Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04SANTODOMINGO2026
2004-03-31 19:53:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Santo Domingo
Cable title:  

DOMINICAN GOVERNMENT LOCKS OUT AIR TRAFFIC

Tags:  EAIR ELAB DR MARR 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SANTO DOMINGO 002026 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR WHA/CAR, EB/TRA; DEPT PASS DEPT OF TRANSPORTATION
AND FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/31/2008
TAGS: EAIR ELAB DR MARR
SUBJECT: DOMINICAN GOVERNMENT LOCKS OUT AIR TRAFFIC
CONTROLLERS, MILITARIZES SERVICES

REF: SANTO DOMINGO 1873 (NOTAL)

Classified By: DCM Lisa Kubiske. Reason: 1.5 (b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SANTO DOMINGO 002026

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR WHA/CAR, EB/TRA; DEPT PASS DEPT OF TRANSPORTATION
AND FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/31/2008
TAGS: EAIR ELAB DR MARR
SUBJECT: DOMINICAN GOVERNMENT LOCKS OUT AIR TRAFFIC
CONTROLLERS, MILITARIZES SERVICES

REF: SANTO DOMINGO 1873 (NOTAL)

Classified By: DCM Lisa Kubiske. Reason: 1.5 (b) and (d).


1. (U) At 0600 this morning March 31 Civil Aviation
officials replaced civilian air traffic controllers at the
national center (SDQ) with military air traffic controllers.
The military controllers are instituting precautionary
intervals for incoming, departing, and overhead traffic; some
flights are currently delayed up to 2 hours in departing from
Santo Domingo.


2. (U) Civilian air traffic controllers have been
negotiating for pay rises, with their request being for a 100
percent increase. Bolivar Deleon, president of their
association, told Ecopol counselor that their last salary
increase was in 1997. Newspapers had carried comment that
the civilian controllers had been warning of demonstration
measures, probably ten-minute delays for all flights, to be
initiated this weekend, in advance of Easter week.


3. (SBU) American Airlines country manager Eduardo Delpozo
confirmed at noon that traffic was moving normally, although
with delays. No flights have been cancelled All airports
outside Santo Domingo are regularly staffed by military
controllers, so their situation is unchanged. Delpozo notes
that there are fewer military controllers than civilians, but
he has heard that the government may be getting supplementary
military staff from Mexico or Panama.


4. (C) The Ambassador raised the subject during a call on
President Mejia at 1 p.m., and Mejia confirmed the action.
"We have just trained twenty-one new air controllers, with
U.S. help." He was dismissive of the civilian controllers'
demands. "They make more than I do, and they're asking for
double their salaries."


5. (SBU) Deleon told Ecopol counselor that the locked-out
controllers are seeking an intermediary with the government.
He hopes to convince businessman Frank Ranieri to take their
side. Deleon stressed that the six-person team at the SDQ
center is handling work usually done by a staff of twenty,
and he said that none of the center's technical staff was on
shift to deal with maintenance or systems problems.


6. (SBU) Comment. It appears that the government can manage
the air traffic control system and that this dispute can be
resolved, although probably with little or no extra pay for
the controllers. Theirs is a much more limited labor dispute
than the persistent action undertaken by government-employed
physicians, where Mejia recently secured a truce with his
promise to talk after Easter. Given the financial and fiscal
crisis -- and the IMF program -- the government has
essentially no resources to meet salary demands for either
group. Mejia was not particularly interested in talking about
the dispute with the air traffic controllers, except to make
a reference to President Reagan's decision to replace
striking U.S. controllers in the 1980's. And assuming that
the government does have sufficient military staff to operate
the SDQ center, a show of decisiveness would probably do him
no harm in the current presidential campaign.
HERTELL