@ SingapurCANAC ; you do not change with age ....
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there is no space to tell stories that we don't have money for new people or to employ enough qualified ATCOs.
You just forget the RPs, which are at the root cause of this , the EU mandated a fixed reduction of costs/Unit rate per year ( or Reference Periods , or RPs, for those here not aware of the EU jargon ) and that meant less posts as it was/is easier and far cheaper to downsize the workforce and rely on overtime than to recruit new staff. But fully agree with you regarding management posts filled at 100% and ops staff at 75 % . Number and costs of ATM support staff is a big problem in EUR.
Reduce management benefits, if performance is "behind traffic". That was core of my idea.
another area where we can fully agree.But You know this will never materialise. in Aviation even if you run a business down to the ground by your incompetence you still remain employed and get your bonus .But OK, same for the banks ..
I am pretty sure that "ATC stuffing issues" are just another way to say :"Raise our salaries..."
Not anymore, that as a bit used in the 80-90s , today where in the west salaries are all around 100 K/year money it is no longer the main issue, but mandatory overtime and working 10 days on 1 day off is.
And the sad part is that even if by a miracle we would lift all budget restrictions and raise the money today , it would take 5 years at least to go back to last years staff levels. Politicians driving those RPs expected new technology to reduce the number of controllers needed, the promised new technology is still not there and we have not enough staff to cater for the raise of traffic today . End of the story.