07 juin 2009
En Australie, on vote son protocole !
Airservices Australia has welcomed a 95% positive vote by air traffic controllers and associated staff for a new three and a half year collective employment agreement.
When the ballot closed late yesterday and results were collated, 895 had voted yes (95%) and 47 (5%) voted no.
Staff participation was also high with 83% of eligible staff registering their vote in one of the highest votes in recent times.
Airservices Chief Executive Officer, Greg Russell, said the Airservices Board and management thanked the Airservices and Civil Air Union negotiation teams, the ACTU and in particular President, Sharan Burrow, and staff covered by the agreement for their participation during what had been a difficult negotiation process.
The agreement includes pay rises of 4.3% per annum over 3.5 years with changes to sick leave and rostering arrangements, providing the foundations for improved productivity.
This is a successful outcome delivering good salary and condition improvements, productivity benefits which cement the foundations for ongoing business reform. It also ensures the continued safety and efficiency of the aviation industry.
The new agreement will now receive final clearance from the Australian Workplace Authority and is expected to come into operation before the end of the month.
10 septembre 2008
Pour garder des contrôleur certains ont des idées ...
Darwin's experienced air traffic controllers are to get a $30,000 bonus to stay on the job for one more year.
Federal Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said the loss of air traffic controllers was a "real concern".
He announced his national $6 million package at Darwin control tower when concerns had been voiced that the airport was understaffed and it was only a matter of time before there was an air disaster.
Incident reports, from 2002 and 2005, warned air traffic controllers were being overworked because there was not enough staff and that Darwin had developed an "institutionalised culture of rule-breaking".
Mr Fitzgibbon denied there was any danger at Darwin airport.
"I have seen the reports and I've been reassured that none of them have any foundation," he said.
"At no point whatsoever has the slow decline in air traffic controllers had any operational effect and certainly had no consequences for safety here in Darwin or at any other airstrip around the country."
He said the bonuses would give the Department some "breathing space" until a long-term retention plan could be worked out.
03 septembre 2008
Australie : l'intégration civile militaire au point mort
Un article de "The Australian" annonce que cette intégration est bloquée par les militaires qui en avaient été les promoteurs ! Les mêmes causes produisant souvent les mêmes effets c'est certainement une affaire à suivre.
"An ambitious plan to save taxpayers more than $300million by ending the wasteful separation of the nation's civil and military air traffic management systems has stalled.
Defence has backed away from any rapid implementation of the plan to create a unified national system, declaring it wants to move only at "a measured pace, cognisant of the requirements to maintain Defence capability".
This is despite Defence claims, made in a 2002 document signed by the current Australian Defence Force chief Angus Houston, that "Australia simply cannot justify, sustain or afford to continue operating two almost identical Air Traffic Management systems".
The Defence go-slow has angered civil air traffic control manager Airservices Australia, which wants to push ahead with the unification plan, arguing it would produce savings of more than $300 million.
Airservices spokesman Richard Dudley told The Australian: "Airservices and Defence have both been discussing an improved, national air traffic management system for a decade, but Defence concerns over loss of its own 'capability', difficulties with funding models and no real incentives for change have precluded real progress.
"The existence of two independent air traffic control and airspace management systems driven by different objectives, priorities and cultures hampers the delivery of a better product for Australia. Improving the inter-operability has the potential to produce savings in the order of $300 million plus."
Australia developed separate civil and military air traffic management systems because it was considered necessary to meet the separate specific requirements of civil and military flying.
A 2002 study, obtained by The Australian, found that having separate systems was no longer essential and that the duplication was a waste of taxpayers' money.
In 2005, the Air Force and Airservices set up a program called Genesis to integrate military air traffic control into the civil system.
Defence now says Genesis failed to deliver viable reforms and although it remains committed in theory to a unified national system, major obstacles remain. It is understood to believe that integration proposals have not paid sufficient attention to its need to have tactical and strategic air traffic control in a time of crisis."
30 juillet 2008
Air Traffic Control ... en Australie
Article de "The Australian" ... Le sous effectif en Australie ...
VIRGIN Blue chief executive Brett Godfrey has blasted the management of Australia's air traffic control system, saying it is infuriating that a handful of people can hold the country to ransom because of inadequate staffing.
In a broadside against Airservices Australia, Mr Godfrey said airlines were being doubly penalised by strict curfew rules and an air traffic control system that was thrown into chaos every time three or four people were sick.
"It's pretty infuriating that about a dozen people can hold the country to ransom," Mr Godfrey told The Australian.
"I'm being told people are sick and I know that there's a union pay claim issue here but I really think we're being let down."
Air traffic control staffing shortages have caused disruptions since last year as sections of Australian skies and some towers were left unmanned, sometimes for hours.
Air traffic controllers, who say they are overworked and facing unrealistic demands, have raised safety concerns about aircraft passing through uncontrolled airspace. But aviation officials say international procedures used in such instances pose little risk. Mr Godfrey said Virgin carried more people than it needed so that if a pilot did not show up to work, there were others ready to fly the aircraft.
Even though the airline ended up paying for those additional staff, the reality was Virgin wouldpay "a bucketload more" for the inconvenience and inefficiency of not having people turn up to work.
"I think it's disappointing that people who actually maintain the air traffic control systems in Australia don't likewise have contingency plans -- whether it's management getting involved or whether it's surplus resources," he said. "I know they're recruiting now, but this should have been known ... 18 months ago."
