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Draft — under review. Being prepared by NATCA ITC; not yet announced to members.
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For all NATCA members who bid. This page explains, in plain terms, what bidding is and how it works — so you know what to expect before your turn comes around. The step-by-step how-to pages come after this one.
Once a year, you choose two things for the coming year:
Bidding is simply the fair, orderly process your facility uses to let everyone make those choices one at a time, in the right order.
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You don't have to do anything until it's your turn. You'll be told when the time comes. Until then, you can relax — nothing is happening without you.
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Everyone in your area bids in a set order, based on seniority. Your facility's BID team sets up this order ahead of time — it's called your area roster. The most senior people bid first; when they've made their picks, it moves to the next person, and so on down the list.
Think of it as a line at a counter. The person ahead of you goes first. When they're finished, it's your turn. When you're finished, the person behind you goes.
Bidding runs in stages called rounds. Each round is one trip down the seniority order.
| Round | What you pick |
|---|---|
| The line round (first) | Your work schedule for the year — your line. |
| Leave round(s) (after) | Your leave days, chosen from what's still available. |
The line round comes first: everyone picks their schedule in seniority order. After that, there is one or more leave rounds where everyone picks their leave days, again in seniority order. Your facility decides how many leave rounds there are and how many days you can pick in each one.
Because it goes in order, the choices that are still open depend on who bid before you. Picking earlier means more is available — that's what seniority earns you.
Your turn — sometimes called your bid window — is the moment the order reaches you in a round. When it does, NATCA lets you know. You may get: