The union that brings together air traffic controllers announced that it will carry out activity stoppages lasting between three and six hours per day, during 18 days of June, in claim of salary increases.
These are the air traffic controllers grouped in the Association of Air Navigation Protection and Safety Technicians and Employees (ATEPSA), a union entity where between 1,000 and 1,200 members from the 54 airports that operate in the country converge. It brings together both air traffic controllers and other workers in the technical area.
Unlike the traditional aeronautical unions, which are referenced in Aerolíneas Argentinas, in the case of ATEPSA its affiliates depend on the state-owned Empresa Argentina de Navegación Pública (EANA), created during the Macri government. Its current owner is Agustín Rodríguez Grellet, who took office a few weeks ago.
The ATEPSA union is headed by Paola Barrita, an air traffic controller and also a lawyer who is the daughter of the former leader of the Boca brava gang, José Barrita, who died in 2001. The leader, now 35 years old, won the union elections in April 2022, at the head of the Multicolor list.
The air traffic controllers made two stoppages of activity lasting three hours each during the general strike of the CGT on May 9. Now they aim to repeat that scheme, which is the only one they can carry out because it is an activity declared “essential service”, which is why it must always function at least 45%.
But since they cannot stop for more than three hours per work shift, the announced force measure is multiplied over three weeks. They begin this Sunday and last for 18 days, with very few days of breaks, until Sunday the 30th.
The union only issued a poster on its website, with the title “Legitimate measures of union action” without a statement explaining the reasons for the strike, although its spokespersons assured that it is due to the joint agreement that expired in March. The EANA did not want to comment on the measure of force.
ATEPSA spokespersons pointed out that it is the first measure of strength by the union alone since it assumed the current leadership of the union. “We accompanied the CGT in the May 9 strike, but This is the first direct action measure since we took office. in May 2022. The reasons are that we have not yet closed the 2023/24 joint venture, despite the fact that the period ended in March,” they said.
The strikes will consist of cessations of activity, but with staff at their jobs. Depending on the day, they will affect only international flights or all flights. And because it is an essential activity, personnel continue to work at full strength in the case of search and rescue, humanitarian, health and State flights.
