IAA Air traffic controller's industrial action Wednesday

Steyr

IAA ATC industrial action, looks like the skies over Ireland will be quiet from 1400 to 1800 tomorrow !

IAA statement followed by the ATC Union Impact's statement.

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Update from the Irish Aviation Authority


Tuesday 19th January 2010: The Irish Aviation Authority, (IAA) has been formally notified by IMPACT of industrial action to commence tomorrow, Wednesday 20th January 2010. IMPACT is the Union representing Air Traffic Controllers.

The industrial action scheduled by IMPACT will involve work stoppages between 14.00 and 18.00 in Dublin, Cork and Shannon Airports and will disrupt services at all airports. .

The IAA apologises to all members of the travelling public and to the airlines for the disruption this action by Controllers will cause. Passengers are advised to contact their airline for updates.

The IAA calls on IMPACT to desist from this action, to defer the 6% pay claim, to pay a pension contribution like everyone else in the public service, and to return to normal working.

"We had no option this morning but to suspend 12 Air Traffic Controllers," says Liam Kavanagh, Director of Human Resources, IAA. "These Controllers have stopped doing work on a number of ongoing projects - work they have already been doing for the last two years. We cannot function effectively if Controllers refuse to carry out ongoing work."

IMPACT has instructed Controllers not to co-operate with a number of ongoing technology projects unless the Authority pays for such changes. Ongoing change is a core part of the IAA's work as the airlines demand greater efficiency and the European commission has challenged all Air Traffic service providers to become more efficient and embrace change.

"We cannot function if we have to pay people every time we upgrade a system," Liam Kavanagh says. "The real issue here is money. Air traffic controllers want two things:

They want a 6% pay increase agreed in the last partnership agreement - despite the fact that the whole world has been turned on its head since that agreement, the industry is in trouble, and volumes of work are decreasing;
They do not want to pay anything towards their pensions - even though all other public service staff now pay the pension levy. The Controllers make no contribution to their own pensions. The Authority, meanwhile, pays a contribution of 30.5% of salary for every member of staff.
We want them to be reasonable and defer discussion of this 6% increase. We have told them we will be happy to review it in 2012. And we want them to make a contribution to their own excellent pensions, in line with everyone else in the public sector. We have not cut salaries. We are not cutting jobs."

"These are very well paid staff," Kavanagh continues. "Yes, they do highly important work - and accordingly we pay them very well. A Controller will typically earn a basic salary of over €112,000. When you include PRSI and the pension contribution of 30.5% of salary that the IAA pays, this gives a total package of almost €160,000. When you contrast that with other public sector staff - teachers, nurses, gardai, all of whom are paying a pension levy, these are very well paid staff, with a gold-plated defined-benefits pension scheme. "

Increases paid to Controllers in the last ten years have also been incredibly generous, according to Kavanagh.

"Since 1998, people whose pay is linked to the consumer price index would have gone up by 38%. National Wage agreements have given people 55%. Air traffic controllers, however, have gone up by 92% in that same time. And they now want an additional 6%.

Paying this 6% would cost the IAA an additional € 6 million each year. This cost would have to be passed to the airlines who fund the IAA - the Authority receives no State funding.

"These Controllers work a 35 hour week," says Kavanagh. "They are entitled to a break of 30 minutes for every two hours worked. They work five days and then get three days off. They work 182 days a year, they have 137 rest days, and 36 days holidays, in addition to 10 public holidays"

The airlines cannot afford to pay any increases in this climate.

"The aviation industry is on its knees at the moment," says Kavanagh. "Airlines facing tough times - including Aer Lingus, Cityjet, Aer Arann - cannot afford to take on additional costs. Meeting the 6% pay would cost the Authority an additional € 6 million per year. This would have to be passed on in its entirety to the airlines since we in the IAA receive no funding from Government."

Ends

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From the Impact website:

Date: Tuesday 19 January, 2010
News Summary:
The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has begun suspending air traffic controllers from duty in Dublin and Shannon Airports this morning following the controllers’ refusal to engage in a number of disputed new work practices.
News Content:
It is understood that five air traffic controllers have been suspended in Shannon Airport, while 10 have been suspended in Dublin. It is expected that the IAA will make further suspensions today and tomorrow.

