160tothemarker, here's what it's all about
:
(for you and any non aviation people reading!-including the press- or new comers)
The IAA as a whole is, amongst other things, responsible for the safe provision of ATS. read more here:
http://www.iaa.ie/corp_fin/about.asp#1
This works right down the chain. Management are responsible for planning and implementation of ANS. Engineering are responsible for the installation and maintenance of Nav Aids and Radar associated equipment etc. Training staff are responsible for keeping ATC up to date on new SARPS etc. I could go on but
the buck stops with the Air Traffic Controller.
The Air traffic Controller is ultimately responsible for making sure, in laymans terms, that two aircraft don't smash into eachother (or any other terrible occurence that results in an unavoidable loss of life).
We in ATC staff in Ireland have a joke that every publication from the IAA, be it Staff Notice, new SARP etc, has a tagline at the end of it to divert culpability, i.e "Nothing precludes the Air Traffic Controller from using his/her own initiative to ensure the safety of........etc". This is not a joke.
This is a fact. A simple "if it was a dog it would bite you, any which way you look at it" fact.
No amount of information will change the public's, press' or other business interest's view of an accident/incident, despite AAIU or AAIB reports.
Uberlingen isn't just famous for its pipe organs. See:
http://hcid.soi.city.ac.uk/research/...ameraReady.pdf
Look what unsafe practises did to those innocent lives, not to mention the unfortunate controller or business associated. And guess where the finger will be pointed if there is a next time. AT ME.
We at the IAA, ATC staff and IMPACT Union members, believe there is a genuine safety case in the undermanaged and overused overtime system which is allowed to fill the gaps in an understaffed company. Note, this is all voluntary overtime, the only kind in the IAA. Before controller fatigue (due to lack of breaks or number of hours worked), Sector Capacity Overloading (due to lack of available staff in the face of no flow control and no Sector Capacity studies despite requests), software shutdown in the soon to be introduced single person sectors which have no capacity study done ("It'll never fail,"
it has several times)
or some other fore-seen or unfore-seen contributary factor leads to the unspeakable; something needs to be done.
Over the course of the last few years The IAA have gotten full co-operation from their staff as they introduced new software, airspace, rosters, productivity, reduced numbers etc., the list goes on. We have taken a promise that we will be financially "looked after" in the future for all these changes, in the face of huge increases in traffic loads. To illustrate "looked after" the IAA offered us -5% (yes, that
is a minus). This is an issue that is being pursued
separately.
This is not about money, the current industrial action up to and including next weeks 24 hr stoppage is because of the Controllers DUTY OF CARE to him/herself, his/her employer, aircraft under his/her control and the flying public. The same DUTY OF CARE that stops me coming in to work intoxicated etc. The same DUTY OF CARE that makes me value my job, my fellow controllers jobs, my pilots and their passengers lives and the property of many international companies.
Therefore, I am proud to walk out on Thursday, exercising my right to let nothing preclude me from using my own initiative to ensure the safety of all aircraft and passengers who use Irish Controlled Airspace.
To the travelling public: Sorry for the inconvenience, but this is for you as well as us.
To Mike O' Leary: Show us who is greedy. You won't be charged for flights planned on next Thursday and you won't have to pay for fuel, probably won't have to pay the staff either. So refund your passengers money if they don't fly.
To the IAA: Don't say you didn't see it coming. It's not "biting the hand that feeds you" it's "reaping what you sow".
For those who are interested I earned just over 84k last year. This includes:
*my base salary
*my shift allowance for unsociable hours
*my extra increment for expert duties (which i carried out)
*all payments for working bank holidays including Christmas Day, that's 5 in a row now
*all call-ins,
that's overtime
*lump sums due to me for the national pay deal (which my employer had to be taken to court to be enforced to pay me)
In return for this I have:
*provided 12 months work to the best of my ability
*had 0 uncertified sick days
*1 certified absence of 3 days
*took 1 day Force Majeure due to hospitalisation of a child
*received 31 days leave (27 taken so far, 22 of which are block leave) 31 might sound high but if any 9-5'ers are listening that's what you get when you add in bank holidays, I don't get them.
Any pension contributions i get are earned due to a stressfull job and shift work that's medicaly proven to shorten my lifespan, saving the company in the long run.
Hope this clears the air. I am never going to stand down on this issue untill the IAA are forced to give us the Staff we need. And if they need to pay us ridiculous sums for overtime it's because they still need us to volunteer for it.
THORISGOD Thanks you for your patience, this took a bloody hour to write.