Narrative:

Night with low staffing and weather all day. Pressure from traffic management unit (tmu) to go 'normal' on operations all day. Rbs sector 45 is a complex sector with climbing; descending; and crossing traffic. Rbs sector owns FL240 to FL999. The weather was moderate to extreme lines. One line was east of the sector and stretching north to south. Crossing traffic was deviating to get through the line. The other line was inside ZKC airspace south of the sector. Arrival traffic was deviating from ZKC and ZID; in fact 'backdoors' were coming from ZID. Departure traffic was not staying on track. There are 2 tracks departures are released on; the a and B track. To be considered 'normal' operations these aircraft are released from C90 on track and stay there. Due to the line of weather in ZKC; both tracks were deviating to almost 270 headings. The route that seemed to be working for over 1 hour; cou..sgf.. On course. Every aircraft was deviating at the same hole in the weather as the arriving aircraft. This situation was known by supervisors and tmu all day. The corner of the airspace all the aircraft were being funneled toward is complex. ZKC has K12; K98; K84; and K94. ZAU has 45; 52; and 91. A single aircraft could require 4 to 6 calls of coordination. Every aircraft needed cou..sgf.. On course issued. When combined with altitude and deviation requests; the frequency was being used continuously. In fact; during landline coordination; you can hear pilots asking about rides and deviations. I requested a d-side 3 times. It was late at night. The supervisor was busy talking to the other supervisor across the aisle. The supervisor did not have staffing to get me a d-side. It seems like the supervisor was more concerned about not forcing a controller to work 'hold-over' overtime. Apparently; overtime was granted; but obviously no one wanted to stay [that] night. I am sure many errors occurred during my last session. I don't think I had time to issue depicted weather or give any ride updates. I know ZKC had at least one airspace violation. In fact; aircraft Y never talked to me. Aircraft Y flew through 30 miles of airspace and ended up on 46. I issued FL300 to aircraft X on initial check on. [Later]; I issued aircraft X FL320 and he read back FL330. I called traffic at 12 o'clock 1000 feet above and aircraft X said 'traffic insight.' there was no flashing and no TCAS alerts. The supervisor had no idea I had head-on traffic with a possible NORDO.no one 'wants' to work on [weekends]; but during weather we should staff for safety. [Weekend] nights are terrible because of sick leave use. Staff more people later to accommodate potential sick leave or get overtime for midnight controllers to come in earlier. Move midnight shifts up one hour and day shift hours earlier. Adjust compressed work schedule controller's start time. Supervisors should not be afraid to force controllers to work hold over overtime. Cultural change needs to happen to break the perception of [weekend] nights as 'negative.' eliminate sunday premium pay. The higher seniority controllers choose schedules with late shifts on sunday to maximize their pay. If it is removed; the higher seniority controllers would choose saturday and sunday as rdos. We are bidding 40 lines in our schedule next year. It is ridiculous to treat 2 days out of 7 in a week as always low traffic. Weather happens. Staffing should be for potential complexity and safety; not weekend parties.supervisors actually be in the area during weather and monitor sector workload.tmu not constantly request and eventually just decide to go 'normal' when deviations are obviously occurring.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Chicago Center Controller reported of a night in which there was weather and numerous deviations and ride reports. Reporter also mentioned lack of staffing and possible numerous deviations due to weather and staffing.

Narrative: Night with low staffing and weather all day. Pressure from Traffic Management Unit (TMU) to go 'normal' on operations all day. RBS sector 45 is a complex sector with climbing; descending; and crossing traffic. RBS sector owns FL240 to FL999. The weather was moderate to extreme lines. One line was east of the sector and stretching north to south. Crossing traffic was deviating to get through the line. The other line was inside ZKC airspace south of the sector. Arrival traffic was deviating from ZKC and ZID; in fact 'backdoors' were coming from ZID. Departure traffic was not staying on track. There are 2 tracks departures are released on; the A and B track. To be considered 'normal' operations these aircraft are released from C90 on track and stay there. Due to the line of weather in ZKC; both tracks were deviating to almost 270 headings. The route that seemed to be working for over 1 hour; COU..SGF.. on course. Every aircraft was deviating at the same hole in the weather as the arriving aircraft. This situation was known by supervisors and TMU all day. The corner of the airspace all the aircraft were being funneled toward is complex. ZKC has K12; K98; K84; and K94. ZAU has 45; 52; and 91. A single aircraft could require 4 to 6 calls of coordination. Every aircraft needed COU..SGF.. on course issued. When combined with altitude and deviation requests; the frequency was being used continuously. In fact; during landline coordination; you can hear pilots asking about rides and deviations. I requested a D-side 3 times. It was late at night. The supervisor was busy talking to the other supervisor across the aisle. The supervisor did not have staffing to get me a D-side. It seems like the supervisor was more concerned about not forcing a controller to work 'hold-over' overtime. Apparently; overtime was granted; but obviously no one wanted to stay [that] night. I am sure many errors occurred during my last session. I don't think I had time to issue depicted weather or give any ride updates. I know ZKC had at least one airspace violation. In fact; Aircraft Y never talked to me. Aircraft Y flew through 30 miles of airspace and ended up on 46. I issued FL300 to Aircraft X on initial check on. [Later]; I issued Aircraft X FL320 and he read back FL330. I called traffic at 12 o'clock 1000 feet above and Aircraft X said 'traffic insight.' There was no flashing and no TCAS alerts. The supervisor had no idea I had head-on traffic with a possible NORDO.No one 'wants' to work on [weekends]; but during weather we should staff for safety. [Weekend] nights are terrible because of sick leave use. Staff more people later to accommodate potential sick leave or get overtime for midnight controllers to come in earlier. Move midnight shifts up one hour and day shift hours earlier. Adjust compressed work schedule controller's start time. Supervisors should not be afraid to force controllers to work hold over overtime. Cultural change needs to happen to break the perception of [weekend] nights as 'negative.' Eliminate Sunday premium pay. The higher seniority controllers choose schedules with late shifts on Sunday to maximize their pay. If it is removed; the higher seniority controllers would choose Saturday and Sunday as RDOs. We are bidding 40 lines in our schedule next year. It is ridiculous to treat 2 days out of 7 in a week as always low traffic. Weather happens. Staffing should be for potential complexity and safety; not weekend parties.Supervisors actually be in the area during weather and monitor sector workload.TMU not constantly request and eventually just decide to go 'normal' when deviations are obviously occurring.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.