Airbumps: When is the next training course? Are there people in training at present? How long does the course take?
2009 is already full up (on paper) for training courses. - Whether people wait for the course or take another job before then may affect that outlook however.
Yes there are people training at present - length depends on whether your'e experienced (eg. RAAF/ Overseas ATC = short course 3 months or so) or off the street (anywhere from 9 to 12 months)
The stated aim is to train 100 people a year - BUT the attrition/pass rate is historically between 30 to 50% - so best case, we get 50 field trainees during 2009. But then there's a bottleneck in the field - you can only train 1 or maybe 2 trainees on a specific airspace sector at a time (they can't both be giving instructions/talking to planes simultaneously) [and that's IF you can spare the staff to train the person].
Also, the pass rate for final field training is still only about 50-75%, so maybe we might have 38 journeyman controllers by the end of next year (best case).
Who then have to consolidate for 6 months on that rating before they can start to train on another adjacent airspace sector - but how can they do that when we are still trying to get future new trainees (ie. 2010) their first rating?
And all the while our ATC workforce with a median age of 52 is getting older and closer to retirement (and a significant percentage of which are eligible for early retirement at 55)
To say nothing of people moving overseas to better terms/and or conditions.
And yet AsA today, after 6 months and 16 "negotiation" meetings finally admitted that they think their offer of 4% (in exchange for substantial losses of terms and conditons) is 'fair & reasonable' which they will not try to improve.
Because they are the only employer in Australia they seem to think retention is not an issue.
