Air traffic control at Brussels Airport boycott training

Unions representing staff at the national air traffic control agency Belgocontrol have begun industrial action today. The action was announced before the start of the February school holiday, with a promise that holiday traffic would not be affected.

Staff will boycott training for new routes due to come into force in April. Their goal is to obtain extra investment in personnel and to prolong existing pension policies. The aim is to disrupt management plans, not to affect the public, and passengers are unlikely to feel the impact, unions said.

An attempt on Friday to achieve a last-minute agreement to avoid industrial action failed, a spokesperson for the union ACV Transcom said because management would not make any commitment beyond 2017. Belgocontrol management said it did not have the authority to meet union demands, which require decisions from the federal government.

The action directly affects the government’s plan to scrap the take-off route known as Leuven Rechtdoor, which takes planes all the way to Leuven before diverting them to their normal route. In May a court ruled that the route must be changed, on pain of fines. Unless Belgocontrol staff train for alternatives, the route cannot be dropped within the timetable planned by the government.

Photo: Wim Bladt/Wikimedia