Isn't this good news for operational staff ?
We cannot and will not stand for a pay freeze (particularly if traffic levels don't fall significantly) but surely action taken to strengthen the company and focus on our core business is good news.
Isn't the NATS workforce only around 30% operational ?
Walking around Latcc one certainly gets that impression. All these middle managers with good salary packages and their own parking spaces. These are the positions which devalue the ATCO/ATSA role within the company. Things will only get better for operational staff when the core (and profitable) side of the business becomes the focus of NATS.
Morale is bad. It's been getting progressiveley worse for the last five years. But isn't that the fault of the 'old' NATS and the dithering over privitisation ?
Now we are free of the mismanagement of the government. We fought damned hard to get Serco overlooked and we succeeded in getting TAG chosen as our partners.
Now the company is changing. That programme of change has been accelerated by the downturn in aviation but isn't this the first step toward a better NATS ?
As an operational ATCO I've always been very cynical of our management but I have to see this as a step in the right direction.