A wildcat strike by air traffic control staff in Barbados closed some of the airspace over the Caribbean country for about 7.5 hours on Saturday. About a half a dozen inbound flights were diverted or turned back as the controllers walked off the job. An Air Canada Dreamliner from Toronto was more than halfway when it turned back, and other flights also returned to their departure airports while a couple went to Puerto Rico. A similar number were stuck on the ground in Barbados.
Meanwhile, as the controllers left their consoles, their unions went into a meeting that may have achieved the results they were looking for. The controllers have long-standing disputes over staff shortages and working conditions and they say they had had enough by Saturday. The impromptu negotiation session, which was mediated by government officials, ended with a pledge by the government to hold further talks with an eye to settling the dispute March 11.