The issues of the new work practices had been under discussion at the Labour Relations Commission (LRC). Both parties agreed that the matter be referred to the Labour Court at an LRC conciliation conference last Thursday (14th January).

Members of the union working at air traffic control voted, by a majority of 99%, not to cooperate with the new work practices until agreement could be reached. Pending agreement, air traffic controllers are observing an instruction of non-cooperation by their trade union, IMPACT.

IMPACT says that members will respond to the suspensions with industrial action. The initial action will be a work stoppage as controllers attend mandatory union meetings. These will occur between 2pm and 6pm tomorrow (Wednesday 20th January) in Dublin and Shannon airports. A similar stoppage will take place in Cork Airport tomorrow between 4pm and 6pm.

IMPACT official Michael Landers said the action is in direct response to the staff suspensions. He said that the core issues have been referred to the Labour Court, and that the IAA should not be suspending staff while the process is ongoing

Su Campu

Without knowing the actual ins and outs of the dispute, it seems like the controllers are the ones at fault in this. It'll be a right mess tomorrow not just for Irish flights but also the transatlantics. Will be interesting to watch RadarVirtuel.com to see if there's anything up there at all!

Will this affect normal VFR traffic from Weston? I presume the Weston controllers aren't part of it, though will they go out in support I wonder. I'm due to fly tomorrow afternoon

Steyr

I wonder can the Air Corps take over at EINN/EIDW/EICK ? I know they do Operate Radar.

wobblyknees

Can someone please explain to me how the controllers/impact are in any way whatsoever right here? Seriously, are they for real, or am I completely stupid?

Reg'stoy

If only we had an Irish Ronald Regan who would fire the lot of them.

probe

It goes to show that some public servants are living on a different planet. Probably something to do with the distance between them and the end-user consumer - the further removed they are, the more they demand, and the more they are still living in the celtic tiger dreamworld.

These pigs are on high salaries, with massive pension plans, and have job security. At current investment returns, it would take at least €15 million in capital invested in the market to fund each of these strikers' pension plans in AA security rated investments (ie the same rating as gov.ie has). Meanwhile the country is in a very difficult financial position, and this action will leave its credibility further eroded by this failure to provide service to the travelling public tomorrow.

Ronald Regan was a softie ..... he only fired the 11,345 air traffic controllers when they refused to work in 1981. These people deserve to be shot at dawn, one by one, unless they agree to work as normal!

The ATC operations of IAA need to be outsourced. Invite Skyguide and similar to bid for the business.

highlydebased

Steyr wrote: »

I wonder can the Air Corps take over at EINN/EIDW/EICK ? I know they do Operate Radar.

They operate BAL Military Radar. Its very different to civilian service. Therefore even if they were to provide tower and an approach you still have several Shannon Control sectors after that plus several Dublin positions. So I'd have severe doubts about it happening...


Regarding transatlantics, European/UK stuff should be able to avoid Shannon's airspace- Up north into Scottish or south into Brest. The NATs tommorow probably wont reflect the strike, and there will still be delays if they decide to use these routes as there will be too many acfts going for too few routes...

skelliser

i remember applying to atc after my leaving cert, needless to say i was unsuccessfull! anyway the salary back then was no were near 112,000! whens the next recruitment phase!

Sean9015

skelliser wrote: »

i remember applying to atc after my leaving cert, needless to say i was unsuccessfull! anyway the salary back then was no were near 112,000! whens the next recruitment phase!

Very shortly, if the current rate of suspensions, hopefully followed by dismissals if they continue to act like idiots, continues.

As someone without work following the government cutting spending, I'll offer to do it for, say €60k + a Taxsaver ticket

ixoy

No sympathy clearly but can anyone tell me if adapting to these new technologies is actually difficult at all? Would it lead to increased efficiencies?

From someone working in IT, a rapidly moving market of technology where it's sink or swim, I'm constantly flabbergasted by the resistance to having to adapt to changes in work practices and techologies.

skelliser

Sean9015 wrote: »

Very shortly, if the current rate of suspensions, hopefully followed by dismissals if they continue to act like idiots, continues.

