Why Air Traffic Controllers are exploited by ASA
Dick, I'm not sure how NAS has anything to do with it. In my opinion Air Traffic Controllers are exploited by ASA because ASA management, which is
mostly filled at the lower levels by high school educated ex-controllers who realise that they wouldn't be qualified to hold equivalent positions at any other business in Australia and who were keen to get away from the console before CASA took them away, believe that the 90's era Bush/Howard, profit-driven, hard-line, confrontational management style is still "worlds best practice".
Despite all the rhetoric from the AWB about the primacy of safety, in actuality it is "affordable safety", a phrase you know quite well. The problem with that phrase is that the definition of "affordable" is subjective, and one could argue that what is now being considered "affordable" might not necessarily be considered "safe".
The bottom line at the AWB is the $, and in the quest to make the 60% net profit dividend as big as possible each year ATC's are viewed with an accountants eye as a liability, not an asset.
Future staff plans revolve around "efficiencies" that haven't been tried or proven and are not used anywhere in the world. This is where we are going (we are half way there already), and its all a gamble based on an idea a manager was able to convince the board was The Way Forward, with associated financial benefits. Staff plans for The Way Forward include a 5 year model, as that is the expected life expectancy of the controller with ASA. This term tallies well with the average ALM/lvl3's operational experience so I can see where it was plucked from.
As the ATC of the (near) future is simply going to "monitor the machine", they wont need experience or refresher training or career development..in fact any money spent on Air Traffic Controllers is money off the Bottom Line.
This mantra comes from the top down with the added incentive of executive bonuses to ensure a compliant lower management.
Yes, mean and lean and corner cutting is still a part of the corporate world, but is it appropriate for an organisation that was created to save lives? The
professional ATC's, who have made a career out of separating traffic, and are the ones you want on the end of the radio when the proverbial hits the fan, have their doubts. This is why the ATC "profession" is in their sights, and also "why Air Traffic Controllers are exploited by ASA"....