Originally Posted by
Rigga
Well, maybe it's all coming to a head at last - What is good for the Goose is good for the Gander - and the Groundcrew walking out is just as damning as when all the Aircrew walked out, due to pay and conditions!.
It was said, before I left the RAF, that you can't expect to get engineers in, or to stay in, if you pay them the same as cooks, rocks and coppers. This, and the reduction in manpower and increase in workload is starting to take its Toll.
This is one of the biggest problems when it comes to asking people why they are leaving. You cannot expect anyone to be on more or less constant stby every single weekend and this is the situation we are at on NLS.
Out of the last 10 wekends 7 have been working even though we are not scaled for the manpower to do this. The main fact is guys are walking into jobs off/on shore with wages that start ,in the main, at £40k for engineers. The RAF will never give its engineers the pay needed to keep the best of these guys but as there will always be somone to fill the gaps we will bimble on as usual.
The pay 2000 issue is a big stumbling block and many people are leaving simply beacuase cops and rocks etc are getting the same pay. A review and pay rise are well overdue to at least try and stem the massive flow of good techies to civvy sreet!