YWG,
<<... you always end up working 17-11 ...>>
I'm not sure i understand, "17-11"?
<<By law, the most we can work is 9 on and 1 off.>>
What was the ratio prior to privatization? For us, presently, they must allow one day off per week.
9 days seems like a lot of consecutive days to me. Can they schedule you 7 days in a row without scheduling overtime? What i'm getting at is, can they work you 7 days straight and still remain within a 40 hour work week? (IE: 6 days at 6 hours a day then 4 hours on your 7th day?) It sounds to me like they have free reign to work you into the ground (so to speak).
How far in advance do they set your basic schedule (minus overtime)? Right now we know one year in advance we'll be working, say, Wednesday thru Sunday with Mon and Tue as our RDOs. Overtime is injected as needed.
Sounds like they run things bare bones ... essentially profits in lieu of safety. Has the number of applicants for the job decreased since privatization because, truthfully, i wouldn't want to join up with an ATC system that pounds my a** to keep profits minimally in the red. Safety should be a prime concern, working controllers 12 hours a day is a recipe for disaster. How many hours can they legally work you at the position before they're obligated to get you a break?
Lastly, how do you expect to do 20 or 30 years in those conditions (I don't know when you can retire)?
StuckMic