I disagree, Ferris. Don't fall into the Airservices trap of thinking that sick leave is YOUR fault. Sick leave occurs in EVERY SINGLE industry around Australia and the rest of the world including air traffic management. Air traffic controllers' sick leave has remained ostensibly unchanged for over a decade. If anything it has dropped a little in the last year. Almost every company has strategies in place to allow for unplanned absence. Generally they employ surplus staff to cover it. Earlier in the year Brett Godfrey stated publicly that that is what airlines including Virgin Blue do and criticised Airservices for not doing precisely this. As long as Airservices have you believing that their own planning shortcomings are your fault, you cannot win.