The Pros And Cons Of Air Traffic Controllers

On any given day, there are over 5,000 airplanes flying in the air (“Air Traffic,”N.D.) above the United States. When these planes are aloft, most of them are located in airspace that requires the supervision and guidance of an air traffic controller. The others are in airspace that does not require them to speak to or adhere to instructions given to them by an air traffic controller. Despite the airspace type, there is one universal constant throughout every plane in the sky; if an air traffic controller can see them, they are monitoring their every move. That means the air traffic controller is not only instructing plane A what to do, he or she is monitoring plane B, C, D, E, F, and G to make sure they are not going to cause harm to plane A or themselves. On top of that, take that one air traffic controller and put he or she in a dark room with 10 other controllers and do this for hours on

For air traffic controllers, their median pay as of 2015 was $122,950 (BLS, 2015.) thanks to the tireless efforts of union leaders lobbying the federal government for increased pay. “Union employees make an average of 30% more than non-union workers” (Union Plus, 2017). When it comes to benefits besides pay, like medical benefits, union workers in general will have more coverage than non-union members. When it comes to job security, a union controller will have mandates in place to help protect against an employer firing workers at will. Unions fought for companies to be required to provide just cause before firing an employee or offering the possibility to go through a grievance procedure upon departure from the company. Unions helped establish the notion that there is strength in numbers. When controllers come together in a union they have more power as a cohesive bargaining group rather than acting individually. Collective bargaining was a term at the onset of