As someone without work following the government cutting spending, I'll offer to do it for, say €60k + a Taxsaver ticket

Il join ya!

Honestly tho, i know its a stressful job but i cant believe how much they are now paid, does anyone have any figures on ATC;s in europe or similar countries

JohnK

Anyone have an idea if this is likely to affect flights on Thursday?

ixoy wrote: »

From someone working in IT, a rapidly moving market of technology where it's sink or swim, I'm constantly flabbergasted by the resistance to having to adapt to changes in work practices and techologies.

Like yourself I'm in IT too and I can never understand this crap about wanting more money for using a bit of different software/hardware

lucernarian

I saw a press release from Ryanair from the previous dispute back in '08. They are certainly not white knights in shining armour, standing up to the public good. Though one snippet of information struck me as noteworthy.

It said that they were demanding an effective overtime allowance of €1,200 per day. Demanding extra pay for something that's entirely voluntary?!

Needless to say I was less than impressed with such a shower. They're quite deluded if they seriously expect Towards 2016 to be implemented with all that's happened to this country and air travel too.

Edit: Good question Steyr.

Steyr

What are the new technologies anyway that they are objecting to?

Bluehair

Steyr wrote: »

What are the new technologies anyway that they are objecting to?

New fangled urinals in the loo, very swish and require top notch aim and concentration. They're all using the sit-down jacks in objection for which there simply isn't sufficient time in the 30 minute break every two hours.

Seemingly Impact are requesting new staff trained in 'unzipping, holding & shaking and rezipping' to avoid the already overworked controllers having to undertake these duties themselves. The time saved for the controller results in efficiencies gained on the job and hence the well deserved pay increase.

The union has stated that they had originally also requested special 'pull-em down, wipe, pull-em up again' staff to be trained for the toilets in the tower but felt that given the current economic condition they would be prepared to undertake that role themselves and do their bit for the economy....

Davidth88

Guys is there an ATC on the board ? I would love to hear the other side of this .. what exactly is this new technology ? Come on defend your position please

I heard the IMPACT guy on the radio yesterday saying that ( and I paraphrase ) it would increase the workload on the controllers because it required them to use different routings etc , didn't really understand it TBH .

Then the guy from IAA came on , he maintained this had nothing to do with technology , bascially the controllers were using this as way to try to force through a 6% pay increase and proctection from any pension levy.

I imagine the truth is somewhere down the middle

WHAT IS IT ANYONE ??

My initial reaction was the same as reg'stoy , get Reagan in , he basically sacked all the US ATC because they went on stike

FlutterinBantam

What annoys me about this is that the Union can hold the country to ransom and cost the airlines thousands of euro and then walk away.

Is there an inquiry after these events and if all parties are not in compliance with procedures surely there should be legal responsibilities??

Strange how FR haven't been working on that approach.


On the surface it appears to me to be a bolshy action from extremely well paid and secure and pensionable people.

andy_g

well im currently waiting to get on a flight back in to dub we are now delayed till 1225 local time in madrid i have a feelin i aint getting home today :-( right now to the iberia information desk hehe

mwrf

Will be interesting to hear the airwaves go quiet at 2pm!

Eh, Sorry lads, we'll be back in a few hours, sit tight.

http://www.liveatc.net/search/?icao=eidw

yhwh

Found this link on pprune. Some might find it interesting,

http://irishatcfactfile.wordpress.com/

LadyTBolt

This is nothing short of a selfish dispute and the unions should be ashamed of themselves.
Their answer to everything is industrial action which today has done nothing to help their cause but instead has painfully disrupted the daily lives of innocent people who need to travel.
Thousands of people who needed to board a plane to go home to their families or to go on holiday or to go to a business meeting have had their travel plans thrashed because of reasons unrelating to them. Those innocent people have been punished for the glory of the unions and their demands on their workers to strike for ridiculous conditions.
I have no sympathy for one single IAA member who took part in todays industrial action. I do not care what their issues are. They made their problems the Irish publics problems and international air carriers problems.

