The New York Times, "Dispute Builds Over Rise in Close Calls in New York Airspace"

           Air traffic controllers and managers at the Federal Aviation Administration are in an increasingly acrimonious dispute about why airplanes in flight in the New York City area are coming closer together than the rules allow at a rate 20 times higher this year than last.
          So far, 117 "operational errors" have been reported this year from the office in Westbury, on Long Island, where controllers sit at radar scopes in a windowless room and handle arrivals, departures and low-level flyovers in the area. There were 24 such errors in all of last year, and a previous high of about 60 in the mid-1990's at the New York Terminal Radar Approach Control office.
          The chief spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration said Monday that the problem was "a group of rogue employees that are engaging in a shakedown," seeking more overtime. The president of the union local said, however, that the number of takeoffs and landings was up, the number of controllers was down, and the agency was "trying to put a price tag on safety.