Union urges swift action over air navigation staff shortages

The National Union of Public Workers has warned that failure to honour commitments made to air traffic controllers could trigger further disruption, after a shortage of staff forced a partial closure of the island’s airspace last weekend.

 

NUPW Deputy General Secretary Wayne Walrond issued the caution on Wednesday after a meeting lasting more than two hours involving the union, tourism officials and public service administrators, stressing that workers expect concrete progress on long-standing issues affecting the department.  

 

The meeting followed a disruption on Saturday that forced a partial closure of Barbados’ airspace for about seven-and-a-half hours. The shortage affected several inbound and outbound flights, leaving scores of visitors stranded.  

 

“It cannot be business as usual,” Walrond said. “We won’t want things to escalate. If you want to avoid things escalating, then let us commit to deadlines and having results. The Air traffic department should be given priority at this time, SOS. Don’t let us react to things, let us be proactive right now and give special attention and mobilise resources. I know there has been a commitment and a promise, but air traffic needs special attention.”

 

The discussions were cordial and productive, Walrond said, but he cautioned that workers would be watching closely to ensure that deadlines and commitments are honoured.  

 

“We will not keep deferring deadlines and excuses.”  

 

At the centre of the dispute lies what the union describes as years of neglect of the Air Navigation Services Department, whose air traffic controllers  guide aircraft safely through Barbados’ airspace.  

 

Despite the department’s importance to the island’s tourism-driven economy, the controllers remain among the lowest paid in the region, Walrond argued. 

 

“The air traffic controllers in Barbados are the lowest paid in the region. There are some parts where air traffic controllers work for $12 000 a month and obviously, the air traffic controllers here don’t work for near that kind of money.”  

 

The department includes not only air traffic controllers but also aeronautical information service officers responsible for providing data that supports flight operations.  

 

According to the union, the challenges facing the department developed gradually over more than a decade as retirements and resignations reduced staffing levels without adequate long-term planning to replace workers.  

 

“Over the years, the attention that it deserved to strategically ensure that the training was delivered, the adequate attention was not given.”  

 

The reduced staffing complement has forced many controllers to work extended or double shifts in order to keep operations running, and this, Walrond said, has been causing fatigue.  

 

Walrond also stressed that the aviation workforce remains an essential but often overlooked pillar of Barbados’ tourism industry.  

 

“Planes cannot take off or land before the air traffic controllers. When several planes are in the sky, lifting and landing Barbados, all of those flights are in the hands of air traffic controllers.”  

 

“So when people talk about increased airlift and boasting about tourism arrivals, they don’t remember air traffic.”

 

Barbados recorded unprecedented tourism growth last year. According to the Central Bank, long-stay visitor arrivals reached a record 729 310, an increase of 22 970 over the previous record of 704 340 set in 2024. Hotel occupancy also rose by 1.3 percentage points to 65.3 per cent.  

 

Walrond argued that aviation workers remain central to sustaining that performance.  

 

To help ease the burden on existing staff, authorities recently introduced a small allowance for officers carrying additional workload.  

 

“They are getting a little allowance on top of the salary, an allowance for taking on the additional workload and burden,” Walrond said.  

 

But the union leader acknowledged that the payment fell far short of the amount initially proposed.  

 

“The allowance is not near what the proposal initially put on the table was,” he said, noting that negotiations on compensation would continue.  

 

The meeting also focused on speeding up administrative processes affecting the department, including the creation of additional posts and improvements to training programmes.  

 

The government on Tuesday signalled it had already begun steps to strengthen the air traffic control system. Minister of Tourism and International Transport Ian Gooding-Edghill told Parliament of an urgent recruitment campaign, noting that Barbados currently has just over 43 air traffic controllers, including supervisors, and faces staffing pressures.  

 

Training typically takes about 18 months following a rigorous selection process involving aptitude tests, interviews, psychometric assessments and medical evaluations.  

 

Chief Air Traffic Control Officer Glyne Blanchette said 15 trainees will begin training on April 7, with another 15 in December, while 25 others are expected to receive overseas training to help rebuild staffing levels.  

 

But Walrond said Barbados’ air navigation training system weakened over the years as courses were deferred and the training school stopped functioning consistently. This limited the ability to replace retiring staff. He said efforts must now be made to restore the programme so the country can rebuild staffing levels and re-establish itself as a regional aviation training hub.  

 

He added that the unions will continue to monitor whether commitments made during discussions translate into tangible progress.  

 

“If deadlines are given, we expect them to be honoured,” he said.