Shame on you IAA strikers and shame on you unions.

diverdriver

I was somewhat in the middle and I feel some of the comments in this thread are harsh. Too harsh in fact. But then I read that blog: http://irishatcfactfile.wordpress.com/

I'm sorry if that was meant to convince me that the controllers were being hard done by. Then it has had the opposite effect. Clearly the IAA are playing hardball and seriously taking the p. But I'm distinctly unimpressed with the comments in the blog. It's a bit of an own goal.

He comments 'Why is the IAA doing this' Well, my friend if you don't know by now then I suggest you start reading the newspapers and watching the news.

I'm disappointed to be honest. I was fully prepared to take the side of the ATC. But they've miscalculated badly.

FidesEtRobur

There are 2,300 controllers in Spain, and in 2008, they earned an average of 338,000 euros for 1600 hours of work. Some 713 controllers earned between 340,000€ and 540,000€. A few even reaching 900,000€ due to extra hours worked.

skelliser

thats some paycheck!

Honestly tho people have a right to pay and conditions

lucernarian

And people have a right to stand up to unjustifiable claims for pay and conditions.

Nor should unions have the right to go on strike if employees have simply been told to go home with full pay while the issues are discussed in the proper forums.

Tabnabs

Here's what the US pay their guys

Air traffic controllers earn relatively high pay and have good benefits. Median annual wages of air traffic controllers in May 2008 were $111,870. The middle 50 percent earned between $71,050 and $143,780. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $45,020, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $161,010. The average annual salary, excluding overtime earnings, for air traffic controllers in the Federal Government—which employs 90 percent of all controllers—was $109,218 in March 2009.

The Air Traffic Control pay system classifies each air traffic facility into one of eight levels with corresponding pay bands. Under this pay system, controllers' salaries are determined by the rating of the facility. Higher ratings usually mean higher controller salaries and greater demands on the controller's judgment, skill, and decision-making ability.

Depending on length of service, air traffic controllers receive 13 to 26 days of paid vacation and 13 days of paid sick leave each year, in addition to life insurance and health benefits. Controllers also can retire at an earlier age and with fewer years of service than other Federal employees. Air traffic controllers are eligible to retire at age 50 with 20 years of service as an active air traffic controller or after 25 years of active service at any age. There is a mandatory retirement age of 56 for controllers who manage air traffic. However, Federal law provides for exemptions to the mandatory age of 56, up to age 61 in certain cases, but controllers must have exceptional skills and experience. Earnings and benefits for controllers working in contract towers or flight service stations may vary. Many air traffic controllers hold union membership, primarily with the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos108.htm

Looks like our guys are paid the going rate?

A Country Voice

I'd love to know where the greedy so and so's had their picket line, if they had one.
I'd love to pass that picket, in fact I'd love to pass any picket to be honest. How can anyone be on strike when theres nearly half a million people out of work?? They should be ashamed of themselves. Be glad you have a well paid secure job with a good pension atcs.

A Country Voice

I've half a mind to head to the Dublin Airport picket and pelt them with tomatoes.

W*nkers :mad::mad::mad:

jesus_thats_gre

So what are the chances of disruptions tomorrow? Have a flight at midday to Gatwick with Ryanair..

I could deal with the flight being cancelled but I have prepaid for parking and train tickets in UK already.

A Country Voice

Deleted User wrote: »

I've half a mind to head to the Dublin Airport picket and pelt them with tomatoes.

W*nkers :mad::mad::mad:

I'll head for shannon, dublin would be a bit of a drive for me. Although, theres probably no pickets. They're probably gone to Newry shoppin.


A Country Voice

Dacian

mwrf wrote: »

Will be interesting to hear the airwaves go quiet at 2pm!

Eh, Sorry lads, we'll be back in a few hours, sit tight.

"All flights inbound.....standby......."


I think the strike is wrong. They could ahve had industrial action before strike action. But I also think the suspension of staff in the middle of labour negotiations is a provocative (and calculated) move by the IAA.

I would be very interested to hear an independent assesment of the "new technology" mentioned. And the IAA parade of the salary and time off of ATC workers is an obvious attempt to prevent sympathy wards them.


(Can't believe they wanted payment bonus for working overtime 2 years ago. I have difficulty having any repect for any company/organisation that rely on O/T to keep their operation running,ensuring proper staffing levels is an essential part of 'management')