Belgocontrol ATC strikes 2016

[RTM]

Also I've heard that 60+% of the newly unfit atco's were members of the BGATC, that represents ~25% of all atco's. You might be able to deny or confirm this. But, if true, a bit too coincidental no?

You should check the numbers of affiliates, not believing what medias tell you...
All the ATCOs reporting sick have been controlled, and I heard none have been sanctioned.

First, that has nothing to do with what Jetter wrote.
Second, Of coarse not... Everybody knows doctors cover eachother. And since minister de Block publicly threatened the doctors, no coltrol docter is going to drive a knife in the back of his collegue. So any bullshit story is bought, and case closed. As far as the doctors go anyway...

[Hue]

Passenger, the vote on the 12th was totally by surprise. You send out wrong info that it was decided the 8th and just officialised on the 12th. This is pure evil.

I prefer first hand info I can double check over media reports like you suggest. You should know better. We read a lot and are frustrated you are biased by them and contribute to it by spreading wrong info.

Ivo Belet was wrong if you quote him correctly, Passenger. No union shot itself in the head since no union supported any action what so ever this week.

[Hue]

ATC service was disrupted this week. But not by choice. Before and after 22/3 terror attacks, atco's filled in lots of missing services to avoid regulations due to ATC staffing and support aviation. We all want a prosperous national aerodrome and carrier.

Now that we got nothing but blame, even from the aviation community, I am afraid you'll start seeing more of our staffing issues. People will not run the extra miles and stay home on workday 25 or 26 in a month. The consequence of wrong priorities and underrecruiting for years.

If anything, the spotlights should be on our CEO right now, who lacked empathy not to make an agreement not supported by ATC due to safety, right after the terror attacks. He did predict many atco's would not be able to cope and immediately accused us by Notam of collective action. Even when the majority was working while they shouldn't.

So here we are, selfish bastards. Mad at the world and vice versa. Time to start looking for opportunities abroad. The willingness to improve our company and support this management, is simply gone.

Well played, Johan.

[Jetter]

Hue, why do you keep ignoring the elephant in the room? Why did Maryse remind people about the 'unfit to work' rule if that wasn't part of the planned course of action'? Is staff so badly trained that they weren't aware of that rule already that Maryse had to remind them?

[Nevihta]

Hue, why do you ignore the elephant in the room? How come Maryse reminded people about the 'unfit to work' rule that had no relevance being there other than as planned course of action, and then a few days later many became 'unfit to work'?

This is regularly reminded for months (in almost every mail, and not only last week...) because ATCOs tend to try to fill in the gaps to ensure continuity of service, and doing so, work too much, and then it becomes difficult nervously.. and then much more prone to be unfit to work...

[Jetter]

This is regularly reminded for months (in almost every mail, and not only last week...) because ATCOs tend to try to fill in the gaps to ensure continuity of service, and doing so, work too much, and then it becomes difficult nervously.. and then much more prone to be unfit to work...

That's unbelievable because the subject of said letter is "Update + outcome negotiations", so it's not a regular newsletter. Literally every other word in that letter is about what management did wrong and what action to take, so it only makes sense that applies to the mentioning of that rule as well.

[Nevihta]

That's unbelievable because the subject of said letter is "Update + outcome negotiations", so it's not a regular newsletter. Literally every other word in that letter is about what management did wrong and what action to take, so it only makes sense that applies to the mentioning of that rule as well.

Well... I tell you this has been reminded for months, to pay attention to fatigue and its consequences. And not only by the Guild. It's even now an ICAO regulation to report fatigue, so even management had to encourage ATCOs to pay attention to fatigue, and to report in case of problem.
ATCOs have been very flexible filling in missing shift because of understaffing.
Now it's been too far, and there's no other solution.
And as already been said here, closure of airspace already happened before the outcome of the negotiations.

[Jetter]

And not only by the Guild. It's even now an ICAO regulation to report fatigue, so even management had to encourage ATCOs to pay attention to fatigue, and to report in case of problem.

As it's a regulation to refrain from drinking alcohol before shifts, not use your phone during work etc. etc. None of those rules were mentioned in said letter. It stands out how this regulation is mentioned and used by many within days.

ATCOs have been very flexible filling in missing shift because of understaffing.
Now it's been too far, and there's no other solution.

Yes we've all been able to read about that: "It cannot be stressed enough that your flexibility (call ups, filling in missing shifts,...) is helping out management. It is NOT helping your case! (...) a couple of days of work with less break is only a small sacrifice for the rest of your career." Dixit Maryse Meulemans. Doesn't sound like there's no other solution, just like staff isn't willing to work with management because they made an arrangement with the socialist union.

[Hue]

This should not be about the Guild, but they prevented all of us, (atco's, pilots, politicians, ...) from the crash that did not happen this week.
I should have been reminded daily about this 'not fit to work' rule, because I kept on working while engaging in discussions before and after every shift this week, like many colleagues during the negotiations, impairing my cognitive abilities.
Management is demonstrating bravery by reducing ATC staffing with unreliable equipment. You support their vision, Jetter? Do you care to take responsability when the unthinkable happens in Brussels FIR? Or will you join the rest in blaming the unlucky selfish bastard holding the microphone?

[Jetter]

This should not be about the Guild, but they prevented all of us, (atco's, pilots, politicians, ...) from the crash that did not happen this week.
I should have been reminded daily about this 'not fit to work' rule, because I kept on working while engaging in discussions before and after every shift this week, like many colleagues during the negotiations, impairing my cognitive abilities.
Management is demonstrating bravery by reducing ATC staffing with unreliable equipment. You support their vision, Jetter? Do you care to take responsability when the unthinkable happens in Brussels FIR? Or will you join the rest in blaming the unlucky selfish bastard holding the microphone?

