Blippy
Sad to say I think ATC's have only themselves to blame for there not being enough people and for them feeling over worked.
Which ATC's are you talking about here?
Having read some of your previous posts, it is obvious you are not an actual ATC ( Air Traffic Controller ) i.e. someone who actually plugs in 24/7/365 and talks to aircraft.
From your view, on the periphery, enlighten me how 'ATC are responsible' for the current staff shortages.
I suspect that there are actually many more who are able to do the job, it's just that they are unwilling/unable to give up two years of their lives to do so. So it's no wonder there are so few ATC's around at the moment.
Last EBA Civilair ( ATC Association ) asked for an increase from $35 K to $52K to attract better applicants to the profession. The newspapers, were ably fed this line and screamed that ATCs were asking for a 60+% increase in pay.
The fact of the matter was that Civilair was acknowledging that people were 'unwilling/unable to give up two years of their lives' to take a paydrop and maybe not reach the bar. No actual ATC, paying for their Civilair membership, was going to get a 60% payrise but were keen to get a higher calibre of new entrant to apply. Hopefully we would get an alleviation of the staff shortages somewhere down the track.
Here we are 6+ years on, and desperately short of controllers, and you have the temerity to say it is the ATCs fault.
After all, I'm sure lots of those who run the organisation (the college, checkies, managers etc.) were all ATC's at some point... so it's not like ATC's and ASA are completely different creatures.
And I'm sure you are wrong. When people are on contracts with KPIs something has to give. The target the individual is aiming for may well be at odds with what the organisation is tasked with doing. The politics of 'resource hogging' i.e. one area keeping staff so that they can continue with projects, whilst another area is desperate for operational controllers has been going on for years.