Airservices Australia - 2009 ATC Industrial Dispute and Staff Shortages

2009 ATC Industrial Dispute and Staff Shortages

Airservices Australia entered negotiations with the Air Traffic Control union Civil Air in early 2008 to form a new collective agreement. As negotiations continued, ATC staff shortages were said to contribute to what was the worst year on record for flight delays and cancellations, but had been earlier defended by Airservices CEO Greg Russell as having been caused by a group of "renegade air traffic controllers" who had been responsible for airspace closures in a form of covert industrial action.

Despite claims by the union that the problem was caused by a shortage of controllers, the figures provided by Airservices show the average number of controllers has not changed significantly over the previous three years.

Complaints by airline Virgin Blue culminated in a demand for $500,000 compensation in October 2008. An attempt by Airservices to define obligatory reasonable overtime for its controllers failed in the AIRC in late December 2008.

Remaining differences in position regarding wages and sick leave resulted in threatened industrial action by late January 2009. High-level intervention of CEO Greg Russell and ACTU President Sharan Burrow in the negotiations produced an offer which averted industrial action and was endorsed almost unanimously by the Air Traffic Controllers.

The collective agreement negotiation saw 83 per cent of staff register their vote, with 95 per cent voting for the agreement. The new agreement led to a pay increase of 4.3 per cent per annum over 3.5 years with changes to sick leave and rostering arrangements.

As of September 2009, Air Traffic Control staffing problems continued to disrupt the ability of Airservices Australia to provide its core function, precipitating an unprecedented cancellation of leave for the entire Sydney approach control unit for three months.

In its 2010-13 Workforce Plan, Airservices claimed that as of December 2009 the required number of operational ATC staff were available, reflecting the impact of a significant increase in recruitment and training throughout 2008-09. Airservices further plans to recruit close to 100 ATC trainees annually to 2013 to offset the impact of retirements and resignations.