Legal Tender, you want to know our salary? Then ask our P.M. José Blanco, because we have no idea. We still don't know what we'll be paid at the end of the month. Since the decree our salary has been reduced every month and we don't know when it's going to stop. Rumours are we'll end up earning between 3.000 € and 2.000 € depending if we work in a big ACC or a small TWR, and we are allready close to those figures.
Actually, next month I'll probably earn around 1.500 €, because I recently enjoyed a 15 days leave for having a child and I've just received a letter denying me those days and therefore they'll be discounted from my next pay. That's a right for EVERY worker in Spain... except for ATCOs apparently.
Singapurcanac, you really made me laugh when you said that there is no better place in the whole world to be an atco... In just a few days we've had four anxiety attacks (in LERS, LECP, LECS and LEAL), two of them had to be evacuated by an ambulance to the hospital. Last week in a sector where the maximum capacity was 26 acft/hour we had 34 acft in 30 minutes plus an emergency... and the high season is about to start and the "bean-counters" don't care to overload the sectors and keep chosing the runways in use that allows more acft per hour despite the wind or other factors.
It's true so far nobody has quitted the job yet, but it is also true that more than 20% of the staff is on medical leave. Many of us are thinking about quitting the job, we are just waiting to see how the situation develops (waiting for the trials), but we are not going to stand this situation for ever, at least not me.
I used to like this job, but my wife and kid are more important to me. Having only three or four days off a month (and still having the possibility of being forced to work those days) is the perfect way of breaking up a family.
And, the most important thing of all, it's a matter of time that one of us is going to get involved in an ACCIDENT.