Supermarkets and air traffic control – what is the connection?

It is tough times in Belgium these days. After the shocking news that Opel will close its car plant in Antwerp leaving thousands without work, it is now the Carrefour supermarket chain that announced the closure of 21 of its locations in the country. For our non-European readers, Carrefour is a French chain similar to K-Mart in the US but with a more comprehensive assortment of food.
Carrefour (ranked world number two in 2008) arrived in Belgium at the time it became known that Wal-Mart was opening its assault on the European retail market several years ago. European retailers, even the big ones, were worried that Wal-Mart would snap them up to create its foothold in Europe. So they went on to consolidate inside France snapping up smaller competitors there and they also spread out into neighboring lands, like Belgium where Carrefour bought the local chain GB.
About a year ago, one of the Carrefour supermarkets created a lot of buzz when it hired a crew at a rate below the one used at other Carrefour locations. Those who got work were happy but the unions went on strike and shut down the other locations, demanding that the salaries of the lower paid workers be raised. Several of the latter were on TV saying that they were happy as they were and did not want this interference.
What does this have to do with air traffic management?

Well, the same day the Carrefour news was announced, there was another item on TV, informing the world that French air traffic controllers would go on strike, protesting the feared consolidation of ATC centers and services in Europe.
This was pure coincidence of course, but there are similarities and lessons for all concerned.
What exactly led to Carrefour’s problems in Belgium is not clear but the strikes organized each time there was talk about change of any kind certainly did not help. Neither did the uncalled for protest about a group of people who were more than happy to get work, even if at a lower rate, but still better than being on the dole. The news of the closures now was again met by a one day strike of sorts…
There is a crisis out there still and nobody is exempt from the need to reduce costs. Not Carrefour, not the airlines and not the service providers.
There is also a need to consider the longer term future of the aviation industry and this entails the rationalization of the infrastructure, elimination of duplications, increasing productivity and of course ensuring all the time that safety is not compromised.
Leaving things as they are is not an option.
Being a union man these days is not easy. They have gotten to where they are because they have the will and intelligence to represent their members’ interests but for the same reason, it is difficult to imagine that they themselves do not realize just how much change in the air traffic management system is necessary to make it into the sustainable service the industry needs and can afford. So they find themselves between a rock and a hard place and I guess organizing a protest is perhaps the easiest way for venting their members’ anger.
The trouble is, strikes and protests will not solve anything.
It is never nice to face the prospect of losing one’s job or needing to retrain for something else. Salary cuts are equally bad news. But the sooner people can accept that the world has changed (and not for the better if you want to put it that way) the better everyone will be able to cope with the forthcoming changes.
If people affected by the changes at least understand why they are necessary, they can make better educated decisions about their own careers and look for new opportunities within or outside aviation. Crisis or not, for well trained professionals there are always possibilities.
Union leaders have a major responsibility here to educate their members and not create the false hope that strikes and other forms of industrial actions will solve the problems. They will not. Not because somebody is out there to make life difficult for controllers and others. They will not solve anything simply because inevitable change has to happen for the industry to regain its long term stability.
A healthy industry means more work. Causing more damage to a recovering industry will only make things worse for all concerned.