Union warns of staff shortages as many reach retirement age

The union is using 'scare tactics' the FAA said.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- More than 25 percent of the nation's air traffic controllers will reach retirement age by the end of next year, and union officials worry their replacements cannot be adequately trained in time.
The Federal Aviation Administration insists replacements will be ready when needed.
"We have a pool of applicants we can draw on," said Jay Aul, the FAA's human resources manager for controller operations support.
Controllers are eligible to retire at 50 or after serving 25 years. They face mandatory retirement at 56.
Union officials argue that if the FAA underestimates the number of retirees, the agency will be short-handed because it takes three to five years for someone to become a full-performance controller.
The FAA says it can cut that training to two to three years.
The union says that figure is not realistic.
"There are no shortcuts to training," said Pat Forrey, vice president of the Great Lakes Region of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. "Too many lives are at stake if a controller makes an error."
About 50 controllers from the 440-member staff at the Cleveland Air Route Traffic Control Center in Oberlin could retire by December, and 43 more by the end of 2007.
The Oberlin Center controls about 3 million aircraft a year flying over portions of Ohio, Michigan, New York, West Virginia, Indiana, Maryland and Canada.
FAA disagrees
The FAA rejects the notion that people who are eligible to retire will leave. Of the 3,769 eligible to retire in 2007, the FAA believes only 1,097 will.
"We did a study in the early 2000s that showed that most of the [eligible] controllers waited an average of five years before retiring," FAA spokesman Geoffrey Basye said. "When you look at the money they make, why would they retire? I hate to use the words 'scare tactics,' but that is what the union is doing."
The average base salary of an air traffic controller is $113,600.
Retirement pay is based on the highest salary in the final three years before retirement.
There are two retirement systems, depending on when the controller joined the FAA. Most controllers -- about 75 percent -- would retire under the Federal Employee Retirement System. Under the system, a 53-year-old controller who retires with 20 years of service would receive $40,800 a year.
Controllers under the civil service retirement system are older and have more years of service.
Under that system, a 50-year-old controller who retires with 30 years of service would receive $68,625 a year.