Air traffic controllers return to work
WESTERN BUREAU – Air traffic controllers who have been off the job since Friday returned to work yesterday following a Supreme Court order.
The court ruled on Saturday that the air traffic controllers are part of the essential services, and based on section 32 of the Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act, they are prohibited, within the next 30 days, from taking any form of industrial action.
After the ruling, the Jamaica Air Traffic Controllers Association, which represents the workers, met with them in an emergency meeting to discuss the order.
Yesterday, the association’s president, Howard Greaves, told the Observer that although his association had not received any formal notice of a Court Order, the air traffic controllers have decided to return to work to alleviate the discomfort that their action has caused to visitors and the travelling public.
He warned, however, that workers could take further action to highlight their grouses.
“Our decision to return to work does not mean that the air traffic controllers are satisfied with the manner in which our negotiations is being handled, and we do not rule out taking any other action at a later date in the furtherance of our cause,” Greaves said.
The roughly 60 air traffic controllers took industrial action to press for a 20-40 per cent salary hike that would put their salaries on par with that paid to flight safety operators.
