Air traffic staff warned strike could put their jobs at risk

MANAGEMENT at the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) have written to its 300 air traffic controllers warning that a threatened strike could jeopardise their jobs.

Director of operations Pat Ryan said there was “no major issue of principle or significant injustice to justify industrial action”, despite the company’s decision not to employ 22 student controllers it trained at a cost of €1.2 million.

Mr Ryan warned that air traffic control (ATC) was “already seriously overstaffed” and that, by next July, the company would have 51 ATC staff more than required to safely man agreed rosters. To take on the 22 student controllers would increase this surplus to 73, costing the company more than €7m, he said.