Contrite controllers pledge no airport disruption over Christmas

After a wildcat strike on Friday that collapsed air travel and led the government to declare a state of alert, Spain's publicly vilified air traffic controllers on Tuesday adopted a more conciliatory attitude.

In remarks to Catalunya Ràdio, the spokesman for the controllers USCA union, César Cabo, promised there would be no repetition over the Christmas period of the disruption that ruined the vacation plans of hundreds of thousands of would-be travelers over the extended Constitution Day weekend. "We will work over Christmas," Cabo said. "There is complete willingness to see that this does not happen again," he added. "What's important is the restoration of common sense and normality."

"What's important is the restoration of common sense and normality"

Cabo extended his apologies to all of those affected by the stoppage, which he described as "disproportionate" and which wrought "devastating" effects.

The main source of the dispute was the number of hours controllers are obliged to work annually, an issue that still seems up in the air and subject to legal interpretation. The airport operator AENA said Tuesday, controllers are contracted to work 1,840 hours a year, whereas a government decree issued last Friday spoke of 1,670 hours. The latter figure, however, applies to the amount of time spent actually controlling traffic and does not include sick leave or absence due to attending labor union duties. A number of controllers on Friday claimed they had completed their workload for the year.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Cándido Conde-Pumpido has called a meeting of prosecutors for Thursday to decide what offenses controllers who stayed off work should be accused of.