MATCO and SATCO Terminated
 

UAE Area control center MATCO and SATCO terminated within a week of firing a ATCO Supervisor. Stromboli and Pinocchio strikes back :} . Hot news is Serco may lose contract ! :ugh:

Hi nonflier
also in the current 'Blood bath' scenario the serco contract representative has been deemed as no longer acceptable to the GCAA. His crime (in the eyes of Stromboli & Pinocchio) was that he backed up the MATCO & SATCO. Effectively a demotion.

So: MATCO, SATCO, Supervisor, Deputy Chief Engineer & a duty engineer all fired in short order meanwhile continuing power outages, no proper SMS, etc, the list of non compliance with ICAO is long.

It highlights the shabbiness and ineptness of the GCAA as an organision.

Any decision by Serco to walk away from the contract would be done on a hard headed business basis although it has always been Stromboli's ambition to get rid of Serco (Strange, considering that he is an ex Serco employee).

It would be doubtful in the current stramash that the GCAA would be viewed as a sensible employment opportunity.

Serco know how to play the game.

Sounds more like a circus than an ACC

More vacancies in Flight Global soon then?

Can others verify this, please (I am out of comms down Verci's way, atm)?

If true, this is a disgrace and needs to be raised with ICAO. Does the UAE realise that the Great Dane is embarrassing them internationally?

Furthermore, who the hell would take a job there now? Any job?

Ferris
Yep, it is true.
yep, it is a disgrace.
Not sure that ICAO would be of much use but with the FAA intention of downgrading the GCAA to Cat 2 a few cages will be rattled.

Check your pms.

Cheers:ok:

'tis further rumoured Sheikh Ahmed made some representation regarding Dubai's status and was basically told to mind his own business by the 'Deadly Duo'.

It is difficult to see see how the DG can contiunue to support these two clowns (Stromboli & Pinocchio) and have the GCAA maintain any semblance of credibility with the DCA's.

Serco are holding a 'war' cabinet at the time of writing. N.B. Serco underwrite the insurance liablity for the GCAA operation as part of the GCAA-Serco contract. In the absence of any substantive SMS at the GCAA they (Serco) would be well within their rights to withhold or withdraw this until such time as the GCAA proves itself to be fully ICAO compliant, i.e. split the Regulations and ANSP functions, have qualified PANS-OPS people write the procedures (Stromboli is not PANS-OPS qualified) and have the GCAA aquire an ANSP licence. The airports are licenced but the GCAA ANSP is not

Interesting times, indeed.


To infinity and beyond and, hopefully, back in time for a pint of Theakstones Old Peculiar.:ok:

So if serco looses the contact who will step in and take over? Not ADAC I hope, . . .. heard they like putting assistants in ATCOS positions!! . . . just so they can pay less. . . . . .. .. :oh:

Ferris,

Things may be bad but I doubt they could be worse than:

- an organisation that lies through its teeth about being fully staffed (and has everyone believe it) while the controllers get worked harder every day because there can be no public acknowledgement (TIBA, NOTAM, etc) of the reality;

- an organisation that has just determined the 'safest' operations mode is for single person night shifts with three different managers (including one who hasn't been a controller and has no idea about what we do but is responsible for resourcing, ie bonus paid for cutting resources as much as possible!) having to sign off on any increase to that;

- an organisation that is using 'light traffic' ratings to allow its much prized reorganisation to go ahead (even though stats show the sector they were going to do this for had more traffic during the night than the sector they were going to bolt it onto!)...

All these things happen with a SMS and NOONE is held responsible! Could it really be any worse in the sandpit?

Westausatc shocking thread creep, this is a much different situation as the two men in question made principled decisions not to compromise safety or the integrity of their employer Serco. There is no regulator to speak of here, no parliamentary oversight and no right to withdraw labour when there are significant breaches of contract.
So if you whinging girls who don't have the spine to take industrial action when you can do us a favour and keep to topic or your own thread.

