Corpac air traffic controllers who went on strike charge up to S/60 per month

A few days ago, five airports in Peru, including Jorge Chavez, stopped operating for several hours due to a strike by the Unified Union of Air Traffic Controllers of Peru (SUCTA). However, a report from the Punto Final program revealed that several air traffic controllers receive up to 60,000 soles per month. That is, they earn more than the President of the Republic, the congressmen and even more, than the president of the Central Reserve Bank of Peru (S/41,600).

According to Sunday, the technicians who direct air traffic from land have base salaries of between 4,000 and 7,000 soles; however, for overtime and other concepts they earn between 10,000 and 50,000 soles.

In January of this year alone, air traffic controller Carlos Oliva Valenzuela won S/52,000; Marco Antonio Vargas Sagástegui scored S/49,000; and Luis Javier Montero Aguilar earned S/49,000. In February, Vicente Mendoza Cochas received S/58,000.

“We do other tasks outside air traffic control, such as training work, which takes place over several months and Corpac does not pay for it. Let it take up to 8 months to pay for instructional work in a single month and that causes the forms to overflow because not everyone wins that way,” explained Victor Zavaleta, general secretary of SUCTA.

Despite these high salaries, in its statement of claims, SUCTA calls for salary increases and payment concepts for days worked such as the 31st of each month since 2016.

MORE DRIVERS ARE MISSING

One of the solutions to this problem would be to hire more air traffic controllers to avoid overtime at work; however, there is a shortage of this type of technicians who are trained at the Civilian Aeronautical Training Centers (CIAC), which has union members themselves as trainers.

According to the report, there have been no more promotions from air traffic controllers for three years. In February of this year, CIAC students asked the then transport minister, Juan Silva, to conduct an audit because, among other things, 30% of students had been disapproved due to interruptions resulting from the pandemic.

“We have no interest in no more controllers, on the contrary,” says the general secretary of the union.

Meanwhile, Jorge Perlacios, president of Corpac's board of directors, told Punto Final that in the last class there were about 33 students and almost 20 of them were disapproved.

“The issue of air traffic requires re-engineering. We need more air traffic controllers. (...) The instructors are unionized,” said Jorge Perlacios.

REPORTING

On the other hand, on Sunday he showed an audio in which the secretary general of the air traffic controllers union, Víctor Zavaleta, on Wednesday night the thirteenth, a few hours before the strike , proposed that there should not be a single picket or controller working in the country because he could not meet with any Corpac official.

“If this is going to be the deal, what we have to decide now is whether we are going to radicalize these measures and go on an indefinite strike and this time we do not leave picket, we leave nothing,” he says in audio.

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