US embassy cable - 04SANTODOMINGO2026

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