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bluewolf_85
8th Mar 2019, 16:16
I am an air traffic controller working in Bahrain, and there is a mixture of local and foreigner air traffic controllers from different countries in its control center. The foreign air traffic controllers get paid a salary 3 times more than the local air traffic controllers, and we all work in the same place together and we are all colleagues and do the exact same job. The local ATCOs work for and get paid by the government, while the non-local ATCOs work and get paid by a private ANSP that are in contract with the government to provide and manage air traffic control services there. Since we all work together, and the non-local ATCOs get paid way much, that causes a bitter feeling for the local folks and a sense of unfairness and discrimination in the work environment. Now my question is does this consider pay discrimination based on nationality? Is it legal to do that or not?

kcockayne
8th Mar 2019, 21:23
Very comprehensive & accurate answer. Well done.

bluewolf_85
9th Mar 2019, 12:38
Okay LookingForAJob your answer is good in a generic point of view, but let me give you some insights. First of all, I checked if Bahrain has laws against pay discrimination like most western countries in Europe and North America, and unfortunately it does not, so from a legal standpoint what they do is permitted, nevertheless, that does not necessarily make it neither ethical nor moral.

Telling me that foreigners must get paid more due to the fact that they require accommodation and tickets to go back home and family members coming over to live with them and all that, its is hypothetically sound until you see the numbers and statistics in pay difference. The median salary for a Bahraini ATCO in US dollars is $5000 a month (in Bahrain salary is calculated per month). Meanwhile, the median salary of a foreign ATCO in Bahrain is $15000 a month. That is a difference of $10000 a month! Now if someone thinks that accommodation and other expense costs $10000 a MONTH in Bahrain, they are totally absurd. Most expenses in Bahrain are equal for both foreigners and locals. Hell Bahrain as a country did not even have any taxes not until 2019. Before that it was a tax free country, and still to date there is no income tax, and it is not a very expensive country to live in, especially for someone that gets paid USD 180,000 a year!

This ain’t no rocket science, if you know how to count, you will realize the injustice in this.

bluewolf_85
9th Mar 2019, 12:49
Very comprehensive & accurate answer. Well done.

kcockayne how about you come over and work hard doing this job when the guy sitting next to you doing the same thing is getting paid 3 times more than you do, if that happens I don't think you'll be thinking very comprehensive and accurate. It is easy to say that when you don't have your back against the wall.

kcockayne
9th Mar 2019, 17:46
I never said that it was fair that you got paid less; only that LookingForAJob's assessment was factually accurate. No one has actually put forward a justification for this apparent unfairness. If what you say is correct, I have sympathy for you. You, & your local colleagues have to decide if there is anything that you can do to change the situation. I wish you good luck.

bluewolf_85
9th Mar 2019, 18:22
I never said that it was fair that you got paid less; only that LookingForAJob's assessment was factually accurate. No one has actually put forward a justification for this apparent unfairness. If what you say is correct, I have sympathy for you. You, & your local colleagues have to decide if there is anything that you can do to change the situation. I wish you good luck.
Thank you sir.

bluewolf_85
9th Mar 2019, 20:25
LookingForAJob I object to your view simply because I think that you are somehow trying to make something that is discriminatory sound like it is normal, nevertheless we all have different views and eventually I respect all views.
Marriage allowances are very normal in many jobs, even among us the local controller, married employees get paid an allowance for being married, while others that are not married, like myself, do not have that. But that is not, by any means, comparable to the situation that I am talking about. I am aware that a lot of countries impose income tax on their citizens income wherever in the world they work at, and still I do not see the relevance between that and the astronomical difference in pay between local and foreign ATCOs. Things like that would make the difference between pays reasonably more in one type than the other, but when the difference is unreasonably enormous in the same working environment and same job, that elevates the reason for that difference to a whole new level. If I, for example, lets say go to work in a job in the UK and do the same job in a workplace with the locals in there, I would never, ever, get paid more than them, and we all not that. I don't have the problem that, because the way I see it I do not earn the right to be paid more and have more worth than the people that are actually from there. Also, organizations in there could value their local work force and invest in human factor pretty well, and I really admire that.
The situation in Bahrain could be discriminatory due to political reasons, or could be that foreigners need more pay because of their expenses mentioned above, at the end of the day every person has their own opinion.
And I agree with you that Air traffic control is a global business and I can "pack my bags" anytime I find an opportunity and go somewhere else.

Russell Kaymer
13th Mar 2019, 23:29
Cool story but who in YOUR mind is to blame for this?

Paul Wilson
14th Mar 2019, 21:21
Another way to look at it, is to compare the situation to renting or leasing a car.

I can lease a Ford Focus for £245/month. This ties me into a 3 year contract. (Similar in some ways to hiring a permanent employee)

On the other hand I can rent one from Sixt, which will cost me £600/month and I can give it back whenever I like. (Similar to hiring a contractor)

It's exactly the same car, the only difference is the terms under which I am getting it, and the flexibility of the contact.

