Air traffic control staff in Highlands and Islands to escalate industrial action
Air traffic control staff in the Highlands and Islands are to step up their industrial action over controversial plans to centralise services in Inverness.
The Prospect union warned that the controversial "remote towers" project by Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd (HIAL) would mean nearly 50 staff being made redundant, with a similar number needing to be recruited in the Highland capital "at very significant expense to the taxpayer".
HIAL's Air Traffic Management Strategy (ATMS) has drawn strong criticism from opponents who fear it will harm economically vulnerable areas and downgrade smaller airports such as Wick.
The escalation of industrial action will include work to rosters, an overtime ban, refusal of extensions except for search and rescue, emergency and medical flights and refusal to commence training of new controllers not within the business at the time of a ballot that began on November 30.
Prospect negotiator David Avery said: “Prospect has presented a raft of evidence against remote towers, including an independent report into its viability, and HIAL’s own impact assessment published recently shows the negative impact it will have on communities, but HIAL is pressing on regardless. This is the wrong plan and at a time when aviation is being decimated by the pandemic there are better things to spend taxpayers’ money on.
“HIAL claims that the current system is inflexible and unsustainable. This is simply not the case. Staff come in early and stay late to accommodate aircraft to ensure that their local communities remain connected. Where there have been staffing problems in the past the staff have gone above and beyond to ensure airports remain open.
“It is not too late for HIAL and the Scottish Government to think again, cancel this harmful project and come up with an acceptable way to modernise services.”
A recent study on the air traffic plans concluded that "the status quo is not sustainable". HIAL chairperson Lorna Jack insisted that ATMS was the only way to ensure a long-term future for air traffic services in the region and warned: “Standing still is not an option – we must modernise."
Jamie Stone, the Liberal Democrat MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, claimed at the time that centralising air traffic controllers in Inverness was "the riskiest and most expensive option". He said: "HIAL seems dead set on undermining the future of Wick John O'Groats Airport."