More Bad Press 5

Dear Louise,

Get some reality please, otherwise known as do a bit of fucken research, not simply regurgitate a 'fed' story.

Kevin Rudd talks of wage constraint and tighter fiscal policies where it will 'cost jobs'.  

The total wages cost of Air Traffic Control in Australia is in effect less than the tax and the profit that Airservices pays the government.

A strike is far from a forgone conclusion; but the clock is ticking.  Stop work meetings are far more likely as a first step.

Your Key points:

1. The dispute is a test of the governments call for wage restraint.

Where productivity is proven, it should be rewarded, an offer of reduction in real term wages is not the equivalent of restraint, it's opportunism.  Compare ATC wages growth with AWOTE since 1990; which way are ATC wages headed?

2. It would have serious implications for the struggling tourism industry

A full blown strike yes, a stop work, no!  Linking the tourist industry a the ATC wages dispute is akin to link GP charges with Hospital funding, related yes, critical no.

3. The union has rejected Airservices' offer and recommended strike action.

That's just wrong, the union has initiated a legal bargaining period and is asking it's members to vote on a range of options as required by law, in order to take any of the listed industrial actions.

Fact, Air traffic is at Record levels; BTRE predictions is reduced growth, not reductions; note the subtle difference?

This means that graphs like this:

Are still going to trend upwards. Compare this to the reduction in ATCs in the corresponding period and it is clearly a productivity gain, which has not been rewarded in any way.  In fact when compared to AWOTE Australian ATCs have slipped some 23%.

All this in a climate where the worldwide shortage has seen more ATCs leave Airservices in the last 12 months at higher rates than any other year.  Why would ATCs leave: 

1) To get away from arguably the worst ANSP in the modern world, 

2) For better conditions of employment,

3) For an increased salary.

The current cost of Air Traffic Control wages is close to $1.00 per ticket.  Do not confuse 'Airways revenue' with the cost of the service, the service costs do not proportionally rise if the ATC wages do.

A rise of 63% would cost every punter a grand total of 63 cents a ticket.  An extra 63 cents a ticket is never going to be the catalyst for crippling the tourism industry!  The full claim is on average for 39% or 39 cents a ticket.

Civil Air's vision is a claim not a settling point; but the counter claim (the Airservices Offer) a reduction in real wages is not even close to reality either.  There has been no pay-rise for in excess of 12 months, the 'conditions of service' that the employer wishes to remove far exceeds the financial offer; they want to remove conditions of employment without paying for them; most controllers will not want to surrender any conditions of employment.    IT'S ALREADY A SHIT PLACE TO WORK!!!!!

We also repeat that the 'efficient rostering' proposed is nothing to do with the Certified Shafting Process; it's a total smoke screen, a good PR Spinners line.

More Bad Press 4

Original article here

Up in the air

Tony Wright

January 23, 2009

AS PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd set off on his latest round of continuous campaigning — this time flying around the nation to promote Australia Day — his chant was about trying to keep people in jobs.

"We are all in this together: business, unions, governments, the community sector — and every nation in the world," he said. "In these times, employers must do their utmost to protect their workers from dismissal, knowing that these workers will serve them well when times turn good again. Workers, too, must restrain any wage claims."

Not much later, he was mounting the steps of his jet to take the message across the land. Soon after, the headlines were all about thousands of jobs being lost, miners in Western Australia offering to forgo pay rises for a year in a desperate attempt to keep working and predictions that a quarter of a million jobs were at risk.

Across the Pacific, where the current rot began, one of President Barack Obama's first moves was to freeze White House staff wages as an example to his nation. Back in Canberra, the Rudd Government is considering a second year of no pay increases for politicians.

But as Rudd was flying between capitals, a long-bubbling dispute over pay and conditions between the two bodies that keep planes in the air was reaching the point where air travellers are likely to find themselves grounded next month. The government-owned Airservices Australia and the union representing Australia's 900-odd air traffic controllers, Civil Air, have been a stand-off since the middle of last year. The reason: wage restraint, or the lack of it.

Restraint, oh please you biased prick!  This “dispute” has been ongoing for some 10 months, but has roots much further back than that, think 2001, when the controllers showed extreme restraint when Ansett fell over and the industry was in significant trouble.

With the controllers out of contract since December 21 and discussions about a new agreement all but broken down, there's virtually no goodwill in the air. This week the air controllers got permission from the Industrial Relations Commission to hold a ballot on whether they should hold stopwork meetings that could range from two to 24 hours. The betting is that stopworks will be given the thumbs up, meaning we will have to rethink air-travel plans from about February 21.

Controllers have showed restraint, we could have walked out over Christmas.  The lack of goodwill has festered from the mouth of the CEO, who has promised much and under-delivered on everything, from Business Reform, to Growing the Business, to Service Delivery Environment, to improved communication through revised supervisor structures, or moving Supervisors to AWAs.  

