Before I start I would like to add a disclaimer to state that not all of these views are my own..... at least I don't have copyright on them! BUT. Having read so much about pay rises and the dreaded T&D scale I finally feel compelled to write something, coherent or not.
I think it was sometime in '97 or something (no doubt someone will correct me when I'm wrong ) that we had quite a big pay ballot that affected everyones pay within NATS.
In that ballot was the start of the, now infamous, T&D scale. The basic idea was that every controller, valid or not, would be better off by around £14,000 over a ten year period, (hence the various bonus payments) and thereafter would never be worse off than they would have been before.
(Sorry i need to exclude anyone who did not validate within 2 years of arrival at their unit whether it was their fault or not)
So how come now do the "I just left the college" group think they are hard done by?
Forgive me if I'm wrong but I don't remeber getting paid allowances at CATC to cover my digs. Mind you I also seem to remember that the pay wasn't that great either in Bournemouth, about half what a first year teacher got paid at the time.
Yes I know that a Valid T&D ATCO gets nowhere near the same money as the 20 year guy sat next to them but I guess the added experience is worth something afterall. My heart bleeds for you all and unsurprisingly I wonder what attracted you to this job in the first place. Free uniform? No!.... Genuinne interest in avaiation? Some!.... Cash? KER-CHING!!! The advert I saw for this job never even mentioned salary but from what I'm led to believe it's now in big letters.
What happens next?
The OJTIs get blamed for a lowering pass rate at the units. Oh sorry, we already did that.
Smell the roses everyone, if it's that bad why don't you all resign? And I don't mean 'pretend to', but if you don't have the guts then just shut up, stop moaning and do the best job you can. You never know, in the end you might just thank the 'valid ATCOs' who got you the pay rises that you've already had.
With that I shall now withdraw and watch the fireworks.
This statement was made without reference to R/T tapes!?!
[This message has been edited by Hounslow Harriet (edited 16 November 2000).]