You also need to ask yourself the question, if the ATC service in say Senegal was looking to recruit you on a temporary contract, would you
A.) Want to be paid the same as the local controllers (earning about 1/2 what you do now)
B.) Want to earn the same as you do now (leaving behind a steady job, leaving the family behind, no pension etc.)
C.) Earn more than you do now, to compensate you for living in a foreign land, running 2 houses (one for you, one for the wife and kids back home) lack of pension, and no job security.
​​​​​​
It sounds to me like you would, from your principles, want to choose A, but would then decline the job offer because you are better off staying at home.

Which is the crux of the problem.

I work in the supply of temporary staff, our staff are paid 50% to 150% more than permanent staff doing the same job at our clients sites. This is for people with the same training, working in the same building, from the same country, doing the same job.

It is not a foreigner vs. local thing, it is a contractor vs. permanent employee thing.

bluewolf_85
17th Mar 2019, 09:49
Cool story but who in YOUR mind is to blame for this?
The Bahrain government is definitely to be blamed for this because we in Bahrain have very educated Gen Y bahraini citizens that have college degrees and are very smart and are well more than qualified to do this job better than any foreigner. Nevertheless, the government refuses to trust the locals for political reasons and insist that they need to bring foreigners to run this job instead, which is a the same thing they have been doing since the 1970's to date. The government refuses to evolve and change its way to accommodate changes in the present and future, so instead of being like: "Oh we have a very different generation now from what we had back then and they are now very educated and knowledgeable so lets just invest in them by training them and providing them with knowledge to run this", instead of having that mentality they're just doing the same thing they've been doing for the past 40-50 years.

bluewolf_85
17th Mar 2019, 10:51
LookingForAJob: "But I would suggest that the reasons that it is felt necessary for your country to look elsewhere for staff rather than to train (and retain) local personnel may well involve elements of discrimination" Amen to that.

bluewolf_85
17th Mar 2019, 11:21
Paul Wilson your explanation of why people working under a contractor get paid more is correct based on your knowledge and experience of your field of work where you work in the supply of TEMPORARY staff. The situation where I am at is anything but temporary. As I mentioned in a reply above that has been going on for the past 4+ decades. Non locals that are working here with their high contract salaries have been here for 10 plus years, some of them even lasted 15 years. When those guys are brought here they do not stay here for the length of a tourist vacation and then just leave. Hell even some local bahrainis they don't stay that long in this job. There were some of them that got frustrated with the situation and left to work in ATC in other countries and others left the aviation field for something else. If this is a temporary situation so what's the time frame for this? How long will this last? Something that has been around for too long does not look to end soon.

Paul Wilson
17th Mar 2019, 12:46
Bluewolf,
That is the problem then, and where you should be focusing your efforts. My field does have people in the same job for years and it is a failure of the organisations that I supply to recruit permanently that leads to it.
Have you considered lobbying for increased training numbers from the local system?
Or organising locally and bidding for the contract yourselves?
​​You will probably still need contractors for a time whilst you get the numbers through a training system, but once you have the numbers through you could bid much lower than any external company.

​​​​​​It is hard when the government seems blind to the issue. Especially when the solution is easy, but just takes a long time! In my field and country I can to some extent understand it, it takes 15 years of training to get our staff qualified, and there are elections every 5 years, so anything the current government does will only benefit the opposition.

You would have thought that under the system of government in Bahrain, at least taking a long term view would be one of the advantages, but it seems not in this case.

L'aviateur
18th Mar 2019, 22:55
Perhaps if the Bahrain government paid you as a local the same salary and conditions then they wouldn't have a problem recruiting and retaining local ATC. Time to lobby your government together and encourage that change, only by standing together will you achieve that.
Don't blame the foreigners who come to work with you, they are just taking the opportunities that are available, just like anyone else would.

kontrolor
19th Mar 2019, 16:17
It is that old imperial bull**** all over again. White, male westeners are of course better payed than darker ones, not to mention the female co-workers, because they are "better". This is why I as white male, would never come to work for any of the desert kingdoms...because I beleive in equality.

bluewolf_85
21st Mar 2019, 20:20
It is that old imperial bull**** all over again. White, male westeners are of course better payed than darker ones, not to mention the female co-workers, because they are "better". This is why I as white male, would never come to work for any of the desert kingdoms...because I beleive in equality.
Respect to you brother.

bluewolf_85
21st Mar 2019, 20:24
Perhaps if the Bahrain government paid you as a local the same salary and conditions then they wouldn't have a problem recruiting and retaining local ATC. Time to lobby your government together and encourage that change, only by standing together will you achieve that.
Don't blame the foreigners who come to work with you, they are just taking the opportunities that are available, just like anyone else would.
I agree with you L'aviateur I can not blame the foreigners because they did not create this situation, the people who created this situation is to blame and that is the government.

bluewolf_85
21st Mar 2019, 20:41
Bluewolf,
That is the problem then, and where you should be focusing your efforts. My field does have people in the same job for years and it is a failure of the organisations that I supply to recruit permanently that leads to it.
Have you considered lobbying for increased training numbers from the local system?
Or organising locally and bidding for the contract yourselves?
​​You will probably still need contractors for a time whilst you get the numbers through a training system, but once you have the numbers through you could bid much lower than any external company.

