The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Iain Maciver Air traffic confusion could sound a fair few sour notes with festival’s clientele
Dig deeper into island aviation and other injustices lie there
The air traffic control dispute between members of the union Prospect and Highlands and Islands Airports (Hial) has led to controllers downing headsets at airports in the north such as Benbecula, Inverness, Kirkwall, Sumburgh and, of course, Stornoway. Dundee too.
It could be chaos if they evacuate the control tower before and during the Hebridean Celtic Festival in a couple of weeks. No artistes on stage? Chief festival organiser Caroline Maclennan herself might have to get up and sing.
The union Prospect would give me no assurances yesterday that they won’t take action then. You’d better start practising your doh-ray-mes, Caroline.
Air traffic control officers (ATCOs) here are offered just 2%, plus allowances and stuff. In the private sector, they would simply be paid a lot more.
After all the years of training to get where they are, it is such a slap in the face to find you are treated like a semi-professional with the constant threat of robots controlled from Inverness taking over your job.
The Scottish Government insists it’s a matter for Hial. Who owns Hial? Yep, the Scottish Government. Duh.
They told me it’s against public sector pay policy and it’s all because of the UK Government’s cuts. They are, however, now offering the ATCOs a package with great retention allowances and stuff like that. They just can’t increase the actual salary – because of Theresa May, presumably.
Airport security staff are said to have had whopping pay rises but Hial insists that was just them being taken on to staff and thereby getting better terms and conditions. That’s the point. Now they can eat better. And their kids. And their kids’ wee puppies.
Dig deeper into island aviation and other injustices lie there. Take Loganair, the only air link we have since they beat Flybe for the north routes.
There are mutterings in the islands about the wages they pay their employees. Bad legislation which should have been amended years ago allows Loganair not to recognise the union rights of any of its Hebridean employees.
Sadly, it is just 16 Loganair staff at Stornoway. No one fights for them. No one at all. Prospect confirmed to me it isn’t allowed to fight for fair wages for Hebridean staff unless Loganair offers voluntary recognition. Loganair refuses, it said.
You would think Loganair, now our sole flights provider when we want to flee the stresses and strains of our arduous Hebridean lifestyle for the green-leafed suburbs or plush hotels and fragrant eateries of the metropolis, would support hard-working staff in any way.
It could be the modern employer we would
all long to work for. Loganair tells me pay across its ground handling teams is consistent.
It said opportunities within certain areas of its network could increase earnings through training and getting qualifications.
In Shetland, staff provide ground handling to offshore helicopters which requires additional training. In Benbecula, Loganair does aircraft fuelling. The firm claims differences in pay are due to clear differences in the roles and responsibilities undertaken.
Prospect has not even asked about recognition for more than two years, Loganair said. Ground staff are represented by staff committees and the conditions for either voluntary or statutory recognition of a union did not exist then or now. So there.
Loganair boss Jonathan Hinkles claims the airline lost millions fighting Flybe. How about a review to see if there are other ways to recoup it? Loganair’s loyal staff are just trying to put food on the table for their families. Blocking the staff who want union representation is not a great staff motivator. So there.
Oops, maybe I’d better start taking the ferry. Maybe we all should start taking the ferry.
Why am I bothered about island aviation? Had I not opted for a radio and scribbling path, I was set to undertake conversion training to be a civilian air traffic controller because of my previous years at various RAF establishments around the UK and in Gibraltar.
I had to sit an exam in a wee place in Dorset. A man from the Civil Aviation Authority said: “We want you, we want you, we want you as our new recruit.” He dressed well, but I don’t remember any feathers.
So I could be sat in the control tower in Stornoway surveying a stunning starlit Steinish or, of course, the bedazzling beauty of bucolic Branahuie.
I have lost touch with so many former RAF ATC colleagues but occasionally I bump into one on social media.
One of them was Big Shirley. She worked with me at the tower at RAF Kinloss and she then moved to operations, planning where the mighty, sub-chasing Nimrods were going and what they were doing.
She tells me that is all behind her now. She quit air traffic control and the RAF after she met and fell in love with a monk. Wow.
He handed in his P45 too and they are very happy.
She said: “I got out of the flight plans and into the friar.”