Panama Jack
30th Jun 2004, 20:35
June 30th, Tico Times:
Air Traffic Controllers’ Strike
Continues, Safety Questioned
The country’s air traffic controllers, on strike since Saturday demanding higher salaries they say were agreed to in 1994, yesterday denounced what they said is the poor work of the foreigners brought in to replace them in the control towers.
Although government officials insist the skies are safe, the striking controllers allege incidents have occurred in several airports that suggest otherwise.
“There have been some very serious cases (in the airports). Nothing is normal or safe,” said the spokesman for the Air Traffic Controllers’ Union, Leonardo Guillén.
For example, he said, commercial pilot Carlos Zamora filed a written complaint with aeronautical authorities saying that he was 150 feet from colliding with a Cessna Monday in the Quepos airport on the central Pacific coast.
Yesterday, the Channel 7 television news program played recorded conversations between pilots and the foreign traffic controllers in which there were disagreements.
Since the nearly 100 Costa Rican controllers began the strike last weekend, 28 interim foreign controllers provided by the Central America Navigation Agency have kept the country’s airports operating normally, save a several-hour disruption Saturday after the strike began.
Alvaro Durán, of the Department of Civil Aviation’s Technical Security Committee, said the reduced number of controllers does not allow the airports to continue normal radar operations, but that should not slow down airline service or make it any less safe. He likened the change to switching from “a computer to a word processor.”
Labor Minister Ovidio Pacheco said Costa Rica’s Labor Code stipulates that employees of public transportation agencies must negotiate before announcing a strike – something he said the controllers did not do (TT Daily Page, June 29).
Yesterday, Labor Ministry representatives requested that judges in the cities nearest the country’s major airports officially declare the strike illegal.
Javier Chaves, Minister of Public Works and Transportation, said the government is prepared to negotiate with the controllers. However, he said, the controllers broke off negotiations because they want more money than what they are owed.
--AFP
Additional links:
Controladores extranjeros devengan $150 diarios (La Prensa-- Costa Rica) (http://www.prensalibre.co.cr/2004/junio/30/nacionales10.php) (as an aside and a bit of Panama Jack humor :E , it looks like the controller in the picture is running the same program I have for burning CD's-- a cottage industry in Central America). ;)
La Prensa (Nicaragua) (http://www.laprensa.com.ni/elmundo/elmundo-20040630-05.html)
Air Traffic Controllers’ Strike
Continues, Safety Questioned
The country’s air traffic controllers, on strike since Saturday demanding higher salaries they say were agreed to in 1994, yesterday denounced what they said is the poor work of the foreigners brought in to replace them in the control towers.
Although government officials insist the skies are safe, the striking controllers allege incidents have occurred in several airports that suggest otherwise.
“There have been some very serious cases (in the airports). Nothing is normal or safe,” said the spokesman for the Air Traffic Controllers’ Union, Leonardo Guillén.
For example, he said, commercial pilot Carlos Zamora filed a written complaint with aeronautical authorities saying that he was 150 feet from colliding with a Cessna Monday in the Quepos airport on the central Pacific coast.
Yesterday, the Channel 7 television news program played recorded conversations between pilots and the foreign traffic controllers in which there were disagreements.
Since the nearly 100 Costa Rican controllers began the strike last weekend, 28 interim foreign controllers provided by the Central America Navigation Agency have kept the country’s airports operating normally, save a several-hour disruption Saturday after the strike began.
Alvaro Durán, of the Department of Civil Aviation’s Technical Security Committee, said the reduced number of controllers does not allow the airports to continue normal radar operations, but that should not slow down airline service or make it any less safe. He likened the change to switching from “a computer to a word processor.”
Labor Minister Ovidio Pacheco said Costa Rica’s Labor Code stipulates that employees of public transportation agencies must negotiate before announcing a strike – something he said the controllers did not do (TT Daily Page, June 29).
Yesterday, Labor Ministry representatives requested that judges in the cities nearest the country’s major airports officially declare the strike illegal.
Javier Chaves, Minister of Public Works and Transportation, said the government is prepared to negotiate with the controllers. However, he said, the controllers broke off negotiations because they want more money than what they are owed.
--AFP
Additional links:
Controladores extranjeros devengan $150 diarios (La Prensa-- Costa Rica) (http://www.prensalibre.co.cr/2004/junio/30/nacionales10.php) (as an aside and a bit of Panama Jack humor :E , it looks like the controller in the picture is running the same program I have for burning CD's-- a cottage industry in Central America). ;)
La Prensa (Nicaragua) (http://www.laprensa.com.ni/elmundo/elmundo-20040630-05.html)