Staff morale is very low in CAD these days. Many controllers have given up trying hard thinking it is pointless. Unlike a few years ago, there is no feeling of being in it together. Many controllers do an absolute minimum most of the time and their main objective is to stay clean and “get of there” a.s.a.p. Shame, but one must ask oneself: why is this?
Consider the following:
Our current head of department makes no attempt to hide his dislike of controllers. He once made the statement that “controllers are good for nothing other than vectoring airplanes.” He may not have intended this remark for a bigger forum but statements like that tend to travel like bush fire. Downgrading your own staff like that surely is not a clever thing to do and it is bound to demoralize controllers.
The irony is that he himself failed several times as a controller back in the Kai Tak days with one quarter of today’s traffic levels. He in fact only got his Tower rating in the end because he was destined for bigger things. Payback time, is it?
More than a year ago, CSB were doing a pay scale review and invited one of our 4 floor bosses to justify the controllers request to avoid a pay cut like other essential forces. However, the cool, cruel Cole man’s pension was just around the corner and he did not want to rock the boat. So he simply told the representatives of CSB “no need”. CSB walked away not believing their luck. Over the years, this decision will cost every controller hundreds of thousands of dollars in salary, gratuity and pensions. Nice man!
During a recent "Safety Meeting" our COP made the statement that Rocket science is not............wait for it!…………...ROCKET SCIENCE!
And you wonder why staff morale in HKATC is low? A brain & a good attitude is vital for controllers as well as for ATC management.