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Air traffic controllers issue new strike threat
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AIR traffic controllers (ATCs) are again threatening strike measures, accusing the communications ministry of failing to honour its pledge for dialogue to resolve a pay dispute.
The controllers said they “have no other choice than to repeat and escalate the strike measures if there is no final resolution of the matter in the next few days.”
ATCs, who want to be excluded from austerity measures passed last year, in January shut down the island’s airports for four hours, affecting some 5,000 passengers.
The public and political outcry they caused, especially after the publication of the high salaries they collect, apparently forced them to reconsider a repeat of their action a weak later, as they agreed to enter dialogue with the communications ministry.
But according to the ATCs, during this time, “it became clear that the communications ministry is not interested about a substantive dialogue and is not eager to find solutions.”
The ATCs accused the ministry of rejecting all proposals aimed at bridging the differences and lead to a way out.
Controllers want to be exempted from a raft of austerity measures passed in December in a bid to salvage the ailing economy.
They argue their income comes from the airlines using the island’s airspace and does not affect the state budget. Their pay is governed by a cost-recovery scheme, whereby their salaries are paid by the state, which then recovers the money from the airlines.
The government argues that the principle of equal treatment demands that controllers be included in austerity measures, given that all public servants, companies and private sector employees have contributed to state coffers as part of the measures.