Well, the name of this thread is Belgocontrol ATC strike, and not Belgocontrol ATC safety. I agree with you that safety is very important, but I don't see the trade-off that when management is irresponsible when it comes to safety, staff can be irresponsible when it comes to using the 'unfit to work' rule.

Saying that because the Guild somehow prevented a crash and thus Maryse & co can't be scrutinized makes no sense. That's exactly the entitled attitude of ATCO's that led to the actions and is frowned upon by aviation colleagues and the general public.

[Hue]

Jetter, don't start about the topic title. It's a disgrace the aviation community still calls it that way. Thank you, moderators. After all the info we provided on your site... Interrupted service, no strike.

The colleagues who stopped working tuesday or stayed home wednesday were the ones taking responsability. That is the only reason why I keep defending them. Workers like me can confirm there was no serene atmosphere.

[Hue]

In any other situation we could have gone on strike and demand resignation of our CEO for impairing safety. In this case we can't due to the recent terror attacks, to protect Brussels Airlines, Brussels Airport and our economy.

In my personal opinion ATC should never go on strike. In this case there was no strike and no abuse of the 'fit to work' rule. But you've all made up your minds reading a mail without context, lacking an open mind to listen to our worries.

[Ozzie1969]

Whatever happened for whatever reason at Belgocontrol, the ATC's will have to realize that they shot themselves in the foot in the public opinion (ill-informed as it is), so they definitely should have handled their PR a lot better than they did.

I know there's been rumbling at Belgocontrol for years, most people on this forum probably do as well, but the general public only knows what it reads in the mainstream media, which these days is a byword for sensationalist rubbish but still manages to direct public opinion.

[Hue]

Since there was no collective action, there was no PR strategy. Our opponent took us by surprise and predicted what would happen, sending out his spokesman to the press, hungry for news.

Yes we got requests to tell our side of the story in front of a camera. But it's really hard to speak up and attack your boss in public when you don't know all the facts yet. The notice of default is quite an achievement already, but not enough.

[sn26567]

Jetter, don't start about the topic title. It's a disgrace the aviation community still calls it that way. Thank you, moderators. After all the info we provided on your site... Interrupted service, no strike.

The moderators did not start this topic. And the title has probably been arising from the public perception of the "action" (or lack of action through the "unfit to work" rule) of the ATCOs. Everyone around, from the Prime Minister to the CEOs of the airport and of Brussels Airlines, without forgetting the Belgian and foreign press, IATA, ACI Europe, AEA and many others, condemned the "action" universally perceived as a strike for an egoistic purpose. Furthermore the timing was absolutely ill-chosen.

I recognise that ATCOs have legitimate claims. And I thank those of you who have explained the malfunctions of Belgocontrol in this forum. But it would have been preferable to:

1. clearly explain the reasons of the action (the PR has been catastrophic) before starting it,
2. postpone any action until the airport would function again at full capacity,
3. give a sufficient notice before the action to allow airlines and passengers to take alternative arrangements.

In any case, this remains a forum where all parties involved are welcome to express their opinion, as long as it is a civilised way and without animosity or personal attacks.

[Hue]

I recognise that ATCOs have legitimate claims. And I thank those of you who have explained the malfunctions of Belgocontrol in this forum. But it would have been preferable to:

1. clearly explain the reasons of the action (the PR has been catastrophic) before starting it,
2. postpone any action until the airport would function again at full capacity,
3. give a sufficient notice before the action to allow airlines and passengers to take alternative arrangements.

1. Fully agree but since there was no strike, no demands were put forward. ATC was simply not able to cope with controlling traffic due to critical incident stress by a minority of colleagues who acted responsably by respecting european law and preventing us from worse than temporary service interruption.
2. We recognise we can't organise actions after 22/3 that damages aviation. CEO should not have used this timing to force an agreement. ATC has done everything to allow max number of flights from regional aerodromes and traffic streams for Area Control were very different than normal without training. We do support you and have been protesting for months without any negative output for airlines and travellers.
3. If tomorrow we need to clear the sky urgently and those colleagues can't continue working, shall we send you a notice? We could not predict this. In normal circumstances people at home come in to take over. For this management no-one will fill the gaps anymore and stay home on their 5 days of in a month. April 12-13 everyone was affected by the actions of our CEO.

[sean1982]

you're so lucky you work in Belgium. In any other country (except france maybe) you all would be sacked with a stroke of a pen (and that's how it should be)

[Hue]

Strong argument, Sean. You should realise we are fighting for your safety in the sky.

Doesn't it bother anyone our CEO not only betrayed air traffic controlllers, but also lied to the entire aviation community, the Belgian public and our politicians about an organised collective action? Why has no-one come forward to support the CEO's statement?

It's a lie. And you're all buying it.

[Ozzie1969]

It's a lie. And you're all buying it.

I'm not. I can't afford it.

[RTM]

I am going to stop responding on this thread...

Lets agree to disagree...

I condemn everybody abusing the 22/3 attacks to their advantage, being the police unions, ATC management and the controllers.
My personal opinion still is that it was an organised action, and so far I have no reason to believe otherwise. You can hide behind rules and regulations, and use it as an umbrella to justify it. You can call it a rose, but if it looks like a turd, and smells like a turd, it probably is one...

Again, just my personal opinion.
I hope (urge them) that in the future all parties use more wisdom to prevent this from happening again. I also hope that the damage done by the actions does in the end not mean more jobs are lost, or companies to fail.