22 IAA Student ATCO's let go (merged thread)

[the corona kid]

its been reported today in the irish examiner, that the iaa has fired all 22 students from their most recent cadet intake.
all 22 had successfully completed their training, and were awaiting ojt assignment. the iaa say that they have been let go due to the "downturn in aviation since 9/11" - that old chestnut! despite posting nearly a 20% increase in post tax profits this year ( up to e5.3m from e4.5m last year)
the iaa have now wasted e1.2m on their training to date ( over 20% of post tax profit!), not to mention messing around with 22 lives!

it has also been stated that there was an overstaffing problem, due to the non implementation of an ealy retirement program. ie there is no program in place at the moment so there were no vacancies for these newly qualified controllers.

will heads roll over this? i doubt it....
watch this space

[Bright-Ling]

Lets hope somebody gives them a chance of a job.

Up you step, NATS?

[PushingTin111]

It's an absolute disgrace that the IAA can mess with 22 people for the past year. The IAA's forward planning is atrocious. For a company who's employees make 1000's of decisions a day you think management could make just one good one. I hope the students get what they deserve, whether it be in Ireland or elsewhere. It's a tough course and they deserve a chance.

Wouldn't be surprised if there's going to be repurcussions after this..!!

[chargreen int]

:ok: word on the street says there is a union meeting next week to discuss possible strike action.:D

[EastCoaster]

Can't say I'm terribly surprised by this news, knowing a little about how some sections of the IAA behave in general!!

Can't see UK-NATS stepping into the breach for the poor unfortunate cadets, though. Apparently they won't employ any ATC staff, Rated or otherwise, unless they have been trained by NATS from the outset?!?! (So much for the free movement of labour within the EU, huh??)

My heart goes out to the cadets, I sincerely hope everything works out for them - it'd be a crying shame to have put in so much effort and to have endured so much stress and hardship during training for it all to end like this.

[jack4577]

Union meeting regarding the 22 students been let go on Tuesday...But will the non SCP controllers really care!!!I really hope they do.I know some of those students and they are gutted along with thier instructors.How could such a so called "world leader" of a company do this??
Fingers must point!!

I call on all controllers worldwide to draw up a petition in your own centre and send it to the IAA.
Lets support these guys.After all we all do the 1 job.

[jack4577]

On Thursday 31st July a whole class of student ATCO was let go by the Irish Aviation Authority.Instead of been told of which Irish station (Dublin,Cork,Shannon) they were about to be assigned to they got this hammer blow!The Iaa has reportedly spent 1.2 million euro on the students since they commenced training in October2002.
There are supposedly 6 contracts available to them for South Africa.The Iaa cbelieve it will be at least a year before they can recommence training for the remainder of the class(if ever they do).
The IAA has blamed a slow uptake in "voluntary early retirement" and that old one "SEPT 11".Also they claim to have only found out in the last 2 weeks that they are overstrength by approx 40!!!!!
Lets hope the union gets behind the guys.

[Arkady]

How many "World Leaders" are there in ATC? Who are they leading and where are they leading them?

[michaelknight]

Is this the course that started in September of 2001? I can´t seem to recall a training course starting since then. From what I can understand the contracts that were offered to the students were training contracts and not necessarily employment ones. It is a tough industry where there is a lot of uncertainty. Look what happened to the Aer Lingus cadets a couple of years ago in Jerez. They were binned with only a few weeks to go on their training. Again the cadets hadn´t a leg to stand on as they were also only contracted by a training contract. Similar things happened to the BA students that were about to commence their training soon after.

I´m sure the IAA will offer these guys the chance of employment in time but if they are not needed at the moment then why spend even more money employing them now when they are not needed. Don´t get me wrong I have no doubt that the intention of the IAA was to offer employment to these recruits when they finished but if the places aren´t there then whats the point?

[priscilla]

I thought the administration job was to anticipate such things!
How long is the ATCO training in Irland ?

[Fox3snapshot]

Irish courses are about half as long....but twice the length...

:E

[disenchanted]

For starters, apparently there is union meeting for cadets and all interested in the oakwood arms, Shannon tomorrow wednesday 6th August at 11am, with information meetings taking place at other centres.

In my humble opinion the biggest problem is the mis-management of the issue. Questions were raised as to the viability of this class before they ever began their training.
Why then did the IAA proceed to build up the hopes of 22 students, many of whom gave up good jobs to pursue their career in ATC. The crux of the problem is air traffic controllers fulfilling management positions without adequate training or qualification. (with no offence to air traffic controllers!!!!!)
Surely good strategic planning would have prevented this problem from ever arising.

Unfortunately, this decision has a knock-on effect on all the staff in the training department.

[bagpuss lives]

There go my chances of getting a job "back home" :(

Seriously though - very best wishes to the unlucky 22.

[Irishguy]

Well folks,

I know its been over a year but the 22 students are now 14,
6 gone to South Africa for 3 years since January, 1 placed in Waterford and 1 in Kerry.

They resume their course on 1st of November, with OJT beginning after Christmas.

SCP6 will live long in the memories of the IAA and ATC personnel in Ireland.

Best of Luck SCP6!!

[nats]

Are they going to EINN centre?,maybe to help staff the increased airspace that NOTA is bringing after the recent spate of early retirements.

[Irishguy]

The IAA are doing a head count in September to find out where controllers will be needed.

But its looking like the 14 will be given High Level ratings based in Ballycasey Centre, Shannon.

As you said, probably in order to deal with NOTA.