Fmdl Tg9

[Flopsie]

By Apr 06 the trade FMDL at SAC level is down to 76% and cpls will be 91%. How will this affect you?

 

[Flopsie]

Ops, ATC, sqn oppsies, the assistants are all the same. Short in one short in all.

 

[Flopsie]

Maybe the answer is to employ more civies in their place...................

 

[Part Time PFOM]

Employ more civies...............not on the wages they are paid.

 

[J Y Kelly]

Maybe the answer is to employ more civies in their place...................

I feel that there is potential to employ more civilian assistants within the Air Traffic Control environment. If the right people are selected, in my experience they are more than capable of performing everything that is required of them. The crux of the problem is recruiting the right people. I have seen the problems caused when an unsuitable person is recruited and the subsequent mismanagement of the situation. Saying that, I don't see any more problems with civvies than service people. The big point in their favour is that they are very cheap to employ. At a guess they are on about 2/3rds of the pay of an SAC. I suppose it's ok if someone has a military pension to bolster the wage or it's a second income into the household but as a single source of income I would think that many would struggle.

There are lots of downsides. A civvie only has to give 28 days notice to resign, and some have just walked out never to return. To recruit a civvie will take between 4 and 6 months, getting them on a FOTF course is another problem. They are only contracted to work 37 1/2 hours per week, working that into a shift pattern can be a problem. Obtaining authorisation for overtime, in my experience is very difficult. They are employed to carry out set duties, how this is interpreted buy each unit, I'm sure varies but I'm sure that some of the "gash jobs" that the military assistants get told to do would not be done by civvies. As they are employed to work in Air Traffic Control there is not flexibility to lend them to another section to help them out with a manning problem.

The other big problem is the culture of the system that civvies go into. Some civvies have no experience of the military and do not understand the obsession with rank and status. Other ex military assistants relish the opportunity to ignore rank. There are people in the FOM and Controlling side of things that do little to hide there dislike of civilian assistants. I can think of a couple of examples. A FOM who actively campaigned to get civilian posts disestablished through a series of backhanded manouvers. I don't know what his motivation was but I felt that because he didn't have that same opportunity to manipulate the civvies as he did the service people. He wasn't as clever as he thought he was and eventually kicked out of the Tower in tears, but that's another story. The other example was a Branch Officer Flt Lt who couldn't accept that the RAF wasn't the same organisation it was in 1974. His constant complaining did nothing for building teamwork. I haven't talked to him since he decided that life would be easier as an AVO. Double standards strike again.

I'm sure that there are a whole range of other problems associated with employing civvies but if it helps with maintaining the continuity of experience and easies demands on the service people, why not?

 

[Flopsie]

FOMz ol mucker the figures I quoted are straight from the desk at PMA.

J Y Kelly, all very true, however have a word with your civ adm you may find that your civvies are 'mobile' and can be shifted around, mine are.

In addition they do give you stability and are great for the training team. However the cost is flexibility, 28 days notice is the official line for a shift change (although you can do short notice on occasions). A blu suiter, no probs.

Another advantage is that PMA don't care how many you've got, they don't count in the FMDL figures!! However, and there always is one, your establishment reflects them.....so what's my point??? I'll stop now

 

[J Y Kelly]

It just goes to show that different stations have differing policies. The contracts at my place state that their workplace is Air Traffic Control and broadly specifies their duties so that they can't be lent out to Flt Planning or Ops. As for shift changes they are very flexible and will often change or swap shifts at very little notice. Building up a good relationship with the people you work with is essential. I have seen the results of what happens when trust breaks down and it's not pretty. I was told that the E2 grade by the Civil Service definition cannot be put in a supervisory position, and that training someone is supervision. However two of the four E2s that I work with are on the training team and do a very good job.

 

[Flopsie]

Well lets see if they dare print the real figures in the next PMA report.

 

[Hmmmm]

Latest DASA 'pocket guide' has a TG9 defecit of 10%.

Personnel Bulletin has:

DEC 05 JAN 06 FEB 06 MAR 06
ATC 84% 84% 88% 88% -24
FOA (CPL) 100% 100% 100% 93% -21
FOA (AC) 82% 81% 82% 77% -105

Too many cpls if you ask me. Interestingly, no figures on sgt and above FOMs; manned to establishment? Certainly are at my unit............