Its all about the responsibility.
If you have the time, I would like you to go to http://www.atcmonitor.com/ somewhere between five and eight PM eastern time on any given day and listen to these professionals guide these planes in. There is even a radar image you can click to see what the controller is looking at.
The controllers union is currently fighting in Washington to get the FAA to return to the bargaining table for contract negotiations. The FAA wants to cut wages and unilaterally impose a contract on the controllers by refusing to bargain. The FAA is looking for 1.9 billion in cuts and the union has agreed to 1.4. The general argument is that controllers get paid more money than other government workers. The powers that be think that they should be paid along the lines of other public servants. One senator has compared ATC to the salaries of police and firemen and even those in public office.
People get paid for their responsibility. A controllers job is one of the most stressful in existence. I went to http://www.atcmonitor.com/ earlier for a snapshot. The controller was working eight planes. This was an extremely light workload for the controllers that work that arrival. Lets say that there was fifty people on each airplane which is a laughable number since your small jet airliners will hold a hundred people pretty easy. But lets just say there was only fifty people on each of those eight planes. During that snapshot the controller, during a slow period mind you, was responsible for four hundred lives. In that one instant he had more lives in his hands than a police officer, fireman, and even a doctor will have in their entire careers combined. Now do you really want to tell him that he should take a pay cut, work longer hours, and have staffing reduced? I sure as hell don't.
Atlanta Air Route Control Center averages around 9000 operations per day. When I multiply that by our fifty passenger number I'm thinking we need to give those folks a raise.
The controllers union is currently fighting in Washington to get the FAA to return to the bargaining table for contract negotiations. The FAA wants to cut wages and unilaterally impose a contract on the controllers by refusing to bargain. The FAA is looking for 1.9 billion in cuts and the union has agreed to 1.4. The general argument is that controllers get paid more money than other government workers. The powers that be think that they should be paid along the lines of other public servants. One senator has compared ATC to the salaries of police and firemen and even those in public office.
People get paid for their responsibility. A controllers job is one of the most stressful in existence. I went to http://www.atcmonitor.com/ earlier for a snapshot. The controller was working eight planes. This was an extremely light workload for the controllers that work that arrival. Lets say that there was fifty people on each airplane which is a laughable number since your small jet airliners will hold a hundred people pretty easy. But lets just say there was only fifty people on each of those eight planes. During that snapshot the controller, during a slow period mind you, was responsible for four hundred lives. In that one instant he had more lives in his hands than a police officer, fireman, and even a doctor will have in their entire careers combined. Now do you really want to tell him that he should take a pay cut, work longer hours, and have staffing reduced? I sure as hell don't.
Atlanta Air Route Control Center averages around 9000 operations per day. When I multiply that by our fifty passenger number I'm thinking we need to give those folks a raise.
posted by Glenn at 4:26 AM
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