Air traffic staff warned strike could put their jobs at risk
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.
“Overstaffing is wasteful and expensive. The average controller pay is approximately €75,000 per annum; pension etc brings the cost to the region of €100,000. Thus 73 surplus staff would cost over €7m. We have no option but to reduce staff surplus,” Mr Ryan said.
At the end of July this year, 22 student controllers who had successfully completed their first year of intensive training were put on extended leave after being told the company had no jobs to offer them at any of the three State airports, Cork, Dublin and Shannon. They were told the company would make a final decision on their future on September 15 and that six students were likely to be offered contracts in South Africa.
IMPACT, the union representing the controllers, has a mandate to commence strike action on September 15 if the IAA fails to guarantee the future of the student controllers. Strike action would effectively close off Irish airspace, grounding up to 1,000 domestic flights and causing the re-routing of up to 1,000 transatlantic flights, creating a major headache for neighbouring ATC services.
No explanation has been forthcoming as to why the students were taken on if the company was not in a position to employ them. Mr Ryan said staffing had been hit by a downturn in the aviation industry. Despite this downturn, IAA staff have enjoyed pay increases of up to 35% over the past three years. Talks to resolve the dispute are continuing.
