Renewed call for air traffic

control report to be released

By MEGAN REYNOLDS

Tribune Staff Reporter

mreynolds@tribunemedia.net

A CALL for the Government to publicise an audit report revealing flaws in the country's air traffic control system has been reiterated by the Air Traffic Controllers Union following a protest last week.

Members of the Bahamas Air Traffic Controllers Union (BATCU) protested outside the House of Assembly last Monday to demand higher standards for the country and union involvement in improvements.

Union leader Roscoe Perpall claims shortfalls identified by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) could blacklist the Bahamas as a tourist destination if not immediately addressed.

And the Government has failed to provide union members with copies of the report published earlier this year, or involve members in improvement works, the BATCU claims.

Minister of Tourism and Aviation Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace denied the deficiencies would negatively impact tourism, as he said the Civil Aviation Department (CAD) is working with others to ensure the Bahamas maintains its category one status with the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

And Director of the Civil Aviation Department (CAD) Captain Patrick Rolle said his department was looking at a two-year reform programme beginning in 2010 to improve services by having airport security investigations and accidents split into separate entities.

But the BATCU is still unsatisfied with the Government's response, and Mr Perpall wants to know why the audit report released nearly ten months ago has not yet been made public.

He said: "Not only were numerous and serious deficiencies identified, as was acknowledged by the Minister, but there are a whole number of issues this country committed to dealing with immediately in the aftermath of the audit to which ICAO expected tangible efforts to yield reportable results within two months of the report."

Mr Perpall fears there will be a repeat of the Bahamas' downgrading from category one to category two in 2000 if all stakeholders, including the BATCU, are not involved in improvement works from the beginning.

Results

He said: "It is a universal maxim that the best results are borne when all of the relevant stake-holders are included, comprehensively, at the earliest stages. This is also an ICAO recommended practice.

"Sadly, this is not happening, thus there is no apparent movement and following the fashioning by the few, will the plan be forced down the throats of the many, or will we go through, laboriously, trying to implement what could very well be a flawed and unpopular."

Further upset at the union is boiling over the DCA's alleged failure to address members' concerns after disputes were heard at the Department of Labour both sides agreed to make greater efforts to resolve their differences.

Issues surrounding vacation leave, failure to collect agency shop payment from all members of the Bargaining Unit, and an outstanding contract between BATCU and the government all require attention, Mr Perpall said. He added: "We call upon the government to do the honourable thing and instruct its agencies and agents to respect the air traffic controllers contract in the same manner as they have done for members of the nurses, doctors and water and sewerage unions."

The union is also disappointed with the Minister of Tourism and Aviation and the Director of Civil Aviation's failure to address salary anomalies and outstanding promotions following last week's protest.

Mr Vanderpool-Wallace said the issues raised by the union regarding terms of employment are very much under discussion, while the ICAO report should be available to them.

He added: "There was some period of time when we responded to items, but it is a public document as I understand it. There's nothing in the report that couldn't be made public, and the presentation of the findings was made with a very broad group."

The Minister maintains his department has been working with the ICAO to address issues in the report since February, and the ICAO has been pleased with the progress.

Published On:Wednesday, November 25, 2009