Swiss Cheese ASA Style
From 1st November 2012, sick leave will only be permitted on weekdays.
Please do not seek exemptions ... as refusal often offends.
Please do not seek exemptions ... as refusal often offends.
Last edited by peuce; 23rd Oct 2012 at 09:57.
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Oh Greg, are you stressed?
Indeed a very immature email from a Manager struggling to maintain control (and bonus?). Or did Greg have to pick up a headset and do some real work to help out?
I hope any staff member offended by his email contacts HR to express their displeasure.
Perhaps, Greg, you were short staffed because:
a) People do get sick, and
b) Nobody else wanted to work overtime? (Keep in mind Greg that you cant force someone to work overtime if they don't want to and you can't prevent people getting sick).
Finally, Greg, if you hired adequate staff levels maybe this tragic shortage of Controllers would not have occurred? Perhaps it is 'you who is in the wrong job'?
I hope any staff member offended by his email contacts HR to express their displeasure.
Perhaps, Greg, you were short staffed because:
a) People do get sick, and
b) Nobody else wanted to work overtime? (Keep in mind Greg that you cant force someone to work overtime if they don't want to and you can't prevent people getting sick).
Finally, Greg, if you hired adequate staff levels maybe this tragic shortage of Controllers would not have occurred? Perhaps it is 'you who is in the wrong job'?
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Party is over, the trough is empty!
Oh no, has the trough been emptied?? Surely not.
New procedures curb new head of Airservices Australia
BY: STEVE CREEDY From: The Australian October 19, 2012 12:00AM
THE new head of Airservices Australia will be consigned to cattle class on short flights after a tightening of spending procedures at the air navigation provider.
Air Vice-Marshal Margaret Staib was appointed to head Airservices after the departure of former chief Greg Russell in May amid media coverage of his credit card expenses.
BY: STEVE CREEDY From: The Australian October 19, 2012 12:00AM
THE new head of Airservices Australia will be consigned to cattle class on short flights after a tightening of spending procedures at the air navigation provider.
Air Vice-Marshal Margaret Staib was appointed to head Airservices after the departure of former chief Greg Russell in May amid media coverage of his credit card expenses.
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For those that are unaware, this is an email who has recently been 'Acting Executive General Manager' for ATC. 
It gives you an indication of the reason why Airservices is imploding. As alluded to, the bonus - scuttlebutt is up to 30% of base salary - is looking a bit shaky!
Prepare for more beatings, we are going to get this morale KPI up if it kills you!
It gives you an indication of the reason why Airservices is imploding. As alluded to, the bonus - scuttlebutt is up to 30% of base salary - is looking a bit shaky!
Prepare for more beatings, we are going to get this morale KPI up if it kills you!
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GD # 108 - THE new head of Airservices Australia will be consigned to cattle class on short flights after a tightening of spending procedures at the air navigation provider.
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Saturday was IDATC, which as an ATC i find slightly cringeworthy, but these days everything short of breathing has an International Day.
ASA values
Excellence – we are the best we can be - and cover up all that isn't
Inclusion – we are diverse and involved - you will all get the blame for my mistakes
Cohesion – we are working together - you will do what I say
Initiative – we are making a difference - I will wallpaper over cracks in the dam with "initiatives"
Someone was recently lauded as a "Values Champion" because they wangled a way for supervisors not to have to work night shifts
ASA values
Excellence – we are the best we can be - and cover up all that isn't
Inclusion – we are diverse and involved - you will all get the blame for my mistakes
Cohesion – we are working together - you will do what I say
Initiative – we are making a difference - I will wallpaper over cracks in the dam with "initiatives"
Someone was recently lauded as a "Values Champion" because they wangled a way for supervisors not to have to work night shifts
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So it's only taken you 30 years Greg? Most of us became as embarrassed as we've ever been when the grinning idiot took over. You will have to look hard to find anybody that's done as much damage to ASA as that fool, blame him Greg, he and the moron he put in charge of the the training academy 
Core, mature, blah, blah, blah.............
Core, mature, blah, blah, blah.............
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Go your hardest j-mo. You think anybody would be stupid enough to have a few drinks then call in sick, especially when there's more than likely a few managers at said drinks? If there were drinks?
There will be the typical ASA witch hunt, all in the name of saving face with the airlines, at which there will be found to be no hi-jinks, ASA making a fool of themselves, yet again. Look a little harder folks, do you ever wonder what 'operational requirement' is a euphemism for? Could it be 'staff shortage'? Nooooo, ASA would never use weasel dick words would it?
There will be the typical ASA witch hunt, all in the name of saving face with the airlines, at which there will be found to be no hi-jinks, ASA making a fool of themselves, yet again. Look a little harder folks, do you ever wonder what 'operational requirement' is a euphemism for? Could it be 'staff shortage'? Nooooo, ASA would never use weasel dick words would it?
