Bit harsh on the OP
Everything is relative and it's amazing how fellow ATCOs suddenly get afflicted with short term memory loss when its ATCOs from different units who suddenly start 'whingeing'.
Not too long ago on these forums it was NATS ppl grumbling and moaning about pay. Suddenly they get 2 successive 5% pay rises and, lo and behold, they're happy. And then start getting twitchy with others.
As I said it's all relative and when there are deteriorations in a working environment, people are going to start talking about it. You could be earning £500,000 in the cushiest job with the best T&Cs going, but if managers then started fiddling with that, would you stay quiet? Of course not.
I believe ATCOs in Dubai have a legitimate claim for a fair pay rise given the fact that we regularly get emails saying how passenger numbers and movements increase significantly month on month, not just year on year. Surely if you're working almost 20%, if not more, traffic since the last proper payrise, you could be forgiven for expecting some kind of reward?
Personally, I'm very happy in Dubai but a fair payrise would go a long way here considering recent events, in particular recent treatment towards longstanding staff, plus the already mentioned traffic increases in the last 12-24 months. I genuinely can't complain about Serco as a company and I've been genuinely surprised at how different the reality is once you actually work for Serco, compared to the ludicrous propaganda peddled by NATS starting from day 1 at (what was) CATC.
Serco are far from perfect and things could deteriorate rapidly if recent managerial attitudes continue unchecked but to start having a pop at the OP for voicing genuine concerns seems somewhat unfair and, frankly, childish.
As ATCOs, should we not all be trying to stick together, regardless of where we work rather than sticking the boot in? We've seen what has happened with aviation in the West since the birth of the lo-co airlines and the way that eventually brings down Ts & Cs across the board, what makes you think ATC would be immune to that over time?
Last edited by mhk77; 22nd Mar 2012 at 09:47.