An air traffic controllers strike submit Spain to the chaos

[Hartmann]

An improvised strike where air traffic controllers abandon his duty and not return to work from a massive sickout that left hundreds of thousands of travelers stranded.

The government called on controllers to resume work "immediately" or "defense will assume control of airspace," it said in a statement.

he sickout on Friday, on the eve of a long national holiday weekend, caused travel chaos throughout the nation, forcing Spanish authorities to close eight airports, including the major European hub in Madrid and airspace above it.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101203/...rport_closures

[August]

Any chance we'll see a "Reaganesque" response in Spain?

[Penguin]

Originally Posted by August

Any chance we'll see a "Reaganesque" response in Spain?

If you want a decline in air traffic safety then that's the way to go!

latest news:

The spanish minister for domestic affairs declared a 2 week state-of-alert, so all strikers could be sent to military court if they don't return to their jobs. First time since Franco that the law is used - nice to see some return to the fascist legacy
An unnumbered amount of workers returned to their job.

Source : http://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/articl...t-zurueck.html (only in german)

[[501]Otto]

Originally Posted by Penguin

An unnumbered amount of workers returned to their job.

By 5 o´clock 109 out of 159 returned to their jobs...

[Oberon]

And the other fifty have been shot? (kidding)

[onelifecrisis]

Wow. Am I missing something or was that shockingly irresponsible of them?

Originally Posted by Penguin

If you want a decline in air traffic safety then that's the way to go!

latest news:

The spanish minister for domestic affairs declared a 2 week state-of-alert, so all strikers could be sent to military court if they don't return to their jobs. First time since Franco that the law is used - nice to see some return to the fascist legacy
An unnumbered amount of workers returned to their job.

Source : http://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/articl...t-zurueck.html (only in german)

Sounds like they are on the Regan PATCO policy. Having done some flying back then I can tell you the military controllers and the management folks are just as capable as any union force. PATCO was the epitome of an overplayed hand, although many were hired back at greatly reduced salaries.

[Penguin]

Originally Posted by The Third Man

Sounds like they are on the Regan PATCO policy. Having done some flying back then I can tell you the military controllers and the management folks are just as capable as any union force. PATCO was the epitome of an overplayed hand, although many were hired back at greatly reduced salaries.

I don't think that the military controllers are/were worse than their civilian counterparts. However putting 11.000 skilled workers on the street was more in the interest of teaching the unions a lesson than in the interest of national security.

I can't tell you anything about overpaid, do you have any numbers? And comparision numbers, e.g. what a military atc and a skilled worker earned at this time?

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by onelifecrisis

Wow. Am I missing something or was that shockingly irresponsible of them?

I reckon so....they were looking for maximum disruption...until the military had the government give them the ultimatum.

[August]

Originally Posted by Penguin

If you want a decline in air traffic safety then that's the way to go!

Aren't staging sick outs also a decline in air traffic safety?

Besides:

Originally Posted by from the op article

The dispute intensified in February when the government restricted overtime and thus cut average pay of controllers from euro350,000 ($463,610) a year to around euro200,000 ($264,920).

Two points here.

1. Overtime means tired workers. Tired workers make mistakes and ATC is a job where mistakes often cost lives, so it'd be difficult to convince me that restricting overtime is a bad thing.

2. Being paid over a quarter million bucks a year classifies you as "rich" in my country.

So what it looks like we're talking about here is a bunch of highly paid government workers upset that they might eventually have to go to work in the private sector? If that's the case Boo hoo I say.

[TLAM Strike]

Anyone else think that certain members of the Spanish government are going to have 747's buzzing their house at all hours of the night now.

Anyone seen Pushing Tin? You do not want to anger these dudes!

[[501]Otto]

Just to make some things clear (and without any intention of supporting such *******ing strikers who have plunged the country in utter chaos)

The reasons that the AT controllers have given for their "strike" are these ones:
1-The time of training (to improve their skills, learn to use new equipment and stuff) will not count as hours worked. Do not know how things work in your countries, but here in Spain, training hours count as hours worked
2-They have to work longer hours than those specified by law without receiving anything in return (here in Spain you have to work 40 hours a week by law). If you work more hours, these will be counted as overtime and be paid as such
3-In certain jobs, you must be on duty (for example, I work in a pharmacy and now I'm on duty, but this time I'm on duty I get paid as such (hehehehe, this week I have worked 72 hours)) The government says that on-duty hours of Air Traffic Controllers do not count as such.


All these measures have been adopted by the government through an executive order, without any kind of negotiation with the ATC union and a few hours before the start of the enormous holiday weekend (5 days)

I repeat, I do not support these guys, the country is sunk by the crisis and they (who have a salary so spectacular) have paralyzed Spain. What an image to give to the international community....

Aren't staging sick outs also a decline in air traffic safety?

Surely no flights and closed airspace mean air traffic safety is at the absolute maximum

1. Overtime means tired workers. Tired workers make mistakes and ATC is a job where mistakes often cost lives, so it'd be difficult to convince me that restricting overtime is a bad thing.

But it appears that it wasn't restricting the hours of overtime, just restricting the extra payments per hour

[Tchocky]

This strike definitely did not impact safety. It was calamitous for the travelling public, and a PR disaster for the profession. But those who think that safety was ingringed are mistaken. I think the Spanish ATCO's seriously erred in their handling of this issue. Regardless of issue, you don't all call in sick like this. I also believe that ATC management have handled this dispute quite badly.

The problems in Spanish ATC have been coming a long way away. The high salaries we hear about are partly due to a reluctance to hire new controllers, caused by union reluctance to relinquish lucrative overtime, and management reluctance to spend on training new hires. From what I can see, the standard roster+basic salary was slightly lower than average, but the massive overtime pushed pay to the levels we hear about.

The situation was completely ridiculous, yet it remained. Now, amid talk of privatisation and national belt-tightening, drastic changes are being imposed by management rather than negotiated.
Also, the fact that management discovered that a large number of ATCO's had worked their maximum hours before the year was out speaks volums about the rostering/staffing mess in existence.

Were it not for the hugely lucrative situation that they're moving from, I'd have a bit more sympathy for Spanish controllers.