'Renegade' controllers leave pilots flying blind: air chief
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Strike? Nah! Disruptions and near misses as out-of-practice managers try to get their skills back to speed after years away from the mike to cover for the loss of regular controllers? Maybe...
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I'm involved with a small RPT carrier operation - should I be worried about a strike or any other kind of industrial action over all this. Would be good to have some advanced notice if there's something on the horizon
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I can now say it is an embarrassment to work for ASA as a controller.
I no longer believe the in the bull$hit 'vision' of this organisation.
I have no absolutely no confidence in the lieing, deceiptful, greedy ar$ehole that is TFN.
I wonder how long it will be before ASA's 'customers' insist on the truth that is the staffing debacle we are experiencing.
I wonder how long it will take for Albanese and Rudd to realise that they have been and are being lied to.
I wonder how long it will take for a media organisation to have the balls to expose what is really going on in this, one of the most dis-functional organisations I now have the displeasure of working for. To expose the damage this mongrel has done to this organisation.
????????????
I no longer believe the in the bull$hit 'vision' of this organisation.
I have no absolutely no confidence in the lieing, deceiptful, greedy ar$ehole that is TFN.
I wonder how long it will be before ASA's 'customers' insist on the truth that is the staffing debacle we are experiencing.
I wonder how long it will take for Albanese and Rudd to realise that they have been and are being lied to.
I wonder how long it will take for a media organisation to have the balls to expose what is really going on in this, one of the most dis-functional organisations I now have the displeasure of working for. To expose the damage this mongrel has done to this organisation.
????????????
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this idea of renegade controllers is pure BS.
I think Greg Russell is trying to manufacture a scapegoat. As numerous people have pointed out - if there were "renegades" surely this would have been identified, and harsh examples made of.
the allegory to all this is the story of an empire/dictatorship VS the rebels.
The general populace is punished because they are suspected of harbouring rebels, and pretty soon, if there were no rebels there before, there are now.
Don't fall for the trap. don't become a renegade because TFN wants a public scapegoat. it is mismanagement (training) and neglect (less than competive wages) that have led to the staffing problem, along with a stubborn persistence in projects (ALMS, SDE = less qualified controllers available) that have led to the "service interruptions". Nothing else.
I think Greg Russell is trying to manufacture a scapegoat. As numerous people have pointed out - if there were "renegades" surely this would have been identified, and harsh examples made of.
the allegory to all this is the story of an empire/dictatorship VS the rebels.
The general populace is punished because they are suspected of harbouring rebels, and pretty soon, if there were no rebels there before, there are now.
Don't fall for the trap. don't become a renegade because TFN wants a public scapegoat. it is mismanagement (training) and neglect (less than competive wages) that have led to the staffing problem, along with a stubborn persistence in projects (ALMS, SDE = less qualified controllers available) that have led to the "service interruptions". Nothing else.
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A challenge to Greg Russell, sit in a room with your Lvl3 ATC managers, and ask each individually how many controllers they believe they are short in their area.
"I am manager of X area , I currently need Y controllers". Take their answers as the truth, don't shoot the messenger, and then you will have an idea of where you are really at.
Was told by an ALM today,after meeting between ALMs and their Lvl3, they worked out that, just this one area was 10 short.
Lvl3 can't understand how this figure of 17 australia wide keeps being bandied about.
Greg ask your managers, they know the real figures. Admit you and your upper echelons stuffed it, take real attainable steps to fix it, forecast a realistic timetable to fix it, one that we can believe, because we all have contacts in the College and in recruitment and KNOW if you are lying to save face. Your spin in the media is just that. Do what we have to do, if you make a mistake put your hand up.
If you take this course of action, you may find that controllers once again might do, your quoted ,'excessive overtime' to dig us out of your hole. It may be personally distasteful to admit you have got it wrong, but that is the path you will have to tread to get us back on side.
We, the controllers, have been told for years 'can you just do more O/T, we have a plan to fix this, we want to give you career breaks,can you do more O/T, we want to let you access your long-service leave, we want you to be able to have a work/life balance,can you do more O/T,we want to be able to offer you career development,we don't want you rotting on one console for twenty years,can you do more O/T, we are building up to an excess of numbers, etc etc'. We have given up believing.
Greg, this is exactly what you promised us three years ago, and your predecessors for years before that. 'We just need to get over this hump, after we implement this, once this restructure is in, etc ,etc.'
Are you really surprised that we don't believe you, another resignation from Brisbane for Ireland yesterday. 2 VRs, one early retirement and another resignation from Sydney the day before. Some people are taking paycuts just to get out of the toxic environment you have created. Your slander in the press might make you feel better, but if you are trying to fix the problem, you are just making it worse.