All this in a climate of extreme lack of operational ATCs. Controllers are working on more days per annum than ever, have been working harder due to massive increases in traffic and huge reductions in headset wearing controllers.

Controllers are leaving, not to go somewhere, just to get away; such is the contempt for senior management and lack of faith in where the company is headed.

This week, domestic airline executives were tramping around Canberra trying to get a handle on the esoteric details behind the row and urging anyone who would listen that they "just want to get this thing fixed".

First you must recongnise the true problem, is it this trumped up false industrial campaign or is it really a poorly managed business fundamentally under staffed?

"It's hard enough getting bums on seats without having to worry about whether we're going to get planes into the air," one of the harried airline executives told The Age as he wandered the corridors of Parliament House.

Amen brother, fix the problem.  But if you gave the controllers everything they are requesting will the problem evaporate?  Hell no, the real problem is not enough Bums on Scopes.

And what's at issue? The air traffic controllers want to keep the right of unlimited sick leave (yes, that's 365 days a year), they have on the table a "vision statement" demanding pay rises of between 18 per cent and more than 60 per cent (although the union says, vaguely, it is willing to modify this to somewhere around 7 per cent) and they don't want a bar of a new rostering system designed to ensure that controllers will be endorsed to step in to oversee air routes that are left unwatched when colleagues are ill.

What a lot of shit, did you get paid to write that?  Fuck us, you should be sacked.  What is the current average leave, despite the fact leave is unlimited? What happens to the average when you exclude long term illnesses such as cancer/depression etc.? You do understand that whilst it is sick leave as required, any more than a single day off sick needs the support of a Doctor?

The new ‘rostering system’ is nothing of the sort.  It’s an attempt to make all controllers work whenever and wherever the employer wants.  This isn’t part of the ‘pay claim’ it’s a total side issue.  SDE has failed, will fail further and repeat, isn’t about the pay claim.

Airservices, which gets its income from airlines to employ air traffic controllers, admits that previous administrations failed to plan adequately, leaving the current management playing catch-up.

How many of the current management crop are included in the previous administration, how many years (4 and counting) does Greg Russell get to blame the previous mob?

It insists that sick leave be reduced to a standard 15 days a year, just as it was up to the 1990s, and is offering the balance of unused sick leave (based on the new rate) for all workers, leaving some of them with accrued leave of up to 200 hours.

What problem are they trying to solve?  The average is less than 15 now.

Airservices is also offering 4 per cent annual pay rises plus various bonuses over the next three years and wants to reduce dramatically the number of endorsements over the nation's air routes.

The bonuses are BS and won’t count for Diddly Squat.  The 4% is an insult; the conditions of work being sort for surrender are worth 16% (calculated conservatively).

Bear with us here, because this is about the air space your passenger jet may be flying through. Currently, each air traffic controller is endorsed to control just a few routes, leading to 144 separate such endorsements. If the person controlling the space your plane is going through is not available, that leaves the pilot essentially flying blind. Airservices want to reduce these 144 endorsements to just seven, so if a controller goes absent for any reason, another controller on duty would be qualified to take over their routes.

Again, this isn’t the industrial battle, this is PR.  The endorsements are a total side issue, if ASA could train us to this level of expertise then we say, go ahead, do it.  Controllers who work ELW/BLA or KAT/BTH have no issue in working elsewhere, just give us the farken training, not just say go do it.  After all it’s just a minor issue like people in aluminum coffins heading at each other right.  Tony you are a tosser!

Over the past nine months, the system has become increasingly chaotic. Since May, when air space closures suddenly leapt to about 60 for the month, the number of such closures has climbed inexorably. Last month, they peaked at about 110. In short, no one was in control of often-busy air corridors on 110 occasions. Domestic airlines won't fly through such areas, meaning scheduled flights have to travel around these "black" areas, often consuming tonnes of extra fuel. International airlines, however, often have no choice because they are already en route, and their pilots have to keep their planes apart by talking to each other over the airwaves.

Again, why, are you truly swallowing the BS that Greg and Co. are pushing?  Or perhaps deep down is there a problem?  How many shifts of OT are being worked, on average?  How many should be normal?  What is the historical data relating to Sick leave and Overtime?

The Civil Air union says these unfortunate occurrences are caused by a serious shortage of air traffic controllers, for which it blames Airservices. The union says the already stressful job is made all the more stressful because their people are constantly being called to do overtime, and many are sick of it.

Amen, and the longer it continues, the more controllers will depart for jobs overseas, in Ireland, Germany, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Hong Kong, South Africa and New Zealand; or simply quit the career.

