Ashes in the sky, hunger on the ground

Forgotten because of the volcano protest of air traffic controllers continues

The Federal Trade Union of Air Traffic Controllers (FPAD) reports that air traffic controllers from 53 cities have joined the action. Recall: the air traffic controllers of Rostov-on-Don started the protest action on April 9. They demanded the resignation of the head of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "State Corporation for...

The Federal Trade Union of Air Traffic Controllers (FPAD) reports that air traffic controllers from 53 cities have joined the action.

Recall: the air traffic controllers of Rostov-on-Don started the protest action on April 9. They demanded the resignation of the head of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "State Air Traffic Management Corporation" (ATC) Valery Gorbenko, as well as the preservation of the conditions of the collective labor agreement that was in force until April 1 for all branches. As Sergey Kovalev, president of the FPAD of Russia, explained to Novaya Gazeta, according to the new contract, the remuneration of dispatchers will be regulated only by the employer, who will be able to change it at his own discretion, officially - "in the event of a deterioration in the financial situation of the enterprise." The union opposed the new treaty, and air traffic controllers went on a hunger strike to protest. In order not to affect flight safety, dispatchers refuse to eat only in their free time.

According to Sergey Kovalev, the ban on flights due to the volcanic ash cloud coming from Iceland delayed the effect of the protest action: the workload on the dispatchers became less, and the hunger strike did not prevent them from doing their job. “Our leaders do not understand that measures must be taken urgently: when the ban is lifted, the traffic intensity will increase one and a half to two times,” says Kovalev. - The load on dispatchers will increase, by that time they will already be tired due to food restrictions. One gets the impression that the management of the corporation is waiting for one of the dispatchers to make a mistake, and further repressive measures can be taken.

Meanwhile, the "State Air Traffic Control Corporation" refuses to recognize the hunger strike and accuses the trade union of "destabilizing the social situation in the labor collectives of the branches." On Monday, she declared the trade union's statements a lie and stated that "the leaders of the trade union organizations of the FPAD of Russia in 35 cities are participating in the protest action, in total about 340 people from the 27,000th staff of the enterprise."

Andrey Pryanishnikov, assistant to the general director of the State Air Traffic Control Corporation, told Novaya Gazeta that "there is no hunger strike, there is clownery by individual trade union functionaries." According to Andrei Pryanishnikov, the main demand of the organizers of the hunger strike is not at all a revision of the terms of the employment contract, but the resignation of the head of the corporation, Valery Gorbenko. About the "volcanic" crisis in Europe - on pages 7, 11.