Piotr Müller made the statement to the media in parliament, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
He said that the air-traffic controllers’ trade union (ZZKRL) and Poland’s air-traffic regulator PANSA had reached agreement on workplace safety rules.
“The government has accepted all 24 demands the controllers had made with regard to workplace safety,” Müller announced.
“Now we are negotiating finances,” he added.
Müller told reporters that “the air-traffic controllers in Warsaw currently earn around PLN 33,000 (EUR 7,000) a month on average... and are demanding that their average monthly salary rise to over PLN 80,000 (EUR 17,000).”
"The expectations of the trade union are very, very high," he said.
“Let’s keep in mind that salaries are funded from the fees for aviation operations, and the number of aviation operations is now considerably smaller than, say, in 2019,” he added.
What's next?
Warsaw’s air-traffic controllers have threatened to quit their jobs if their salary demands are not met, news agencies reported.
Poland’s Civil Aviation Authority (ULC) said earlier this week that if a deal was not reached, it would have to impose limitations on air travel through Warsaw’s Chopin Airport and Warsaw Modlin Airport after May 1.
In particular, the daily number of aviation operations at the two airports would be reduced from 500 to 180, while opening hours would be cut to between 9:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. local time, according to officials.
A new round of talks between PANSA and the controllers’ trade union was scheduled for later on Wednesday, the PAP news agency reported.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, ulc.gov.pl