People will not be continually lied to, your SDE model has some good points and not so good points, it has been floundering for 2 1/2 years now.
Controllers have shown since before TAAATS transition(late nineties) that we will adapt and change,we keep moving the aircraft with new procedures, new sectors , new models, new software, new rosters and less staff.
SDE has been a lab rat experiment. People have trained and then retrained, got endorsements, had endorsements lapse, been given new airspace, had that airspace taken away. Had new rosters implemented , had those changed , and then changed again. The College has been streamlined (gutted) and now is busy trying to ramp up again. New managers who know nothing about ATC are being brought in ,and bringing their mates along for the ride. Consultants are waltzing in, and tangoing out.
You reckon October was when this all ramped up and had something to do with EBA negotiations. BS. Negotiations were not even starting til April. October was when you implemented another management restructure and 100+ controllers with endorsements hung up the headsets and went out the back to work on procedures, rosters, SDE, etc etc. They may still have ATC licences but most haven't spoken to an aircraft since and are no longer endorsed to do so. There are under 800 endorsed ATCs now in Australia, stop quoting 970+.They may still be employed but they don't move planes.
Controllers move planes.
P.S. Greg, I'd love to see the plan for the 500 trainees you are getting for the next 5 years, something more substantial than a press release, as it is now nearly August and there is still no training plan for the 95 this year and the 100 next year. Seeing you run a monopoly, I wouldn't think it is commercial-in-confidence.
It is better to tell the truth, that way you don't have to remember things.
"I am manager of X area , I currently need Y controllers". Take their answers as the truth, don't shoot the messenger, and then you will have an idea of where you are really at.
Was told by an ALM today,after meeting between ALMs and their Lvl3, they worked out that, just this one area was 10 short.
Lvl3 can't understand how this figure of 17 australia wide keeps being bandied about.
Greg ask your managers, they know the real figures. Admit you and your upper echelons stuffed it, take real attainable steps to fix it, forecast a realistic timetable to fix it, one that we can believe, because we all have contacts in the College and in recruitment and KNOW if you are lying to save face. Your spin in the media is just that. Do what we have to do, if you make a mistake put your hand up.
If you take this course of action, you may find that controllers once again might do, your quoted ,'excessive overtime' to dig us out of your hole. It may be personally distasteful to admit you have got it wrong, but that is the path you will have to tread to get us back on side.
We, the controllers, have been told for years 'can you just do more O/T, we have a plan to fix this, we want to give you career breaks,can you do more O/T, we want to let you access your long-service leave, we want you to be able to have a work/life balance,can you do more O/T,we want to be able to offer you career development,we don't want you rotting on one console for twenty years,can you do more O/T, we are building up to an excess of numbers, etc etc'. We have given up believing.
Greg, this is exactly what you promised us three years ago, and your predecessors for years before that. 'We just need to get over this hump, after we implement this, once this restructure is in, etc ,etc.'
Are you really surprised that we don't believe you, another resignation from Brisbane for Ireland yesterday. 2 VRs, one early retirement and another resignation from Sydney the day before. Some people are taking paycuts just to get out of the toxic environment you have created. Your slander in the press might make you feel better, but if you are trying to fix the problem, you are just making it worse.
People will not be continually lied to, your SDE model has some good points and not so good points, it has been floundering for 2 1/2 years now.
Controllers have shown since before TAAATS transition(late nineties) that we will adapt and change,we keep moving the aircraft with new procedures, new sectors , new models, new software, new rosters and less staff.
SDE has been a lab rat experiment. People have trained and then retrained, got endorsements, had endorsements lapse, been given new airspace, had that airspace taken away. Had new rosters implemented , had those changed , and then changed again. The College has been streamlined (gutted) and now is busy trying to ramp up again. New managers who know nothing about ATC are being brought in ,and bringing their mates along for the ride. Consultants are waltzing in, and tangoing out.
You reckon October was when this all ramped up and had something to do with EBA negotiations. BS. Negotiations were not even starting til April. October was when you implemented another management restructure and 100+ controllers with endorsements hung up the headsets and went out the back to work on procedures, rosters, SDE, etc etc. They may still have ATC licences but most haven't spoken to an aircraft since and are no longer endorsed to do so. There are under 800 endorsed ATCs now in Australia, stop quoting 970+.They may still be employed but they don't move planes.
Controllers move planes.
P.S. Greg, I'd love to see the plan for the 500 trainees you are getting for the next 5 years, something more substantial than a press release, as it is now nearly August and there is still no training plan for the 95 this year and the 100 next year. Seeing you run a monopoly, I wouldn't think it is commercial-in-confidence.
