllers wearing THIS?!?!?

Huh? Huh?

:sarcasm: I'm with the OP--just do the job right and wear what you need to...

[Canuckistanian]

31. It's Coral this year

Last year it was Pomegranate.

[Captain Hilts]

2. Ordering women to wear 'dress shoes'?!? nt

[Hekate]

49. That struck me too. It's beyond asinine. Who exactly are they dressing up for?

Air traffic controllers are not meeting the public. They are not selling anything. They are not in daily contact with corporate suits. If their bosses want them to look uniform they should issue them uniforms.

But for gods' sake what they wear to work on any part of their body should be the LAST thing their bosses should worry about.

Hekate

[lonestarnot]

3. OMG. More assholes.

sigh

[bleedingheart]

4. this is exactly the kind of shit I hate about working

now I am not against dress codes for work...there are some industries like banking...the law...where it makes sense that the professional is dressed appropriately...

I work in a very casual environment and while there are some primo slobs...most of us respect the fact that we are allowed to wear shorts and a t-shirt and so we don't press the rules too much.

However...when someone like a controller..(who is not visible to clients..etc)...is asked to wear dress shoes...that is just bullshit.

[Dr.Phool]

10. I've been in the Oberlin Air Traffic Control Center.

They used to encourage pilots to come in and sit down with some controllers, and watch them perform their job. That way, you both have an idea of what the other person is doing, and why.

A controller could sit there all day long staring at his scope, and directing traffic, and never notice that the guy sitting next to him was wearing a dress.

This entire government is being run by morons.

[BeyondGeography]

5. Good for them!

<A few male controllers at another facility protested the dress code crackdown by coming to work in dresses. Another wore an all-purple outfit - save for white pants - with purple snakeskin shoes.>

[bryant69]

6. I wish I had some Aquamarine pants

We should organize a national organization of Aquamarine pants wearers and descend on Oberlin!

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Rockholm]

13. With little whales on them!

[mondo joe]

18. Ooh, or Seahorses.

Imagine yourself floating peacefully in the ocean, surrounded by a million baby seahorses....

[Rockholm]

25. That would be wicked cool.

[Toots]

7. Issue brown shirt uniforms with I heart Bush* on shoulder patch

:shrug: A ridiculous confrontation if you ask me..

[EnviroBat]

8. I don't care if the controllers wear pajamas!

I want the to be as comfortable and non-fatigued as possible! WTF has happened to common sense in this fucking country?

[underpants]

9. Okay what gives? Why do they seem to have such focused blind rage for airtraffic controllers?

Reagan fires all of them and now this nonsense (clearly trying to force them to quit) Didn't their union already get broken up?

[WinkyDink]

12. Bush hates anyone else being a "controller"!

[hootinholler]

19. They tried...

The controllers are unionized, albeit a weaker one than in Raygun's day.

-Hoot

[WinkyDink]

11. Excuse me, but who else SEES these people?! WHO CARES what they wear?! Let them be COMFY, for our

SAFETY!

[KansDem]

30. I'm with you--let them wear comfy pajamas if it'll keep their minds on the screen...

...and off that itch, constriction, or discomfort caused by "FAA-approved" articles of clothing.

[distantearlywarning]

14. If wearing a purple jumpsuit or aquamarine pants

will help my air controller get my plane on the ground safely, I say bring on the gender-inappropriate clothing.

Why does corporate America spend so much time on this kind of BS all the time?????

[Bitwit1234]

15. Since these people are traffic controllers

AND in all probability stay in the booths all day long, who in the hell cares what they wear is correct.

It seems to me since they have a pressure job, allowing them to wear comfortable clothes would be a priority. They have enough to worry about trying to bring planes in and out with out mis-hap then to wonder if their pants are pressed, their shoes are shined or they are color co-ordinated.

If the media didn't have their heads up the butts of celebrities and are constantly reporting about Hilton, Brittany or Lohan they would do their job and expose this outrage.

[Warpy]

16. You can bet it's a GOP

They're always big on "looking professional" while they make ridiculous rules that always get in the way of being professional.

