why air controllers strike (among others) against badgeuses

On Thursday, 933 flights were deleted at the start or arrival of France. Friday, July 4, the day of major departures, the situation should be even more tense in Paris airports, since the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC) asked the companies to reduce their flight programs by 40%. Originally: a strike by air controllers launched by the second Syndicate of Steelles of the Heaven, UNSA-ICNA (17% of votes in the last professional elections) to claim better working conditions and greater staff, with the support of the third union force of the profession, USAC-CGT (16%).

According to civil aviation, the strike rate was 26.2% on Thursday, 272 controllers who took part in the movement on a thousand service staff. According to the grievances of the UNSA-ICNA, they protest against “A maintained under-effective and responsible for delays a good part of the summer” but also “Toxic management, incompatible with the required serenity and security imperatives”. In his leafletsThe union also repeats its opposition to the biometric pointe, the main source of current anger. These strike reasons were tried “Unacceptable” by the Minister of Transport Philippe Tabarot.

A contested reform is indeed underway to establish a score of the controllers when taking their post. It would be a question of deploying “digital spikes” and “Badgers on position”describes the magazine Challenge. “The former allow you to know what time the controllers arrive at their workplace, and the second, to know exactly where they are”continues the weekly. Changes that the administration would provide for deploying control places for controllers “Between winter 2025 and the end of summer 2026”report The Senate Planning and Sustainable Development Commission.

This reform follows a “Serious incident” At Bordeaux airport, when two planes had almost collided. On December 31, 2022, in the morning, an Easyjet A320 had been authorized to land on track 23, the air controller having “forget” The presence of a small DR400 touring plane on this same track threshold. “The DR400 pilot understood that the A320 was authorized to land was pointed out to the controller, who immediately ordered the A320 to interrupt the approach”tell An investigation report of the investigation and analysis office (BEA). The Easyjet plane finally flew over the other device just 54 m away.

The survey in question has pose responsibility for a faulty organization of the work of the sharpeners, outside the legal framework and without compliance with the service table. He predicted indeed “Six controllers” present, but “The head of Tour had, in agreement with his team, Modified downwards the workforce provided for three controllers at the time of the serious incident “Can we read, increasing the workload of people on the spot that morning. In conclusion, the BEA recommended to equip “The control centers of an automatic and nominative means of registration of the presence of the controllers on position and in the workplace”defending a “Essential element for air traffic safety”.

This recommendation, according to the BEA, could combat a situation “Known and implicitly tolerated” in the sector. “A social consensus, anchored for many years (…), lets a situation last in which the controllers’ teams organize, apart from any legal framework, a level of workforce present generally lower than the theoretically determined number as necessary.” A practice called “Clairances”. “It is the head of post of the tower who grants his day or his half-day to a colleague if he considers that the workload does not justify the presence of so many agents”and that “Without it being counted in his working time”translated Capital. “This practice is as opaque as it is surprising”judges the senatorial committee.

To all these arguments, The unions denounce L ‘“Instrumentalization” of the BEA report and believe they are “Flocked”. “Controllers are guaranteeing the safety of air traffic under increasingly complex conditions, due to the constant increase in traffic, recurring breakdowns and total managerial incompetence to anticipate the sub-employment and manage technical modernization. However, it is the controllers who see their professionalism called into question”denounces the Unsa-Icna, according to whom “The pointe arouses massive rejection within organizations”. “Agents do not need to be infantilized or tracked to do their job properly”in turn challenge an air controller interviewed by TF1. For its part, the first Syndicate of Steelles of the Heaven, the SNCTA (60% of the votes), did not call for the strike.