Just thought I would post my 2p's worth. From reading this thread and countless others before it, the most obvious thing that sticks out is the sheer rigidity (spelling?
) and narrow mindedness of NATS management. Did they seriously think that if they told 120+ staff that themselves and all their families would have to uproot and move to Prestwick, the staff would all just go like lemmings without a murmur of dissatisfaction?
By the same token however, all this bleating on about being moved to another country is stretching it a bit far in my humble opinion. The last time I checked we were part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain (England, Scotland & Wales) and Northern Ireland. ie we're all part of the same place. Certainly my passport is a British one not an English one. Likewise my wife's is a British passport not a Scottish one. Yes a couple of things are done a bit differently north of the border. The law is a bit different for all the english solicitors out there. But is a conversion course not out of the question? GCSEs and A-Levels have a different name and to be honest judging by the way the English school system is going, I think I will prefer my kids to do Standard Grades and Highers anyway. They also have (heaven forbid!!) different pictures on their banknotes!! What would have happened if everyone who is currently at Manchester had been posted to Prestwick to begin with instead? Would they have stamped their feet and refused to have gone then? Unfortunately the nature of the job means that theoretically you can be moved around wherever and whenever the company sees fit (mobile grade and all that) whether you guys like it or not......hate to play at devils advocate but we all signed the piece of paper when we signed up. I wonder how many of you refused to sign that before you joined NATS? I'd take a guess at none......
Having said all that, to all the Swanwick people with little or no sympathy with your Manchester COLLEAGUES, you guys have had it extremely easy by comparison. Don't try and kid anyone that if the shoe was on the other foot you lot would happily go 250 miles north. We all know you wouldn't. And yes we all know you had to move from west drayton to swanwick, a distance of what? 80miles give or take? I bet a healthy proportion (by healthy I would say 25-30%) of you didn't have to move house, have spouses and partners move jobs, move kids from school etc etc. Certainly not the 100% of staff who are affected by Manchester's move to Prestwick..........
Basically to sum up, NATS management are playing within the rules. However, they are doing NOTHING for employer/employee relations at all. And although Manchester are certainly being isolated by the rest of their ATCO brethren around NATSworld, if I was an ATCO at Cardiff or Farnborough or Prestwick or wherever, I would be very concerned about the way management have narrow mindedly set about shutting down Manchester. Id be wondering 'if they can do this to the 3rd biggest unit without giving any concern or consideration to the staff involved, what could they do to my little unit if they wanted to........?'