Take their boneheaded insistence on high heeled shoes for women. Those things are dangerous in many situations. Women can walk in them but not run in them (probably the point). They are designed for looks and not function. They damage feet, knees, hips, and spine when worn daily over many years. They are NOT work shoes. Any man who insists on them should be forced to wear them, himself. Any man who insists I wear them will find a 4 inch spike heel sticking into his forehead.

Kudos to the men who came in drag and I loved the purple outfit. I would be inclined to wear the shirt and tie in hideously clashing colors. I would fucking sue over those damned shoes, make a formal complaint to OSHA.

While I realize that the fashion police might be necessary in some situations, like requiring identifiable dress when dealing with the public and discouraging slobs from wearing cutoffs and Marlboro t-shirts to work in a bank, expecting people who are totally hidden from view like air traffic controllers to dress like stock brokers and women at formal lunches is insane.

[Clark2008]

21. Not to defend the idiots and their dress code for women, but

didn't the memo say "dress shoes?"

Surely we can find dress shoes that aren't high-heeled. When I was pregnant, I wore flat dress shoes that were both comfortable and nice-looking.

Or did it specificially say "high-heeled dress shoes?"

[Warpy]

35. My guess is that dress flats will mean low raises,

few promotions, and other subtle discrimination. I sure saw it in the workplace when I worked in that kind of setting.

They meant HEELS, if you're "smart."

[noamnety]

47. Flat dress shoes

generally don't have any support and don't accommodate irregularities that women are prone to, like bunions.

[hootinholler]

24. Hoot's fashon tip: If a tie clashes with itself, it is neutral and may be worn with anything.

Think about it, it's true.

-Hoot

[mondo joe]

17. "Would not raise any eyebrow in the business commuunity" sure - but would be laughed at in an IT

department.

That's the Bush business model for you -- worry about the pants and shoes of skilled technicians who will never be seen, while you run the business into the ground.

[RedCappedBandit]

20. Aside from all the other issues associated with this BS,

who gets to decide what is and what is not gender appropriate? :eyes:

[hootinholler]

22. There's so much more to this story than reported here...

The story has little to do with controlling aircraft and a lot to do with intimidation of union members. This is the result of management turning the screws to pressure controllers to cave to the FAA who is working to impose all contract terms upon them. The controllers can not strike. Their contract expired long ago. Negotiations have broken down. It will take an act of Congress just to get the dispute into arbitration. If congress does not act, the FAA will be free to dictate the terms of the contract.

This is a continuation of the tactics that have been used in this battle.

-Hoot

[OzarkDem]

38. Being going on for a while, hasn't it?

I recall other posts here about limiting bathroom breaks, making one person stay at their station even though they were sick and throwing up, etc.

The plane crash in Kentucky last summer (only one person in the tower, when regs required two, plane crashed after taking off on wrong runway) revealed some of the shortcomings and cost cutting that is hurting aviation safety.

[hootinholler]

43. Since 2001 in the latest go-around.

General Aviation services jobs have been cut to the bone in favor of the Automated Flight Services Station.

Weathermen have been cut significantly also.

-Hoot

[conscious evolution]

52. Is there a no strike clause

in expired contract?
If so,how can someone be held to provisions in an expired contract?

I have been wanting an answer to these questions since 1981.

[TommyO]

53. This is touched on in the article

The FAA wouldn't discuss specific dress code violations. The code was part of the new work rules imposed in September after contract negotiations broke down last summer. Since that breakdown, the FAA is enforcing things like dress codes and a ban on all radios - including weather radios that warn of tornadoes - in towers.

[Stinky The Clown]

23. Why do the ATCs always get fucked by the gubmint?

Reagan used them to show how tough he was.

Now this.

Who will be next? Smokejumpers?

[LibertyLover]

27. Reminds me of the problems with shoes women in the military

had about 20 or so years ago. Basically they had 2 versions - uncomfortable dress shoes or less uncomfortable boot type shoes. If you wore the dress shoes you were really uncomfortable and were called feminine. If you wore the boot type, you were less uncomfortable, but got labeled as a lesbian. My military history professor in grad school told us that there were even inquires launched into the sexual preference of women who preferred to wear the boots.

