P.M. Briefing : Soviet Air Controllers in Job Actions

MOSCOW — More than 200 air traffic controllers based in Moscow have quit their jobs and another 350 are refusing to accept salaries to protest low wages, outmoded equipment and poor working conditions.

The Literaturnaya Gazeta said today that international flight operations have not yet been affected by the labor action, which started with just a few controllers about two months ago. There are five major airports in the Moscow region, the country’s busiest air corridor.

Labor unrest often goes unreported in the Soviet Union with officials denying that labor-management battles exist in the Communist system. But the controllers’ protest is the latest in a series of industrial actions around the country reported by the Soviet media.