BTW nonflier the ATCO supervisor resigned not fired, another controller was fired.

Any further info to add though Funk? How does this influence the day to day life of the coal face ATC?

Funk,

Sorry I wasn't trying to thread drift it... I was pointing out to Ferris that while it sounds bad, there are still people who want to go there - pick me!

While what's happening in the sandpit isn't good, there are things happening in other places around the world that appear to those of us stuck in them to be just as bad. Hence, there will still be people who want to move to OMAA.

As to the points you made about the environment there, all I will say is that the exact same charges could be levelled at the situation where I am.

Nothing on flightglobal yet.... Anyone know if there will be more applications called for anytime soon?? Any email addresses to send things to?

westausatc....
 

use the search function...it's been asked about a million times.
When you get to the sandpit, THEN you can have a maid to do all your work for you:ugh:
I can only echo funk's comments about the industrial state of Oz ATC...

The acting MATCO is now a local, so I think it's a fair assumption that the aforementioned duos' wishes will be carried out with no questions asked by operational management.
Basically the guys and girls on the floor will feel the whip harder than ever:ugh:

Funk a Duck, good to see your input.

Westausatc, you are an innocent not abroad!
The UAE does run like a unionised civil set up. You have absolutely no protection there.
With Serco you get three months notice and they would normally pick up on your rented apartment and also try to relocate you, although no guarantees.
With GCAA you get two months notice and that's it. If you have just happened to pay your annual rental up front, as is the norm in the UAE, of approximately $ (US) 40000 you will feel a little bit sick if you get terminated on short notice by the whim of your arabic employer.
Not exactly neat if you are a family person with kids in school and also having just paid the school fees

Serco, although not perfect, works to a decent standard while the GCAA has no standards to speak of. It is an inept and shabby organisation which treats it's staff, both local and expat, as totally expendable.

The two in question, MATCO & SATCO, have been right royally shafted as were the engineers just before them.

When you know what you are talking about come back on the forum but, until then, keep quiet.

Duck, Slainte
Funk, G'day mate

How does it affect day to day ops??

Try 6 on 1 off roster if Serco are gone.

I suppose NATS could have a nibble again.:eek: There seems to be enough ex-NATS people over there now that could have some influence although no ex managers that I know of.

AsA could leap in and save the world. They're fully staffed with competent and qualified errrr sychophants. Careful you don't trip over someone on the way out;)

is it me or is it more stable in Muscat?verci do you have a say after all those years?

BlackHawkDown

The UAE pays well but the ANS managment as exemplified by Stromboli & Pinocchio is the worst that I have ever seen. Stromboli likes to put people under pressure and derives pleasure from watching them strive to please him. As long as they don't question the published orthodoxy (think North Korea & the Dear leader) all is smooth but the moment you raise any doubt as to his omnipotence you are doomed, Both he and Pinocchio are vindictive and think of their workforce as being stupid grunts. He denigrates and diminishes people behind their backs but never to their face which is quite rich when you consider that he has only ever worked at low level units and has no PANS-OPS qualifications. Nealy all the ATCOs at the UAE ACC are better qualified and more up to date in their thinking then him.

In Muscat the pay is not so good but the managment is significantly better and brings a more human perspective to bear. I met all your top people as well as those in the UAE and the Muscat chaps definitely qualify as those you would invite to dinner, ie. SaH, SaB (the Hammersmith kid), C, etc.

I was told once by SaH that the yearly financial funding for Muscat generally runs out around the 10th month of the financial year. If that problem were to be solved Muscat would be leaps and bounds ahead of the UAE.

As it is, on a scale of 1-10 on good man management, good manners, consideration of, and how to treat people Muscat scores a 10 whereas the UAE ACC scores a zero.

The UAE is reminiscent of Mordor in the Lord of the Rings, i.e. Dark, gloomy, no light, no fun, no laughter.

Rusty Nail hit it on the head (pun intended) in an earlier post.

You may well see people returning.

Cheers:ok: