Hi B737MAX and the others,
Yes we could discuss endless about this subject. We have all said what we thought and the reality must be somewhere in between like usually. It also much depends on our situations, what we compare it to.
Let me answer your points though:
- unlike pilots, when an Atco is on a break, he is on a real break and can go to the restroom, for a walk, to eat, give phone calls, work for another job, and forget about his/her job. A break happens outside of the ops-room (or tower). So yes, unlike pilots who stay in the cockpit, an Atco's break is a real break.
Outside their effective hours of work (my calculation was for a night) Atcos are at work (in the premises or not too far) but they have a real break. During those break hours at night, they can sleep in a real bed (they have bedrooms in Canac for example, which is excellent to have a good nap/sleep when working at night).
Moreover for a night, they are given 4 extra hours which they don't have to spend at work (10 hours is paid 14).
We can also say that accross most of the units Atcos "steal" one hour at the end of their shifts by leaving early before it officially ends. This is of course not authorized but everyone (including management) closes their eyes (it's part of the package, like many say). Consequently and regularly an Atco's day then lasts 6 hours but is still paid and counted like 7. After 7 such days, we can count that Atcos have been paid one day for free (7 times one hour "stolen" from the company -> not worked, not present at work but paid).
This is reality and let me add some comments to yours:
1) we are all happy that they can have good breaks, that they can use the system a bit with the hours, that they can sleep in a bed at night: no problem! No critic! But the way they are complaining by only mentioning the bad sides of the situation is not correct. Excatly like the management only tries to make Atcos guilty of the situation (I agree with you and Phoenixx). It is a shared responsibilty.
2) I do not want to compare a pilot and Atco's job. But as Phoenixx did (for the salary), I had to answer. And of course pilots are not only working during take-off and landing. Both jobs have their advantages and disadvantages.
But for sure a pilot's job is much less secure and flexible: you cannot go back home one hour before landing
If they make mistakes they will be blamed and fired way more quicker (Atcos are NEVER fired and almost never blamed for working improperly (let me come back on this later)).
3) Atco's package is a big concern for them at the moment: the package includes their working conditions (not only the salary which indeed is not put into question at this moment).
- Do Atcos deserve the same conditions as their neighbors? This idea is connected to the previous one and let me explain it again in case it was misunderstood.
First of all (and it was said on this forum many times by Atcos), Atcos have always pretended (and dreamt) that the working conditions were better in the neighboring countries, that their conditions should be equal to what others have and so on. They have even asked for studies to compare the packages (conditions + salary).
Yes they deserve the same conditions BUT "same means same".
Let's take France as an example: a controller is getting a job according to his/her results when he graduates from university. The best can choose first among the available spots in the different units accross the country. Salaries are different according to the unit in which you work and the amount of traffic.
In Belgium, the one with most seniority (possibly the worse one, nobody cares) gets the spot he wants: huge difference!
And everyone has the same salary regardless of the unit and/or the traffic. All tower Atcos are on the same salary scale and so are radar controllers in Canac. Another huge difference! Because as I said in my answer to Phoenixx, if you apply the French scale to belgian Atcos, they are all going to earn less because they have much less traffic than Atcos in Paris which is the scale they always use to compare to their own salary and complain.
One of the big problem in Skeyes is the fact that the one with the most seniority gets priority over all the other ones to choose any job! Even to become a supervisor or a team leader. We all know how important such a job can be. It could be that a very skilled person is blocked by an absolutely incompetent one during many years, just because he/she was born one week after the other. How do you want a system to work properly like that? Controllers have been refusing for years to stop the seniority system. Part of the problems they have now is because of that system!
- About how ATC is done in other country: I find ATC here very irregular. If you are lucky you can have a brilliant service (professional, straight forward, friendly, nice vectors, and so on) but sometimes (half of the time) it's the total opposite. You are a pilot and know that.
Basically, when you fly in and out of Belgium, you never know what is going to happen to you, how long you are going to fly, how many vectors you are going to receive. How many times have you been put in the holding when there is too much traffic? Isn't that the safest procedure to have a correct fuel calculation? They don't want because it affects their proudness to put a plane in the holding... Can you believe it?
And this is another problem that Atcos refuse to tackle. They don't want their work and efficiency to be assessed. If a pilot flies outside his SOPs, he is gonna be blamed immediately (fired if its repeated). Here an Atco can work almost like he wants! With no consequence, he/she can give a plane a straight-in approach or give him 20 extra miles because he/she feels like, because he/she is not competent, because he/she is scared, and so on...
Pilots have to justify any minute of delay... Atcos in many countries are assessed daily, here not.
Of course the service is poor in some countries. I suppose you refer for example to southern Europe. Have you checked with which material they are working? An Atco cannot have the same efficiency with a state-of-the-art system as he can have with an old radar (and sometimes without). Same if only one Atco is working at a position instead of two or three. But yes, we agree, in some places the service could be better.
- Shifts swap: already answered but yes it's a great advantage! Total freedom! You want to be free tomorrow evening for any reason? Swap with a colleague who has a morning or an afternoon shift that finishes early and that's it. Without asking anybody else! And without any rule! You need to be free tomorrow? Just swap with someone who has a day off. Wouldn't you like that? No controller wants to change the rostering system (they want to work less but not change the system).
Each month they put in a roster request and get 80-90% of the time what they have asked: isn't it nice?
Don't misunderstand me: it is great and I am not criticizing this! Only saying that this is a very interesting/important part of their package which is not mentioned by them when they complain about their work conditions.
- I do not think that management is doing a good job. Not at all. Atcos could be treated better, we agree. If they are highly qualified and if the standards are high, I doubt.... No regular check, no real test, no decent refresher course (ask an Atco): how can standards be kept high? It's not even their fault. How can someone be up to standard if he is not trained/checked/going to the sim during 10 years?
- About their flexibility, we agree: Atcos are (for most of them) very flexible workers. Let me remind you that when they were interviewed during their recruitment process, they all said that they were happy to work shifts (including afternoons, nights and weekends) and now some of them REFUSE to work anything else than mornings... That's a minority of course but that exists!
And yes, flexibility can come to an end when it is exaggerated but then it's both ways: no more flexibility for the shifts swaps, no more early leave (many have stops with the recent events but that's very recent and because they are scared) and so on. And that's what management is trying badly to put in place.
- Yes much more could be done to find solutions from all the parties involved and the press is saying a lot of stupid things (100% agree with you). That's why we are talking here, to have all the opinions and make up ours. Nothing wrong.
Do I have to say that I don't get this kind of detailed information from a journalist? So let's avoid the "do you know what working shifts is?" or "You don't know this job"... I do very well...
Like yours, my conclusion is:
- we all want these disruptions to end and,
- we need ATC to be handled at European level (simplify airspace, countries working together, similar conditions/packages (according to the workload), standardization in everything: systems, procedures, training, checks, courses, free routes (as much as possible), better efficiency, better use of resources, and so on. Enough with landing in Rome and having to fly like that and then back to Brussels and having to fly like this.