[guitar man]

28. aquamarine pants not "gender appropriate"?

WTF does that mean? He should not have been dressed down for "gender appropriateness", that's silly :eyes:

He should have been dressed down however, for wearing aquamarine pants at all, that's just really bad taste an all out assault on the senses!! :silly:

[DemoTex]

32. ATC: "United 245, decend and maintain 1-5 thousand, slow to 250 knots."

UAL 245: "Not on your life bub, until I know what color britches you are wearing!"

[mainer]

33. I'm sorry. Aquamarine pants are a crime against nature.

Worn by either men or women.

[Ezlivin]

34. Where's "Queer Eye for the ATC Guy" when you need 'em?

This may be a Class C Airspace but that outfit is a Class A!

[prole_for_peace]

36. "would not raise an eyebrow in the business community"

but this ISN"T the business community. they aren't bankers or insurance people.

i want my atc to be as comfortable as possible and if that means pajamas and fluffy slippers i am fine with that.

[Larissa238]

37. Pilots, Flight Crew, Flight Engineers I understand

These people have to interact with the passengers, and therefore should be dressed appropriately. I work for an airline, and we just fired someone (mainly for losing a phone card and racking up $6,000 in bills) who showed up to flights with a dirty / wrinkled uniform and just generally looking unclean. This makes sense, because what passenger would feel secure about sitting next to a mechanic who looks like he just rolled out of a dirty bed? It would not make me feel confident that the plane is properly taken care of.

But nobody sees air traffic controllers. Why should it matter if one comes in aquamarine pants? Just because it is "not gender appropriate"? By whose standards? Since when can they judge? I mean, nobody sees them. At my work, during the day we have to dress nice, but night shift (who nobody sees) comes in jeans, shorts, t-shirts, and sweats.

I think they need to go back to worrying about planes. And the working conditions of their air traffic controllers (anyone remember this? http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=local&id=5271014 ) That should be the focus, making sure they have clean air and are not filled with carbon monoxide.

But nooo.... the FAA is worried about someone's pair of pants.

[Bill McBlueState]

39. "a simple dress code that would not raise an eyebrow in the business community"

How does the "business community" -- the one that produced Enron and ten thousand other scandals I'm too busy to name -- persistently get to serve as the final arbiter of what's reasonable? Most communities are NOT the "business community" and might be expected to have different standards.

[GreenTea]

40. This is what started so many in the 60's, saying fuck your conformity, we want individual

expression & freedoms...don't place your bullshit values on us!

Republicans wants us workers back to the time of conformity, they want us to be nice little robots all the same, marching off to war and to our work factories all for the rich & their corporations!

Fuck that! I need a little pot and a hit of acid, a little enlightenment, fuck these BushCo republican corporate fascist!

[TheTimmer]

41. Individuality

is a great thing, as long as we all do it together...

[spoony]

42. In Detroit controllers should just go home

Northwest can't get a plane up or down for the life of them.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070628/UPDATE/706280468

[Octafish]

44. Whatever happened to PATCO?

Pruneface got to them.

[mainer]

45. Wear aquamarine pants where they belong -- on the golf course!

They'll go well with the orange golfing jackets.

[jmowreader]

46. More like "not activity appropriate" to me

Aquamarine pants are for golf. And nothing else.

[gulfcoastliberal]

48. Yeah, the FAA wants them in their best, since it may force them to work to the death

Remember the control station where all the controllers got poisoned by generator exhaust in the ventilation system. They weren't allowed to call 911 or seek medical attention until their shifts ended. That could have caused so many tragedies. We've got duct tape holding our infrastructure together, staffed by the bare minimum skeleton crews.

[WindRavenX]

50. Honest to god, has the world lost all its marbles?

Who gives a flying fuck what they're wearing--just make sure I don't crash and burn!

Seriously...:wtf:

[WritersBlock]

51. Those who can, work traffic. Those who can't, make asinine policy. n/t