Air controllers strike expected

Press, 23 August 1977, Page 9

Air controllers strike expected

NZPA London Britain’s 850 air traffic control assistants are expected to announce today that they will strike from Thursday, crippling airports over the Bank Holiday weekend and ruining the plans of thousands of holidaymakers. The result of a secret ballot of the assistants on the strike issue is to be announced today.

The Civil Aviation Authority is drawing up contingency pians to prepare for the expected strike, but they admitted that there would still be serious problems for thousands of holiday travellers.

The dispute, which has already caused hundreds of delays and flight- cancellations at British airport*, went into its seventh day yesterday. At the moment, the men are lacking a flightplan computer, throwing flight schedules into convusion.

The dispute is in support of a pay claim awarded in 1975. The men say the settlement was made before the present incomes policy came into force and should therefore be implemented.

A strike would mean that air traffic controllers themselves would have to process coded flight information, and every airport in the country will be affected.

A member of Parliament has suggested that the Royal

Air Force could keep the airports open if the go-slow developed into an all-out strike.

Calling for urgent action from the Government, a Conservative, Mr Robert Adley, said: “If people doing a job in a key sector of industry refuse to do it, someone should step in.

“I am quite certain the Royal Air Force could provide people to do this work if necessary.” As thousands of would-be holidaymakers suffer delays at Heathrow and elsewhere, Mr Adley said: “This is the first fruit of the end of the Government’s incomes policy. “The Government react very quickly to people in their ‘chums brigade,’ like the miners, but these kind of small groups of highly skilled workers appear not to be on the inside track as far as the Government is concerned. “In fact, the Government just run away and ignore the whole thing.” The air traffic controllers represented one of many small but highly skilled groups whose differentials had been eroded. “I agree they appear to be being unpleasant in what they are doing and there is no attempt to justify it, but the basis for their action is the Government’s policy over the last three years.”