It is better to tell the truth, that way you don't have to remember things.
Last edited by max1; 31st Jul 2008 at 03:45.
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The Australian July 31, 2008
Air boss blames union for gaps in traffic control
THE problems with the nation's air traffic control system are the fault of an industrial campaign, excessive sick leave and an outdated endorsement system rather than staff shortages, the chief executive of Airservices Australia claimed yesterday.
Greg Russell told an aviation conference in Sydney there had been only seven incidents where pilots were left flying without air traffic control over 2006 and 2007, years where there were no wage negotiations.
But since October last year, there had been more than 140 interruptions to service, with about the same number of air traffic controllers. "You may well ask what's so different in 2008 and I think the answer is pretty obvious," he said.
Mr Russell said Airservices was short of about 17 controllers on the basis of "the current inefficient way" it operated.
"Is it a critical shortage? No." he said. "But it can sound very persuasive when it's being talked up in a year of wage negotiations."
Airservices had a training and recruitment initiative under way "after some years of neglect".
But it needed to move ahead with a program to improve the efficiency of airspace management, as well as tackling restrictive union work practices in areas such as rostering and absenteeism, he said.
One problem was that 144 separate endorsements were needed to work across the 32 sectors of Australian airspace.
Air boss blames union for gaps in traffic control
THE problems with the nation's air traffic control system are the fault of an industrial campaign, excessive sick leave and an outdated endorsement system rather than staff shortages, the chief executive of Airservices Australia claimed yesterday.
Greg Russell told an aviation conference in Sydney there had been only seven incidents where pilots were left flying without air traffic control over 2006 and 2007, years where there were no wage negotiations.
But since October last year, there had been more than 140 interruptions to service, with about the same number of air traffic controllers. "You may well ask what's so different in 2008 and I think the answer is pretty obvious," he said.
Mr Russell said Airservices was short of about 17 controllers on the basis of "the current inefficient way" it operated.
"Is it a critical shortage? No." he said. "But it can sound very persuasive when it's being talked up in a year of wage negotiations."
Airservices had a training and recruitment initiative under way "after some years of neglect".
But it needed to move ahead with a program to improve the efficiency of airspace management, as well as tackling restrictive union work practices in areas such as rostering and absenteeism, he said.
One problem was that 144 separate endorsements were needed to work across the 32 sectors of Australian airspace.
Last edited by Slugfest; 31st Jul 2008 at 05:39.
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It makes you wonder if or when someone is going to ask him the right questions. Reading his own words, he states there was no "industrial action"/wage negotiation in 2006/2007, yet he says there WERE AIRSPACE CLOSURES in that period. So what were those airpsace closures due to? How can a supposedly well-run, first world ANS provider have ANY airspace closures? If the increasing number of airpsace closures is due to industrial action, why isn't ASA in court? That alone would have to be a massive management failure. If there is unprotected industrial action happening, what is TFN doing to stop it?
It just seems pretty obvious that if airspace closures began happening when the CEO admits there was no industrial campaign, and those closures are increasing, then the reason for them happening in the first place (a lack of staff) is increasing (probably via attrition)- or is that TOO OBVIOUS?
This is "Sunbeam" and Chainsaw Al for any MBA-types, and "NASA" for the safety conscious
Someone else mentioned that the CEO must be smarting and on his last legs when he is lashing out like a desperado. Even CASA can't pretend it isnt happening once the coiled-spring that is ICAO is noticing.
It just seems pretty obvious that if airspace closures began happening when the CEO admits there was no industrial campaign, and those closures are increasing, then the reason for them happening in the first place (a lack of staff) is increasing (probably via attrition)- or is that TOO OBVIOUS?
This is "Sunbeam" and Chainsaw Al for any MBA-types, and "NASA" for the safety conscious
Someone else mentioned that the CEO must be smarting and on his last legs when he is lashing out like a desperado. Even CASA can't pretend it isnt happening once the coiled-spring that is ICAO is noticing.
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I'm sure I could release at least one manager back to operational duties at a fraction of the current price?
(Sorry Al, just kidding!)
(Sorry Al, just kidding!)
Then again, how about Unicom operator Prossie?
Surely the ASA CEO can't be that stupid. He's a supposed intelligent person and now he's beating up the people whom he is hoping will hold the system together for him
Ah !
perhaps he isn't so stupid.
Standby for conspiracy theory ...
Could he be goading the Controllers INTO industrial action ... thereby diverting attention from the real reason that airspace is closing
Was that a naughty thing to say
Ah !
perhaps he isn't so stupid. Standby for conspiracy theory ...
