The Technicians and Employees Association of Air Navigation Protection and Safety (ATEPSA) informed through a press release that air traffic controllers and technicians will begin an action plan on January 11 due to the lack of answers to the claims made. The measure could lead to flight cancellations and delays.
The ATEPSA workers argue that “as a result of the pandemic, there has been a worsening of the situation of lack of personnel that they have been complaining about for years” and that there are workers “who are performing tasks with staffing levels below the minimum recommended safety standards.” Likewise, they claim that EANA “does not provide answers to the review clause of the 2021 bargaining agreement.”
The union indicates that EANA “hides data”, since according to its own survey carried out at the beginning of this month, “51% of the workers surveyed confirmed that they have colleagues in a state of isolation and that they are not providing service.” The same report states that 66% were “forced to compensate for the lack of personnel by performing more tasks” and that “their responsibilities were duplicated”.
Jonatan Doino, General Secretary of ATEPSA, indicated that “this Sunday (09/01), Morón airport had to cancel operations due to the lack of personnel because of COVID. Some airports, such as the one in Jujuy, have had only one person per shift providing the service for at least two years”.
Furthermore, the union claims that EANA does not comply with the review clause of the Paritaria (Joint Assembly) 2021 and that the agreed increase of 45% will be below inflation, which is estimated to close the year around 55%. “It is paradoxical that a company that is a State Company fails to comply with the prerogatives that they officially announce,” Doino said.
“We have also been calling for years without any kind of response to issues that affect the operating and technical conditions linked to the working tools. For example, communication systems are installed that are incompatible with others that are in operation and then must be uninstalled; aeronautical frequencies that are interfered with, just to mention some of the points we claim”, he added.
The trade union center shared the schedule of services to be affected:
