Some air traffic controllers with the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority intend to seek a hearing with President Bharrat Jagdeo on a number of issues affecting them, including monies they say are still owed to them from a previous dispute.
This newspaper was also told by two staff members that strike action may be imminent as they feel the management is not looking after their welfare.
One of the employees said that many other workers were still owed retroactive overtime payment and even though the government had announced the 5 percent across the board increase it has not been passed on to the workers.
One air traffic controller also said that the authority is suffering from a shortage of staff and many days only one person is in control at the Ogle tower. The employee explained too that this situation has been ongoing for some time and if that controller has to leave the tower for any reason, the entire system must be shut down.
Further to this, the employee explained that many pieces of equipment which they work with daily malfunction from time to time, including the anemometer at Ogle and the consoles at both the Timehri and Ogle towers.
And regarding the financial matter, the source said that since the last strike they have written to Transport Minister Robeson Benn bringing certain issues to his attention.
“We don’t want to just proceed on strike like that so we are contemplating asking the president for his intervention as a last ditch effort because the last time we went on strike and they spoke to us we took their word and we went back to work but we were short changed,” the employee said.
When this newspaper contacted Benn on Monday for a comment he had none but said he was still trying to ascertain certain things relating to the situation.
Back in March this year, a number of air traffic controllers took strike action after Benn blocked $18M in back pay for the staff, saying that neither he nor Finance Minister Ashni Singh was aware of the intended payout and had not approved it.
Staff were reportedly told in a memo that their payments had already been prepared, but following a visit to the office by Benn they were subsequently informed that their monies would be withheld.
Following much discussion, the staff had trickled back to work and some remedy sought in the situation. However staff members who spoke with this newspaper on Monday explained that some of the current dissatisfaction stems from the promises not being fully honoured.
