IIICCP, A HISTORIC MILESTONE

Last June 5, USCA and Enaire signed the Third Collective Agreement (IIICCP), which constitutes a historic milestone for the company and its workers, given that the previous negotiated agreement dates back to 1998. Looking back, the agreement signed 25 years ago was an outstanding achievement for the profession, providing unprecedented stability to the air navigation sector (essential for our country’s economic development) for two decades.

Between the signing of these two documents, we have lived through a fateful period under the long shadow of the industrial dispute of 2010, the implementation of working conditions through Royal Decrees and the Law 9/2010, as well as the application, in 2011, of an Arbitration Award, which ended up becoming the IICCP. Overcoming both the labour dispute and the subsequent Arbitration Award has been a tremendous challenge. It was only thanks to the unity and solidarity among ATCOs, and to the efforts of a large group of colleagues who have worked tirelessly over the years on all open fronts that we could tackle difficulties.

Regarding exclusively collective bargaining, the recently signed document consolidates what was agreed upon in the 2018 Base Agreement. It has been five years of long and patient negotiation, with the COVID pandemic crisis in between, in which we had to deal with four different Secretaries of State for MITMA (Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda), first with a Secretary from PP (Spanish Popular Party), and later with three different Secretaries from PSOE (Spanish Socialist Party), the last of which was David Lucas Parrón, who provided a decisive political impetus to make the agreement a reality.

On Enaire’s side, the leadership role of Ángel Luis Arias was key in restoring company/worker relations and negotiating the new collective agreement. After eight years as the company’s Managing Director, on June 9, Arias announced his personal decision to step down, replacing Víctor Aguado as Spain’s Permanent Representative in the Council of ICAO. Enrique Maurer, Enaire’s former Director of Air Navigation Services, took over as Managing Director. From now on, he will be in charge of leading the company and building on previous achievements.

Following the imminent publication of the IIICCP in the Spanish Official State Gazette (BOE) and its subsequent entry into force, the 2010 conflict will come to a close and Spanish ATCOs will enter a new phase. From now on, USCA will deal with new challenges: facing new technology advances in the sector, developing and implementing the new agreement in a peaceful environment of normalised relations, and curbing Aena’s intentions to privatise more control towers. We must approach these new challenges with the same spirit of unity and hard work that characterised our trade union throughout 32 years of history.