Proverbial

Everyone used to wonder what it would be like, but no one dared think it might actually happen. Guess what? It did (.br):

Flight controllers throughout Brazil started a strike tonight. “All airports in the country are closed for take-offs since 18h44″, informs Infraero [the State company responsible for public airports]. One controller told Terra that the strike was decided after the Cindacta-1 commander, colonel Carlos Vuyk de Aquino, threatened to fire controllers in Brasilia if they didn’t stop the hunger strike that they’d begun in the morning. Chief of Staff Dilma Roussef called an emergency meeting with the Planning Minister, Paulo Bernardo de Souza, and the Defense Ministry.

For those who haven’t followed all the brouhaha, it’s quite a long story and the sort of thing that makes me wish there was at least one Brazilian newspaper written in English for me to link to. Anyways, the fact is that for six months controllers have been in a somewhat rebellious state, ever since the accident with a Gol 737 that killed over 160 people. They claim they’re short-staffed and being wrongly penalized for the accident.

The major problem is that flight control, in Brazil, is done by the military, under very different and more strict work laws. So, they’re not allowed to strike, to make public statements or complain about their work conditions to the press. Which also means, of course, that the press can’t really try and find out how things are being dealt with. The only thing we know, and have known for all this time, is that air traffic in the country has been chaotic, with endless delays, closed airports due to lack of equipment, runways needing repair, and so on. The opposition, in fact, has called for a Congressional inquiry on what’s being called the “air blackout”, without success so far.

And we also know the government has been trying to dodge the issue, saying it’s not a centralized problem, only local ones which have been getting more attention due to the public’s interest after the accident, while leaving the solution to the Air Force. It shouldn’t surprise anyone, then, that one of the controllers’ main demand is that they don’t want to negotiate with Air Force officials or anyone from the Defense Ministry. They’ll only talk with Roussef, or the president himself.

To make problems worse, when the shit hit the fan today in Brasilia, president Lula was somewhere over Central America on his way to Washington, vice-president Jose Alencar was in Belo Horizonte and the Defense Minister, Waldir Pires, was in Rio de Janeiro. Roussef (Chief of Staff), Tarso Genro (Justice), Paulo Bernardo (Planning) and Mares Guia (Institutional Relations) were also absent from the capital, and were all called back to keep the president posted and manage the situation.

The only thing we know they did, so far, was prevent the Air Force from arresting the rebellious controllers, on orders from the president himself. Other than that, only rumors. I just worry about what this will do to Brazil’s airlines, as well as the economy. Let’s hope they can quickly work something out, and that no brilliant reporter decides to interview an environmentalist about the bright side of this.

UPDATE: That was fast (.br): the government and the controllers reached an agreement to end the strike, some five hours after it began. Not surprising, since it seems all their demands were met: a review over disciplinary acts - including transferences and leaves -; no punishments for those involved in the strike; and a discussion on salaries, to take place next week.

Regardless, it seems it will take some three days for things to go back to normal in the country’s airports, which will probably mean quite some losses for airlines. I wonder whether there are grounds for them to sue the government for restitution.