Air traffic controllers are forced to work part-time after their shifts: driving taxis, delivering deliveries, and doing apartment renovations. Have a nice flight!
In most regional divisions, up to 60 percent of dispatchers work part-time jobs. The president of the Federal Trade Union of Air Traffic Controllers of Russia told Regional Aspect this. Sergei Kovalev.
According to him, the average salary in the industry is 145 rubles. Conditions have deteriorated significantly over the past few years: the support program for young professionals has been discontinued, and benefits for hazardous working conditions, English language training, and rent compensation have been eliminated.
This year, the management of the State Air Traffic Management Corporation plans to significantly reduce the "golden parachute" for employees retiring from the current level of 12 monthly salaries.
— In 2022, 3000 employees resigned, of which about 1000 were dispatchers and the same number were engineering and technical personnel, — noted Sergey Kovalev. — Some went into other industries, young people mainly into IT.
According to his estimates, the shortage of specialists is 10-20 percent.
— Vacancies are always sort of closed, officially there is no shortage, — Kovalev clarifies. — But if retirees start retiring this year, some regional offices will have to close because they will be approximately half empty.
Sergey Kovalev emphasizes that the state corporation's profits haven't fallen, but rather increased: by the end of 2024, they will amount to 18 billion rubles (twice as much as in 2023).
The union is currently demanding changes to the collective agreement, including establishing a 10 percent salary bonus for young professionals, aligning wage indexation with consumer price increases, and maintaining "golden parachutes" for retirees. The demand contains a total of 48 points.
To explain their demands in accessible language, air traffic controllers produced a video. Its scenario seems a bit naive, yet terrifying. As one segment notes, safety is not a place for compromise.
“It was the workers’ idea,” says Kovalev. — Half of those in the frame are real dispatchers. The others are actors.
The union is demanding that a new collective agreement be adopted by the end of March.