Airservices — and government figures all the way up to Transport Minister Anthony Albanese — suggest something darker. Mr Albanese and Airservices chief executive Greg Russell said publicly last year that it appeared a small number of controllers were taking "sickies" and some of their colleagues were playing along by refusing to answer the phone when replacements were being sought. The union and many of the controllers reacted with outrage to such allegations.

I am the Lindbergh Baby!!!  You’re a fucken idiot Tony; how can you write such BS.  If it were true in anyway, where are the controllers on a first second or third warning?  Where are the sackings for illegal industrial action, where are the law suits?  The truth is that it is convenient to attempt link these two events, the CA and the short staffing crisis as a single event; the reality, is the more you try the more you isolate the staff.

The fact remains, however, that the spike in air-space closures mirrors the situation that preceded the previous contract agreement for the air traffic controllers three years ago.

BS, how many closures happened in 2005? How many are happening now?  That little graph was wrong when it was made, it’s even worse now that managers protest it’s a fact.

It seems Mr Rudd can call for restraint and declare "we're all in this together" until he is blue in the face. In this dispute, it might appear some are in it for themselves.

That’s right, guilt us into accepting a shit deal, why the fark would we stay working for this pack of assholes, if we had a choice to work elsewhere in Oz, ASA would solve all it’s problems they would no longer employ ATCs; the international options are getting more and more Ozzies apply everyday; keep it up Greg, you’ve a chance to lose us all yet. And Tossers like Tony Wright who regurgitate the clap trap do nothing to advance the cause.

Application made

Again we’ve been quiet.  Why?  Well there’s been so little to say, without providing the industrialist from HR at ASA with more fodder for the eventual AIRC hearings; which now are surely to come.

We have seen recent media scrutiny about the way ASA runs it’s accounts, loading up with debt in a times of a credit crisis, simply to ensure payment of a dividend which the government (the owner) doesn’t demand.  We wonder where the “Delaware deal” is now, what is the true state of the bonus payments required, what is the effect of those payments now with the AUD in the toilet again? 

We have seen the inevitable occur, as predicted, Civil Air has now filed for a Protected Bargaining Period, a time where they can ask the members what industrial action they’d like to pursue to improve their strength at the bargaining table.

But will it improve anything?  Will the employer get the backing of the owner and the press run some stories of effected passengers standing in non moving check-in line; crying about missing granny’s funeral or the kids not getting home in time for school (lucky buggers).

The answer is of course the media love to hate a bad guy; so any form of industrial action will put you down on the bad guy side of the ledger.

Why would Australia’s ATCs want a better deal?

The current (sick, vomit, spew) offer, has a reduction in real terms and conditions on the table.

Not bad considering that the employees entered negotiations with a vision document which sought to address the difference in the global market and what we are currently on, bring us in line with the local employment market and really make ASA an employer of choice, unlike the clap trap they claim on paper. Employer of choice, our arse it is!

The employer has ‘offered’ a reduction in real wages, ie less than CPI, no recognition of the staffing crisis, no improved starting salary, no bonuses (except the flakey 5% that no one will qualify for) and to get all that controllers must surrender their entitlements particularly those relating to sick leave, the headline point.

Currently controllers have access to “Sick leave as Required” (not unlimited)...   This is a very good thing for both sides, it ensures that people who have statutory obligations about their requirements to report for duty in a fit state have no fear about not getting paid if they don’t go to work; plus it stops the spreading of community diseases in the very small community that is ATC, colds and flu, gastro etc.

The employer has offered a cap of 15 days leave, a figure nearly double that of the current ATC average sick leave in a 24/7/365 work environment (when you exclude long term illnesses).  15 days isn't bad unless you bust the cap... Then what, go to work sick or tired or something else in order to secure your bags of silver and gold, or stay at home and reduce your take home pay.  The concept is still very grey between 15 days and 28 days leave...

The employer has stated that genuinely sick people will get looked after, but the implication is that if you currently use more than 15 days, without a major accident or event such as cancer, you aren’t genuinely ill.  This is a ridiculous premise.

In 2008, some employees of ASA worked in excess of 60 shifts of Overtime.  Such is the reliance on Overtime.  The current West Radar roster has 50+ shifts of overtime to split between 21 people in 6 weeks; before there is any “abuse” of sick leave, yet there is no staffing crisis, awsure!  Is there more than a causal link between sick leave and overtime?

The pressures of the CASRs are real, the employee who reports for duty fatigued because they don’t want to push their leave cap, won’t be less productive pushing paper or may make minor mistakes that will get picked up by the editor, or need to go for a walk in the daylight to recharge the batteries, any controller turning up to work fatigued has the real ability to endanger the public by putting planes closer together than they should be.

The employer has form regarding covering someone in the event of an accident.  They do whatever they can to reduce their own liability, if that means hanging the employee then they do it; very recent experiences have highlighted this.

Imagine if the controllers in the recent coronial enquiring stated they had worked 13 of the last 15 days leading up to the accident and had only had 4 hours sleep before reporting for duty; do you think that angle may have been explored by the council assisting the coroner?  

