#23: ATC shortages to delay noise improvements

60 Reasons to Protest: Reason #23 – ATC shortages to delay noise improvements

Courier Mail reported that Civil Air Australia, the air traffic controllers’ union, estimates it could take years to implement the PIR flight path changes due to chronic staff shortages in the Brisbane control tower. Why are there chronic staff shortages you ask?

During COVID Airservices executive management decided to cut costs by reducing staffing numbers. They offered a Retirement Incentive Scheme (RIS) to Air Traffic Controllers over the age of 56 who were expected to retire within the next three years. (Hang on, what?? ATCs can retire at 55 anyway!) They got a private tax ruling from the ATO that it could be treated tax-wise as a redundancy. Between Oct 2021 and Dec 2022, 486 staff left Airservices, of those 184 were Air Traffic Controllers, and of those 144 took advantage of the RIS who got between $300,000 – $400,000 each to walk away. So the total cost of the RIS was $58 million.

They were warned by staff and the Civil Air union that they would not have enough ATCs when traffic picked up. This has now materialised to the extent that Minister Catherine King had to intervene. Airservices reported in Senate Estimates that 132 positions have been re-hired through their training pipelines.

How can this be kosher under Australian tax laws to give “redundancies” whilst recruiting to fill the same positions? Why “bring forward” the retirements of those who were about to retire anyway at great cost whilst at the same time recruiting to replace the same people?

The Australian Financial Review reported 19 Feb 2023 that Air traffic controllers in Australia are taking unplanned leave at a rate 44% higher than pre-pandemic levels, causing disruptions to travel operations and flight delays. Airservices has seen a significant increase in absenteeism, resulting in frustration for airlines, airports, and passengers. The rise in unplanned leave has reached approximately 20,000 days per year on a rolling 12-month average. Airservices’ airspace services boss, Rodney Sciortino, called it an “unsustainable trend” and urged staff to propose ideas for improving attendance. The shortage of air traffic controllers has led to limitations on plane movements, extended ground delays, and flight rerouting.

The Australian reported on 5 April 2023 that, after denying staff shortages for months, Airservices Australia is now undertaking a recruitment drive for air traffic controllers to address the pressure on “hot spots.” Chief Service Delivery Officer Michelle Bennetts acknowledged the resourcing challenges faced by employees and outlined plans to alleviate the pressure. The recruitment campaign aims to add 80 additional air traffic controllers by July 2024 on average annual earnings of $215,000.

Transport Minister Catherine King also raised concerns privately with Airservices’ chairman John Weber, and sought assurances the issues would be addressed. Although her office declined to comment, letters from Ms King to Airlines for Australia and New Zealand and the Australian Airports Association confirmed her intervention.

Leaked reports reveal Australia’s busiest airport Sydney is frequently operating without a manager in charge. Airservices Australia reports show at least 70 instances of staff shortages from late July to late November 2022 at Sydney Airport. Documents obtained by The Australian show the Sydney Terminal Control Unit for aircraft approaches being without a manager for periods of up to eight hours.

Abysmally bad employee reviews

The Civil Air union welcomed the campaign, highlighting the international shortage of controllers. However, while the salary is nice, this will still be a challenging recruitment task considering the abysmally bad reviews of Airservices as an employer on Glassdoor. Here is a selection:

“No responsibility taken by executives for toxic culture“

“Everything gets held up by red tape and managers who actively road block“

“poor culture“

“Old boys club where people get promoted for who they know and not on merit”

“The simplest projects cannot be delivered in this company. I have never worked for a company that is so out of touch with their own project delivery team and other internal stakeholders. Some areas are supportive but most are disruptive and go out of their way to deroad your project. If you are a high performer and like to actually deliver projects this is not the company for you. Another restructure around the corner!”

“Management are completely useless and cause more headaches than anything. Running the business into the ground to the point that there’s no other option but to go to market to outsource.”

“It is truly hilarious watching the bumbling antics of the management trying to appease the incompetent CEO they’re all terrified of, while trying to maintain the illusion the company is any good at what it does. Genuine comedy gold. There is nowhere else you can experience third world attitudes and management culture, while being paid a first world salary. Each day presents a more incredible and improbable scenario than the last – the writers of The Office couldn’t script the stuff that happens. It’s been a real lesson in the level of bald faced lies that can be told to the media without apparent consequences.”

“It’s going to fall apart one day when the professionalism of the Air Traffic Controllers can no longer balance the bungling incompetence and lack of regard for safety of the upper management team. At that point, people die. And that’s scary.”

And this comes three years AFTER Airservices was in the news for a systemic sexual harassment and bullying scandal that led to an intervention by the Australian Senate. Do you want to know more? Read the report but you better sit down for this one.

Airservices’ CEO, Board and entire executive team need to be removed, held to account, and the entire organisation brought back under public control as a statutory authority. The corporatisation experiment has failed.