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If there were celebratory drinks the night before, it certainly explains why ATC's who were rostered off on the morning in question would be unavailable to attend work at short notice.
I would never say yes to an AD if I had been out late having few drinks in my own time the night before. (As I would be entitled to....without interrogation)
I would never say yes to an AD if I had been out late having few drinks in my own time the night before. (As I would be entitled to....without interrogation)
Last edited by Cougar2063; 25th Oct 2012 at 03:03.
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Not sure how many of you read Ben Sandilands & Plane Talking, but he has shared his view on the Atkins email here:
Air traffic control shambles at Sydney made public in memo | Plane Talking
I am most impressed with a comment made to his blog by someone claiming they used to be an ATC Line Manager. It is a fabulously honest insight into the reality of what is happening within this organisation. I hope that Greg Atkins gets to read it.....
I have reproduced it here without permission but it is published on Plane Talking:
Air traffic control shambles at Sydney made public in memo | Plane Talking
I am most impressed with a comment made to his blog by someone claiming they used to be an ATC Line Manager. It is a fabulously honest insight into the reality of what is happening within this organisation. I hope that Greg Atkins gets to read it.....
I have reproduced it here without permission but it is published on Plane Talking:
Ben – I used to be an ATC manager, 50 control tower staff in all, and I seem to recall this time of the year was always bad for absenteeism due seasonal flu and the like.
As was the practice at the time, I kept all of my endorsements current. As the day working manager I could fill gaps or even full shifts if necessary. I was if you like a spare controller. The last CEO allowed what are now called ATC Line Managers to keep only a token endorsement which removed at one stroke probably 8 – 10% of the available controllers.
The prime problem though is not that controllers are unable to work but that there is no-one to replace them. Most businesses get by if an employee does not come to work and the employee catches up when he/she returns. ATC is not like that. It is a high stress,24/7 shift working environment where the ATC gets four days off per fortnight. (And only one 2-day break in six will be a weekend) Well everyone else gets 4 days off you say but how many times do non-ATCs get asked to work on their days off? (Always week ends when all their friends are also off)
This, by the way, is not overtime as the world knows it, putting in an extra few hours to get a job done, this is five to seven hours sometime longer, on your day off. You have to cancel the day out with the family, cancel the golf game, say sorry you can’t attend the party, lose touch with your friends. (These are rarely other ATCs because they are at work when you are on days off!) So now you are down to three days off in the fortnight. Naturally you are not expected to give up yet another day? Wrong! The only thing that will save you is an industrial agreement that states that ATCs cannot work more than ten day in a row without a day off. That’s right it is not a CASA reg like flight time for pilots and flight attendants, it’s an industrial agreement and the only recourse you have is to Fair Work Australia, CASA seems to take little interest.
Another issue hidden from the public when controller shifts are discussed is the fatigue management system. This under the last CEO morphed from an apparently benign attempt to help shift workers assess their ability to present for work to a system that demands answers if you fail to accept an order to return to work.
Ben – you know I don’t get involved in Airservices issues on your blog because I post under my real name and prefer to work inside the organisation to effect change, but on this one I feel that the public does not get the full story.
I sincerely hope that our new CEO will breathe some fresh air into management / controller relationships so the controllers become once again a proud part of the organisation, instead of just a cost centre.
As was the practice at the time, I kept all of my endorsements current. As the day working manager I could fill gaps or even full shifts if necessary. I was if you like a spare controller. The last CEO allowed what are now called ATC Line Managers to keep only a token endorsement which removed at one stroke probably 8 – 10% of the available controllers.
The prime problem though is not that controllers are unable to work but that there is no-one to replace them. Most businesses get by if an employee does not come to work and the employee catches up when he/she returns. ATC is not like that. It is a high stress,24/7 shift working environment where the ATC gets four days off per fortnight. (And only one 2-day break in six will be a weekend) Well everyone else gets 4 days off you say but how many times do non-ATCs get asked to work on their days off? (Always week ends when all their friends are also off)
This, by the way, is not overtime as the world knows it, putting in an extra few hours to get a job done, this is five to seven hours sometime longer, on your day off. You have to cancel the day out with the family, cancel the golf game, say sorry you can’t attend the party, lose touch with your friends. (These are rarely other ATCs because they are at work when you are on days off!) So now you are down to three days off in the fortnight. Naturally you are not expected to give up yet another day? Wrong! The only thing that will save you is an industrial agreement that states that ATCs cannot work more than ten day in a row without a day off. That’s right it is not a CASA reg like flight time for pilots and flight attendants, it’s an industrial agreement and the only recourse you have is to Fair Work Australia, CASA seems to take little interest.