​​​​​​It is hard when the government seems blind to the issue. Especially when the solution is easy, but just takes a long time! In my field and country I can to some extent understand it, it takes 15 years of training to get our staff qualified, and there are elections every 5 years, so anything the current government does will only benefit the opposition.

You would have thought that under the system of government in Bahrain, at least taking a long term view would be one of the advantages, but it seems not in this case.
Paul Wilson the solution is easy and actually it does not take a long time. To train a brand new air traffic controller and get them fully qualified to work takes a year to a year and a half in most countries in the world. The system in here intentionally stalls the training and courses of new local employees and keep them working as assistants in ATC for 4 to 5 years before training them for air traffic controllers, because they do not care to invest in them and teach them and provide them with the knowledge for this job. The system in Bahrain has this mandate to bring experience foreigners and employ them for very high salaries, not to invest in the local young brains that are willing to give it all to serve their country.

topdrop
21st Mar 2019, 22:42
Does Bahrain recruit local female trainees for ATC? Are they paid the same as males? Discrimination can take many forms.

bluewolf_85
22nd Mar 2019, 10:45
I'm afraid the idea that you can take someone off the street and have them fully qualified - whatever you mean by that - at a major airport in a year and a half is worrying.
Dude, I am sorry to disappoint you but this is normally how long it takes to train an air traffic controller all the way from scratch to being qualified to do the job by themselves. In most parts of the world it is like that. With NATS in the UK it is like that which is perfect to qualify good air traffic controllers. nats.aero states that:
"The basic course lasts around two months, at which point you’ll be told whether you’re following the path of an Area Controller or an Aerodrome/Approach Controller. (This decision will be related to your particular aptitude and the business requirements at the time.) Area students continue for another nine months, Aerodrome students for five months and Aerodrome/Approach students for eight. These are minimum timescales and the process can sometimes take longer if the business requires it or you need to repeat an element of the course." So at a very maximum, a trainee will be qualified to work this job in two years.
Training for air traffic control is different than training for a pilot. Not to say that the pilot job is more difficult or vice versa, but it is just the nature of these jobs are different, so the training timescale and the training methods differ between the two.
And no the purpose of system in Bahrain is not to produce far better experienced controllers in the long run, nor it is done because technology will take over the business in the future. It is done deliberately to stall and underpay local air traffic controllers for political reasons. In a logical sense, how would you produce better experienced local controllers in the long run if you stall an ATC prospect for 5 or 6 years until they are qualified to do this job. If anything this will decrease the motivation for those young guys to become more interested in this job and eventually repel them away from it as they are not earning any knowledge and taking too long to blossom into air traffic controllers.

Trevor Hannant
22nd Mar 2019, 16:01
From an Area perspective, it may be 11/12 months (as it is currently) but that's to achieve your Student license. Then you go to your unit and do OJT to earn your validations which will take another 12-18 months, something that's not noted particularly clearly on the NATS Careers site.

As a trainee controller 1 month into his Basic course at the moment, I don't expect to be "going it alone" for at least another 2 years at a minimum...

bluewolf_85
22nd Mar 2019, 21:52
Does Bahrain recruit local female trainees for ATC? Are they paid the same as males? Discrimination can take many forms.
Yes they do recruit local female trainees in ATC, and the local male and female controllers are underpaid, and the foreign male and female controllers are very overpaid in Bahrain. So it is a local vs. foreign thing in here not a male vs. female thing.

bluewolf_85
22nd Mar 2019, 22:06
From an Area perspective, it may be 11/12 months (as it is currently) but that's to achieve your Student license. Then you go to your unit and do OJT to earn your validations which will take another 12-18 months, something that's not noted particularly clearly on the NATS Careers site.

As a trainee controller 1 month into his Basic course at the moment, I don't expect to be "going it alone" for at least another 2 years at a minimum...
Okay Trevor still 2 or 2 and half years is much less than 4 and half or 5 years to become a qualified controller. I wish the system in here would be considerate and teach people and provide them with the knowledge and training so they will be qualified for work in 2 years. You only learn this job if you train for it and actually do it. If you just sit on the bench for 4 or 5 years not training for this job you are not going to learn anything, so it is a waste of time and experience.