Oh, please, comparing ACCs with Victorian mill houses. Go and insult somebody else's intelligence, don't pick on mine.
As recently as two years ago, Spanish ATC staff were forced to sit in positions and work overtime practically at gunpoint. I don't think the Victorian millhouse metaphor is all that removed in that particular instance.
This thread suffers from two things; a distinct language barrier on part of the supporters of the industrial action, and staggering misinformation on part of its detractors. Like that gentleman earlier, attempting to liken the rationalization of the Euro airspace to the deregulation of the UK manufacturing industry..there is a misguided analogy if you want one. What the EC wants is rationalization, not liberalization, as many on here seem to freely conflate. I.e. to make the european ATC more like it is stateside, fewer and bigger ACC sectors with interoperable infrastructure, leading to straighter routings and less handovers, who could object to that. Unfortunately it is now becoming obvious that local mindset governments have been paying lip service to SES while at the same time protecting national interests which run contrary to the whole underlying idea. France has become the testing block and so far everything points the direction of business as usual. SES2+ we hardly knew ye, but already looking forward to the next iteration.