Another issue hidden from the public when controller shifts are discussed is the fatigue management system. This under the last CEO morphed from an apparently benign attempt to help shift workers assess their ability to present for work to a system that demands answers if you fail to accept an order to return to work.
Ben – you know I don’t get involved in Airservices issues on your blog because I post under my real name and prefer to work inside the organisation to effect change, but on this one I feel that the public does not get the full story.
I sincerely hope that our new CEO will breathe some fresh air into management / controller relationships so the controllers become once again a proud part of the organisation, instead of just a cost centre.
'Ben' and 'quick wins' tagteam again!
I see Ben is still slugging away on behalf of you controllers, pity he seems to be a bit of a lone wolf in the media ranks...hmm that 'quick wins' keeps putting out really informative comments to back up Ben's pieces. Top job I've learnt a lot from the QW posts, hope you don't mind mate but I've quoted you here:
QW you paint a pretty grim picture about the state of affairs in ASA; I only hope the Minister starts paying attention before it is too late!
Singapore Air, Qantas sent on collision course near Perth | Plane Talking
quick wins
Posted October 29, 2012 at 1:08 pm
· Ben,
You are absolutely right to report these continuous breaches – these are just the ones that make it to the public arena via ATSB that you get to see. The open reporting culture that existed just a few years ago has been greatly diminished by subtle pressure through to outright overt bullying and intimidation against individual controllers and indeed against their own ATC line managers to ‘manage’ and ‘counsel’ any ‘minor’ breaches ‘in-house’. I think your previous article about the inhibiting of the VOZ aircraft from SYD to BNE showed some indication of that. This is a sign of a couple of things: 1/ how worried senior management possibly are about the truth of how deep the organisation is in the mire, and their desire to keep it out of the press, and therefore out of the eyes and ears of the Minister, and 2/ how operational KPI’s are linked to the toxic structure that is ‘at risk’ salary components – or in straight language: bonuses.
Senior management or corporate affairs people who may read such claims will counter this as false, and tell you of their robust procedures and policies, anti-bullying policies, open reporting culture etc. etc. It is all just convenient manufactured ‘cover’ to be trotted out whenever an independent journalist like yourself, or and independent senator has the temerity to ask tough questions.
Ask the remaining operational people who have experience (a dwindling group), and most will tell you the chickens are coming home to roost, that the current ATC staff demographics and total resourcing has reached a point of ‘un-recoverable’. And they are not kidding. Sydney ATC is currently frantically trying to recruit internally experienced controllers to cover their soon to be retired workforce. This means grabbing them from other units who are already below minimum safe staffing levels – but they will be transferred to Sydney for one reason alone: politics. You see Sydney gets attention when it goes wrong. And Minister Albanese does not like attention. He is getting far too much of it for the wrong reasons at the moment with CASA and ATSB. Now does anyone seriously think Airservices Australia is immune to the types of things we are seeing in Senate estimates with CASA and ATSB?
Airservices are still engaged in a deeply flawed project to reduce the number of sectors that control air traffic in Australia, at a time when their own internal safety reviews, from their own internal safety specialists are telling them they are at high risk by NOT opening IMMEDIATELY, additional sectors to manage the huge increase in air traffic over the past five years. But they are effectively ignoring it. They are ‘rolling the dice’ as you put it. It is in a way understandable. Many of the senior managers come from outside of the organisation with little operational knowledge. Many will only stay three years or so. They can afford to take a three year ‘risk’ and then bail out to the next organisation. The operational staff however are there for 10, 15 , 20+ years. They will bear witness or involvement when the dice comes up snake eyes. So who is really carrying the risk? Apart from the travelling public!
Posted October 29, 2012 at 1:08 pm
· Ben,
You are absolutely right to report these continuous breaches – these are just the ones that make it to the public arena via ATSB that you get to see. The open reporting culture that existed just a few years ago has been greatly diminished by subtle pressure through to outright overt bullying and intimidation against individual controllers and indeed against their own ATC line managers to ‘manage’ and ‘counsel’ any ‘minor’ breaches ‘in-house’. I think your previous article about the inhibiting of the VOZ aircraft from SYD to BNE showed some indication of that. This is a sign of a couple of things: 1/ how worried senior management possibly are about the truth of how deep the organisation is in the mire, and their desire to keep it out of the press, and therefore out of the eyes and ears of the Minister, and 2/ how operational KPI’s are linked to the toxic structure that is ‘at risk’ salary components – or in straight language: bonuses.
