ATC IssuesA place where pilots may enter the 'lions den' that is Air Traffic Control in complete safety and find out the answers to all those obscure topics which you always wanted to know the answer to but were afraid to ask.
We will have absolutely no public sympathy at all...in fact, those on picket lines should probably start thinking about hiring some kind of protection, especially those like myself in tower units...holiday makers who have spent £x00 on their holiday find out they cant go due to atco's strike over more money (which is how it will be spun)...will not go down well...i for one will be fearful from publics reaction we will get LYNCHED.
On the other side of the coin, we dont need to care about public opinion. PruneRadar (i think it was) mentioned that the govt would probably get involved due to their shareholding...if anything, i think the govt in their current state of affairs would rather keep 100 miles away, and they will do believe me. Strikes such as miners/firemen etc involved the govt, and both sides were battling for public opinion because the govt needed it. NATS dont need it, and neither do we. We will get villified (sp) but so be it, it wont affect our standing, and it wont affect NATS standing..what will do is the airlines losing a lot of money putting pressure on NATS. That is the true battlefield...
and with fingers crossed it will be the immense pressure from the airlines on NATS that will either force them to negotiate at the 12th hour or get the strike done and dusted in 1 day to put a halt on the millions that will be lost in a day. NATS will probably loose more in a day if we strike than 10 years pension contributions. Pay back the money they took a holiday on. oh, and im waiting on my next bar stool session please mister barron...... i think my local sports hall takes bookings. that should fit most people in at my unit.
It makes me sick when we get non-NATS nosey buggers sticking in refs to Nurses. Nurses have never been well paid. The wads of cash that DC10 refers to are his wads. Is it OK to steal from the rich? Politics of envy (so rife in this country) sadden me. The issue is about fairness PrOM not greed.
I left the union a couple of years ago but will be looking to rejoin now if a fight for fairness is on.
So at what point do we do away with all this uncertainty over pensions by what surely could be a simple move....if The Airline Group wants to reduce its liability, and the pension fund is so huge we in NATS are actually a pension fund with a tiny ATC company attached to it, why not ballot all the staff and and agree to simply buy the non-public part of the PPP organisation?
No Airline Group, no pressure on the current management = problem solved? We take the risk, but we work for that risk.
I know things are never entirely simple, but surely that's a possibility? Please tell me if I'm being 'blonde'!
FDP - read what I said. The sentiment was not mine, i was portraying how I thought the media would represent DC10s views.
I accept it is not my position to suggest either way what you guys do which is why I did not state any opinion on that score and I was open and honest that I am not NATS.
three years down the line the fund was looking just as bad as it is now.
Do we know for definite that it really looks so bad right now? I don't think so.
Mr.Barron doesn't want the company to continue paying into pension scheme even at the reduced level the company does now.
He is unwilling to support the continuance of what is an excellent scheme, not becasue it's impossible for the comapany to do so, but because it has an impact on PROFIT and the future saleability of the company.
When directly questioned "why the company had quietly become a profit making company, rather than a not for profit service", Mr. Barron replied "
Quote:
that's not what I signed up for
" . That is a direct quote.
If the company were to operate on a "not for profit" basis, and the government weren't looking to offload the remainder of the company for the biggest amount, then the company finances would look considerably different.
How much of an increase in personal contributions would people be willing to tolerate? I was once told by a financial advisor that if asked to increase to 12% to say yes. Purely on the quality of the scheme. Should we increase contributions to help maintain the viability of the scheme, which so many rightly say is ours, or does it all have to come from the employer?
Mr Jones,
Some areas may have run dry but all I said was I didn't experience disruption to my daily routine. Unlike when the refineries were blockaded a few years ago.
The following article is an indication of how the press can construct an article to begin a backlash.
As someone else has eluded, all the poor workers who have saved for holidays etc, who can't go anywhere because we are striking. Not saying it is right but that is the sort of thing prospect will have to work hard at to put across the right message. PR being the all important weapon. Don't for a second believe that management won't be employing the same tactics against the workers.
As you know, I am only interested in the NATS pension case from afar - just an interested observer in the possible demise of one of the last remaining excellent schemes for 'ordinary exployees' in the private sector (well sort of).
I hope you don't mind too much me offering my two-pennorth from time to time as this is the non-private ATCO forum ...
In the interests of encouraging free debate of both sides of the argument for maintaining the scheme and promise unchanged, I have bitten my lip for some days and not typed.
But you surely can't let Beadie get away with the suggestion that the Trustees are all impartial. Two of them at least are executive board directors of some ilk! One is the Finance Director is he not?!
Now you might think they are just two votes on a whole board of trustees, but have any of you ever occupied a place on a board with voting colleagues as powerful as that? Do you think less powerful voices are easily heard and decisions reflect balanced debate corresponding to voting rights? If so, get real
Gonzo you assume every NATS employee is a controller.
I am not saying we don't need some PR. We very definitely have to get our side across - Fighting to stop out pension scheme being close - but I think there has been enough outrage at pension schemes being crippled for us to do OK as far as the Press goes.
Yes the salary and AAVA are that of the dreaded band 5, but again the media WILL focus on the largest numbers. It is the way it works and there is no way that the media will turn around at look at the band 1 guys as, unfortunately, the numbers don't look as impressive. It doesn't matter to them what you are paid. All the ATCO's will be put in the same light. You never know a salary band might be mentioned. But then again doesn't NATS advertise ATCO salary over £85,000. The biggest salary is the one the media will focus on.
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