Spanish Air Traffic Controllers walk out. Military takes over.

This happened about an hour so ago. I thought it would be mentioned on ATS but I don't see any thread.

The thing is almost all the air traffic controllers all over Spain walked out en masse stating they were sick.

Almost right away the government sent in the military to take control of the skies.

This spells big trouble for Europe in my view, because the workers are unhappy about austerity measures being proposed to bring the countries economy back from the brink of collapse.

The workers are having none of it, so what happens next ?

After the Irish bailout many think Spain is next on the list, and this type of action can only push them closer to needing money. Problem there is there isn't enough money to bail out Spain.

Does that mean the end for the Euro ?

If this happened in UK our military is not here to take over as they are all over in Afghanistan.

Interesting news! Do you have any link to source this?

Originally posted by Wookiep
Interesting news! Do you have any link to source this?

It's all over the news mate .... but I'll find you a link in a minute


BBC

edition.cnn.com...

It's everywhere. This is a major problem with the government benefits and services many western citizens are used to having. Once it becomes unsustainable, people are furious that they are no longer provided the same services before.

Thanks for the links!

If this is indeed true then EASA. The European equivilant of the FAA needs to launch a full incident inquiry about this.

The skies above Spain and it's surrounding area, are massively busy not only with European but trans-Atlantic traffic.

If this is the case. then these guys just broke the CARDINAL rule of aviation. Regardless of you position or feeling. NEVER NEVER NEVER put aircraft and lives at risk. I sure hope they handed them over before if not there will be a shot storm for this.

As for the Euro, No this will not affect the economy of Europe any more or the Euro, Just Spains' reputation.

Will check this out on Pprune.org

Originally posted by Wookiep
Thanks, I'm not in Europe (in US) so I haven't seen anything on it here, yet.

edit on 3-12-2010 by Wookiep because: Edit: Thanks for the links!

Maybe the US media don't want Americans to see how to get things done !

BBC

Confirmed, BBC have the story.

Scandalous industry wise, but not expected. The military won't be up to the task. but its better than nothing. This just seems to be further symptom of the gross dissatisfaction felt by the normal people, towards the unecessary situation we have been put in by TPTB.

Originally posted by bigyin

Originally posted by Wookiep
Thanks, I'm not in Europe (in US) so I haven't seen anything on it here, yet.

edit on 3-12-2010 by Wookiep because: Edit: Thanks for the links!

Maybe the US media don't want Americans to see how to get things done !

I don't understand. "How to get things done"? You mean by the entire ATC staff walking out an endangering lives of people flying? That's not too smart on their part.

reply to post by JakiusFogg


It looks like they just abandoned planes still in the sky

reply to post by jerico65


I'm not condoning it, what I meant was other worker groups might be encouraged to down tools when they see these guys doing it.

Originally posted by jerico65

Originally posted by bigyin

Originally posted by Wookiep
Thanks, I'm not in Europe (in US) so I haven't seen anything on it here, yet.

edit on 3-12-2010 by Wookiep because: Edit: Thanks for the links!

Maybe the US media don't want Americans to see how to get things done !

I don't understand. "How to get things done"? You mean by the entire ATC staff walking out an endangering lives of people flying? That's not too smart on their part.

There are several "essential personnel" type jobs in the world that by nature will always endanger someone somewhere somehow when they are not happy. Police, Prison Guards, Medical Staff, Nurses, Doctors, etc etc.

This is the nature of the beast that is revolt, and unfortunately as conditions for jobs get worse and paychecks are worth less and cost of living goes up you will see more and more of this. People start to realize its just not worth it to show up to work anymore.

If your entire salary got to the point it could barely pay your mortgage, would you still show up to work? I don't think so.

Man, I don't think that's all that it's cracked up to be mates!! It seems perhaps there may be another reason for this that isn't being brought out in the mainstream media....Let's not forget it is mainstream media reporting this, and they could be feeding us a long line of bull puckey....

I dont condone putting peoples lives in danger but I fully support national strikes,I think we all should do it immediatly.

Originally posted by nickoli
I dont condone putting peoples lives in danger but I fully support national strikes,I think we all should do it immediatly.

I absolutely agree! Participating in the system is the only thing that it needs to keep it going.

We should all just stop participating watch it crumble to dust and pick up the pieces and start a new, with an completely new foundation for society based on the lessons learned in this previous one.

Originally posted by Sly1one
If your entire salary got to the point it could barely pay your mortgage, would you still show up to work? I don't think so.

If I was a garbage man, or something like that, probably not.

If my job was to keep airtraffic moving in a safe way, and prevent two or more aircraft from meeting in the air and killing hundreds of people, I think I'd still show up. Sorry, Gus.

reply to post by bigyin


NO...they didn't "abandon" airplanes. Read the article.

(BTW....pilots are smart. We know how to self-manage, if necessary, without ATC. ATC effectively increases the flow of traffic, by co-ordinating it, from their viewpoint. Left to our own devices, pilots can just talk to each other, same radios used to communicate with ATC! It happens now and then, and is no big deal. Especially nowadays, every airliner is equipped with TCAS.....)

People seem to always misunderstand the nature of such job actions...they hear "walkout" and visualize it literally...

They called in sick. From home. They did NOT report for work. When police officers do this, they dub it the "blue flu".

These sorts of work stoppages are well-advertised ahead of time. As you see in the articles, the Spanish airspace, and airports, were systematically shut down ahead of time.....

I wonder if they will end up getting the same treatment that Reagan gave to air traffic controllers in the 1980's?

This was an illegal walk out potentially putting hundred of thousands of airline travellers at risk. The whole lot should be fired en masse.

If they're worried about the Government cutting benefits, I wonder how they'll feel about being unemployed after their union salaries?

I doubt this will affect the Euro at all, but people are finally starting to wake up to the fact that their governments just can't give them the sort of support that they've become accustomed to.

Just wait until this happens in the USA. If unemployment benefits aren't extended by Congress, millions of families will find themselves cut off in quite a hurry. I wonder if this will be enough to get Americans off their collective behinds to actually protest about the Governments reckless overspending?

It's time that Americans realized that tax increases (big ones) combined with massive cuts in Government spending and support (similar to those seen in Greece, Britain, and Irelend) are the only way to get out of the mess they're in.

The timing is very important as well.

This is a bank holiday weekend. Bank holidays are next Monday and Wednesday so will people will take Tuesday off as well. Alot of Families were going away for a few days.

On the news reports this evening live from the Airports the people were not very happy and very hostile towards the controllers. They reckon that there was about 250,000 people were affected today.

I hope they dont try this stunt around Christmas or the New Year

Originally posted by Sly1one

Originally posted by nickoli
I dont condone putting peoples lives in danger but I fully support national strikes,I think we all should do it immediatly.

I absolutely agree! Participating in the system is the only thing that it needs to keep it going.

We should all just stop participating watch it crumble to dust and pick up the pieces and start a new, with an completely new foundation for society based on the lessons learned in this previous one.

You know I've been thinking for a long time about starting a national strike webpage and organizing such a thing for the US on the week of July 4th. I think the people are about ready and I think this is the only way it'll work.

I got a buddy who could set it up for me,think I'll go see him tommorrow,time to stop thinking and start acting. I hope these employees get what they've earned,for some reason this made my day.