Senior management or corporate affairs people who may read such claims will counter this as false, and tell you of their robust procedures and policies, anti-bullying policies, open reporting culture etc. etc. It is all just convenient manufactured ‘cover’ to be trotted out whenever an independent journalist like yourself, or and independent senator has the temerity to ask tough questions.
Ask the remaining operational people who have experience (a dwindling group), and most will tell you the chickens are coming home to roost, that the current ATC staff demographics and total resourcing has reached a point of ‘un-recoverable’. And they are not kidding. Sydney ATC is currently frantically trying to recruit internally experienced controllers to cover their soon to be retired workforce. This means grabbing them from other units who are already below minimum safe staffing levels – but they will be transferred to Sydney for one reason alone: politics. You see Sydney gets attention when it goes wrong. And Minister Albanese does not like attention. He is getting far too much of it for the wrong reasons at the moment with CASA and ATSB. Now does anyone seriously think Airservices Australia is immune to the types of things we are seeing in Senate estimates with CASA and ATSB?
Airservices are still engaged in a deeply flawed project to reduce the number of sectors that control air traffic in Australia, at a time when their own internal safety reviews, from their own internal safety specialists are telling them they are at high risk by NOT opening IMMEDIATELY, additional sectors to manage the huge increase in air traffic over the past five years. But they are effectively ignoring it. They are ‘rolling the dice’ as you put it. It is in a way understandable. Many of the senior managers come from outside of the organisation with little operational knowledge. Many will only stay three years or so. They can afford to take a three year ‘risk’ and then bail out to the next organisation. The operational staff however are there for 10, 15 , 20+ years. They will bear witness or involvement when the dice comes up snake eyes. So who is really carrying the risk? Apart from the travelling public!
Singapore Air, Qantas sent on collision course near Perth | Plane Talking
Last edited by Sarcs; 29th Oct 2012 at 05:06. Reason: Forgot the link
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asa e-mail
I notice that the e-mail disappeared from this thread at #101.
Included below from a second copy of Ben Sandilands:
[IMG]
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and maybe these are just gold plated:
[IMG]
[/IMG]
Included below from a second copy of Ben Sandilands:
[IMG]
[/IMG]and maybe these are just gold plated:
[IMG]
[/IMG]
Last edited by Up-into-the-air; 30th Oct 2012 at 14:26. Reason: More Reasons
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The prime problem though is not that controllers are unable to work but that there is no-one to replace them. Most businesses get by if an employee does not come to work and the employee catches up when he/she returns. ATC is not like that. It is a high stress,24/7 shift working environment where the ATC gets four days off per fortnight. (And only one 2-day break in six will be a weekend) Well everyone else gets 4 days off you say but how many times do non-ATCs get asked to work on their days off? (Always week ends when all their friends are also off)
This, by the way, is not overtime as the world knows it, putting in an extra few hours to get a job done, this is five to seven hours sometime longer, on your day off.
This, by the way, is not overtime as the world knows it, putting in an extra few hours to get a job done, this is five to seven hours sometime longer, on your day off.
The problems of shiftwork and replacing sick workers are NOT unique to ATC - your local plumber is just as stuffed if his apprentice fails to show for a two-man job as is your local TCU; any nurse who's ever worked in a public hospital is well familiar with what overtime really means (with no pesky limits on duty time or minimum rest periods); any fire fighter or police officer or ADF member can probably have a few things to say about cancelling days with the family or missing a game of golf.
ASA ATCs are extraordinarily well-compensated for a non degree-qualified job, and unlike RAAF ATCs, are free to resign at the drop of a hat should they ever feel like climbing down off the cross long enough to find a pen.
I don't mean to trivialise the original issue at question in this thread - certainly I think ASA could improve quite a few safety aspects - but pissing on and on and on about how hard you have life as a shift-working controller is tired. I'm a shift-working controller and I earn triple what my shift-working ER nurse wife does, for half the hours and considerably less peril of being stabbed.
pissing on and on and on about how hard you have life as a shift-working controller is tired. I'm a shift-working controller and I earn triple what my shift-working ER nurse wife does, for half the hours and considerably less peril of being stabbed.
But hey, if you are happy to perform your duty tired, which exposes yourself to criminal prosecution for negligence, and also risking 1000s of lives, you should just sign up and enjoy work 10 days straight. Otherwise stfu
Nunc est bibendum
I don't have a horse in this race but this...
.... was not the point Woodwork was making.
But hey, if you are happy to perform your duty tired, which exposes yourself to criminal prosecution for negligence....
Last edited by Keg; 29th Oct 2012 at 23:55.
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It is being called at 9am after you finished work at 6am to come into work at 4pm. Yes, this happens.
Come on - most of the controllers love the OT otherwise they would be 'asleep'.
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you should just sign up and enjoy work 10 days straight. Otherwise stfu
