Although Minister of Ports, Shipping, and Aviation Nimal Siripala de Silva had agreed yesterday (8) during a discussion with the Sri Lanka Air Traffic Controllers’ Association (SLATCA) to arrange a discussion with the Treasury to review their salaries and allowances and to recruit 30 graduates to fill up the shortages of air traffic controllers, the SLATCA expressed dissatisfaction in this regard, claiming that the meeting had only provided part of the solution.
This meeting was scheduled following concerns raised by the SLATCA over a potential standstill of air traffic movements owing to the increasing number of controllers resigning from their posts.
Speaking to The Daily Morning yesterday, De Silva said: “The grievances of the controllers were that the salaries and allowances that they receive at the moment are considerably less in comparison with international standards. Therefore, I explained to them that we are going through economic hardship at the moment and that the prevailing economic conditions prevent the payment of higher salaries and allowances that is comparable to international organisations and other countries. Anyhow, they wanted a hearing with the Treasury to put forward their proposals to which I readily agreed, and their request would be forwarded to the Treasury. The Treasury will talk to them in the near future.”
He further said that at the same time, the controllers had emphasised the need for more training and that he had therefore agreed to recruit young graduates. “I told them that that is my need too. It is the need of my Ministry and that of the Government. But, there are certain restrictions. Training air traffic controllers cannot be limited to classrooms. The proper training must be given in control towers. We have only a few towers in Sri Lanka, and only a few people could be accommodated there at a time. I pointed out to them that under my administration, I have already taken 23 people for training. They are undergoing training. I agreed to take another 30 young graduates to be trained as air traffic controllers.”
He also noted that an advertisement for recruitment will appear in the upcoming days in all newspapers. “We will be able to start that training by 1 April, after going through the necessary testing to assure the standard of the training and aptitude. There were certain other minor demands of the trade union, which I agreed to fulfil. I will be inspecting the training school. They are the products of the free education system of our country and we have trained them, and I explained to them that it is their obligation and duty to serve the nation,” he added.
However, SLATCA President Thisara Amarananda told The Daily Morning that it was not a successful meeting, claiming that their retention plan is based on retaining people and that recruitment is not the solution. “We think that Minister de Silva did not understand our claims, but he was somewhat convinced. The meeting had 50-50 solutions. We cannot say what would be the outcome. We presented our grievances to the authorities but we feel that he did not get a clear picture of the desired solutions,” he added.
Further commenting on the meeting to be arranged with the Treasury, he said: “We asked him if he can forward the retention plan to the Treasury. He said that he cannot pass it as a plan of the Ministry, and therefore, he requested us to write a report detailing why we have been making demands. There are nine components in our retention plan and the salary review is one of those. He said that he would forward it to the Treasury as a claim by our union and not by his Ministry.”
Earlier, speaking to The Daily Morning, Airport and Aviation Services Ltd. Chairman Maj. Gen. G.A. Chandrasiri on 6 February said: “We will work out a plan for that. We will not close the airspace just because someone held a media briefing. We will work out a plan with them, and we will make sure that the work continues. This is a national endeavour. This will continue with them. We have our all-time plan so we will work out something. We are talking about a nation. As a country, we must have our reserves available. We will start working accordingly.”
The SLATCA had raised concerns over a potential standstill of air traffic movements, owing to the increasing number of controllers resigning from their posts. Issuing a statement in this regard, the association noted that 19 air traffic controllers have resigned from their posts within a span of a year.