Air traffic controllers may be replaced by military men

The Cabinet of Ministers pointed out that hunger strikes and strikes of air traffic controllers are not directly the government's affair, as they (air traffic controllers) are not federal employees, a source in the Russian government told RBC. The source mentioned that the average salary of air traffic controllers was 70 percent higher than the average in industry.

According to the source, it will be hard for strikers to obtain the fulfillment of their demands, as the methods of protest they have chosen are an "inadequate form of settling labor disputes". He also mentioned that attempts of harbor pilots to go on strike did not violate sea traffic. In the whole world there is a practice of replacing air traffic controllers with military men, the source added.