AVIANO – Not only will they not get what they asked for, but they also risk having to returnif the military command deems it appropriate, part of the salary Already cashed in the previous years. This is what happened to about twenty non-commissioned officers of the Italian Air Force operating at Pagliano and Gori airport in Aviano, where the F16s of the USAF base are located. These are specialists who all work in the airport control tower and have a fundamental task: to take charge of the planes, follow their tracks, help them take off or land in what is one of the most important airports, given the presence of US hunting, the Northeast and the entire Peninsula.
THE CAUSE
From January 1, 2023, until October last year, the soldiers were given a decidedly lower monthly pay than that of the previous period because the Command of the Aviano airport, in full agreement with the Command of the air force of the Air Force located in Rome, has decided to recalculate one of the service allowances, rearranging it by lowering the rates and establishing the separation of roles. In a nutshell, several hundred euros less per month on your paycheck. The military first asked the Avianese command for an account, then presented a request to the general command of the Air Force. In both cases they were “defeated” with losses.
Hence the decision to appeal to the Friuli Venezia Giulia Regional Administrative Court, where, however, they received another cold shower, with a negative ruling for the main appeal which was assessed on its merits and with two inadmissibility for the additions presented later.
THE TURNING POINT
It all starts from work in the control tower, where there are two functions, both fundamental. The first is linked to the “approach control service” of aircraft, the second, however, is the one purely connected to the control tower and aimed at take-offs and landings. Well, the two tasks have a different compensation: the first is paid 40 euros per aircraft in the approach phase, the second, however, reaches 60 euros, again per plane that takes off or lands. The two allowances were paid together: those who accompanied the planes and those who took charge of them, even if they were different people, always collected 100 euros. Furthermore, the compensation increased in relation to the number of planes monitored.
Suddenly, however, the airport command decided to divide the two functions, disbursing only 40 or 60 euros in the paycheck, depending on the role in which the soldier worked in the control tower.
THE BLOW
With this clear division, not only was the allowance no more than 100 euros per plane, but the overall number of “accompanying” aircraft was also reduced, causing another “hole” in the pay slip. A loss that had become decidedly heavy by the end of the month.
The TAR, however, entering into the merits, was decidedly severe in its sentence. First of all, the judges underlined that only at Aviano airport did the differentiation in the two roles in the control tower not exist, which is instead respected in all the other commands. Furthermore, referring to a European Union regulation, “Common rules of the air and operational provisions on air navigation procedures” ruled that there is a clear difference between the two functions, one referring exclusively to the approach control of the airplane, the other, however, to control tower modes. They cannot be unified. Therefore, according to the TAR judges, the command of the Aviano airport did well to separate the functions also economically. And it matters little – added the court – if both operations are carried out on the same site (control tower) and the operators are side by side: they do two different “jobs”, even if they alternate. So different that they are distinguished in all the military airports of Europe.
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Tags: Aviano Pay cuts airport flight controllers appeal TAR risk return part salary