Do you think the employer would have been in their defending the controllers or simply producing the FAID reports saying there is no issues as 80 was never busted, if the controllers were fatigued they shouldn't have been at work?

If the controllers don’t have the right to protect themselves then who protects the public from the consequences of unsafe work practices? Is it likely that the employer would ask are we asking too much, nope less than 80 on FAID = green light!  Over 80, green light after some mirror work.

Enough about sick leave, lets talk about the $$$.

The current Australian agreement has effectively 13 bands (with minor variations); that’s 15 years from entering employment to get to the top salary, if you tick all the right boxes for your annual increment advancement which is now at the behest of your manager; many people are getting restricted, some now even for being involved in incidents, such is the no blame culture.

The current ASA conditions are incredibly uncompetitive in the global market. Hong Kong currently pays double what Australians get with lots less tax and living allowances to offset the costs of living in HK; Germany is offering 110,000 Euros with effectively the same costs of living, Ireland is offering a similar amount to Germany.  All these places are recruiting Australians as we write.

Then there is the Middle East, which will expanding even in the reducing global economy; the new UAE centre (Abu Dhabi) will be demanding extra controllers to meet it’s expanded role in the through put of traffic. Dubai will be expanding within months with the opening of Jebal Ali (or Dubai World Central) airport, which will be the largest airport in the world and be ever building to Atlanta type movement rates; Muscat and Bahrain always looking for experienced people.  

The grass in the middle east might be somewhat sandier, but the pay is effectively double (or more) with no Taxation so in essence at least a 3 fold increase in the take home pay; all the while living expenses in the UAE in particular have reduced in recent times.  The Middle East will be chasing people by the middle to end of the year, Australia will be a significant poaching ground as we have a very good reputation for producing competent controllers.

But the number one reason why people will leave Australia, is respect.  The employer has taken significant advantage of their employment power, to the point where most people now passionately dislike working for Airservices Australia.  Whilst leaving home and Australia isn’t a viable option for a lot of people, there has been a significant shift in the attitudes of many in recent months.  If there were valid options for alternate ATC employment in Australia, numbers would have left already.

This so called ‘informal industrial action’ taken by a few employees has tainted the whole workforce; the tainting has been a broad brush approach towards all employees by the CEO, the Board, and now of late the minister and CASA. The CEO choosing to publicly bash the entire workforce has backfired, it didn't motivate these rouges to change course, it put the entire workforce onto the same path or sticking together to fight the common enemy, Greg Russell and the ASA Board.

The fact that 20-30 people (or around 4% of the workforce) refusing to work overtime can cripple the nations system speaks volumes about how poorly managed ASA is. Why can’t people choose not to work overtime, surely it should be sufficient to work your rostered hours; in a properly run business it would be.

We would suggest that the crippling is conveniently blamed on the 4% of people not working OT; when often the service disruptions are now where need these so called rouges.  The projects such as SDE and the ALM debacle of removing operational ratings have had a much broader effect, one which isn't recognised at all by these piss weak managers; from Level 4 to level 1; you're all guilty of the cover-up.  The controllers are aggrieved because they told management in no uncertain terms that SDE would waste resources and with proper resourcing, which was never gong to eventuate, the ALM process was unnecessary and dangerous for long term coverage, not to mention staff welfare and management relations.

When CASA and the minister back the corporate rhetoric it not only highlights further the incompetence of management, to spin such a BS story, but it exacerbates the conflict between management and operational staff.  The vast majority of staff are still working overtime, unreasonable amounts, and thus become increasingly disengaged and what an even better outcome from the ‘negotiations’ are retribution for the lies being told.

Over the last 10 years the gap between ATC wages growth and AWOTE is ever growing, the ATCs are falling further behind the average punter at the same time being required to give up conditions of employment to secure this less than AWOTE advancement.

Productivity by any measure is up up up, but recognition of funding of pay through productivity is all but non existent.  Failure to pay while the sun shone should and does deserve no recognition of possible reductions in growth.  If the wealth was shared then fair enough to share the pain, but alas there has been no sharing.

Conditions of employment currently being required to be surrendered don’t represent value for money.  To take 16% of conditions for 4.1% pay isn’t fair and isn’t reflected in community standards as a fair deal.

We are truly sorry it has come to this, alas, it will be a national stoppage or similar action that will focus their attention; the government may choose to take some action to prevent this occurring but to what end, to stop and further alienate the workforce; they’d be better off publicly stating that the controllers deserve more pay and push their employer into giving it to them.

Machines and projects “that go ping” will not revolutionalise the ATC world.

Dear Greg and the Board, make a decent and fair offer soon, or we will be at war, again, and your messages of "piss and wind" will be forever lasting as nothing more.