Could he be goading the Controllers INTO industrial action ... thereby diverting attention from the real reason that airspace is closing
Was that a naughty thing to say
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SDE = Some Dumb-ass Experiment?
All will be fixed! There is a guy (one) going back (southerly outlook) who has been out of it for 5 years. He gets 4 days of simulator sessions.
So really, AsA will be only 16 short now!
All will be fixed! There is a guy (one) going back (southerly outlook) who has been out of it for 5 years. He gets 4 days of simulator sessions.
So really, AsA will be only 16 short now!
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from what i saw on the abc, when GR took over 3 years ago he found no plan in place for future recruitment, a plan is now in place (3 years later) which will start to take affect in 2011. so if i heard correctly, GR is not exactly a rocket surgeon or at least not in any kind of a hurry.
many years since i last saw PM on t.v. or anywhere else. hardly recognised him without the floormop on his head.
many years since i last saw PM on t.v. or anywhere else. hardly recognised him without the floormop on his head.
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effing politicians
Seems like Minister Albanese (coincidentally my federal member), is only hearing (or has been briefed on) one side of the whole sorry story of the worldwide ATCO shortage and the focus on short-term financial returns and the lack of realistic long-term planning.
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It seems so. especially as the contradictions keep mounting up....
"GREG RUSSELL: When I arrived, one of the things that I asked to see was a current workforce plan, a plan that told us where our problem areas were. No such plan existed. We didn't think about the future. We didn't plan for it. And we're now in better shape."
So, he didnt know when he arrived...and what has he done about it since finding out (since he previously admitted there has been TIBA events going back to 2006)?....
He has made a plan!!! And the plan is........"For now, Air Services is trying desperately to remain upbeat, adamant the immediate shortfall should be fixed next month with 17 new recruits." Yet..."But the first bumper class of graduates won't be ready for work until 2011"
So the plan, as advised so far, is to increase the staff numbers...in 2011. hehehe, that is, of course, if he retains the current staff......"The union warns that unless salaries are hiked up a whopping 30 per cent, on par with their international colleagues, there'll be a further exodus of staff."
So whats the plan there.....? Or will your replacement, Greg, be telling us he wasnt aware that there was a global demand for his renegades? And that he needs to make a plan?
"GREG RUSSELL: When I arrived, one of the things that I asked to see was a current workforce plan, a plan that told us where our problem areas were. No such plan existed. We didn't think about the future. We didn't plan for it. And we're now in better shape."
So, he didnt know when he arrived...and what has he done about it since finding out (since he previously admitted there has been TIBA events going back to 2006)?....
He has made a plan!!! And the plan is........"For now, Air Services is trying desperately to remain upbeat, adamant the immediate shortfall should be fixed next month with 17 new recruits." Yet..."But the first bumper class of graduates won't be ready for work until 2011"
So the plan, as advised so far, is to increase the staff numbers...in 2011. hehehe, that is, of course, if he retains the current staff......"The union warns that unless salaries are hiked up a whopping 30 per cent, on par with their international colleagues, there'll be a further exodus of staff."
So whats the plan there.....? Or will your replacement, Greg, be telling us he wasnt aware that there was a global demand for his renegades? And that he needs to make a plan?
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PETER MCGUANE: They're not easy jobs reforming organisations like this. I don't think I fully understood just how difficult it could be some days, but nevertheless, there is a way through this.
Full video of the story also available at The 7.30 Report - ABC
"Famous Last Words".........
'G.R.' courtesy of ABC 31/7/08.
"But nevertheless, there is a way through this........"
From that well known expression...'Please Explain??'
Cheers to all...
"But nevertheless, there is a way through this........"
From that well known expression...'Please Explain??'
Cheers to all...
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So there's a sick-out is there?
You are therefore implying fraud are you?
Well why don't you do your duty as a CEO and prosecute you spinele$$ prick?
You are deluded if you think come December that it will be a sick-out that forms our industrial action. All it will take is the ceasing of all OT.
I think we all know what's coming. It's time for all the older heads to start preparing our younger colleagues for December.
Come December, you will pay mate! A bloke can only take so many insults, especially when they are lies.
You are therefore implying fraud are you?
Well why don't you do your duty as a CEO and prosecute you spinele$$ prick?
You are deluded if you think come December that it will be a sick-out that forms our industrial action. All it will take is the ceasing of all OT.
I think we all know what's coming. It's time for all the older heads to start preparing our younger colleagues for December.
Come December, you will pay mate! A bloke can only take so many insults, especially when they are lies.