Mr Jones,
a cynic may indeed think that (and there is no one more cynical when it comes to Mr Bs motives than me), however, NERL staff, myself included, would be stupid to vote for a change for the sake of £750 one off payment.... just because we are typically on a higher wage, it does not follow that we would be better off than band 1 or 2 workers when it comes to the new redundancy package.. far from it, we would lose a lot more.
The problem lies in the veracity of the statement that if we vote against a change, the company can go ahead and do it unilaterally after giving us 6 months notice anyway.... if this is true (any company law experts out there who know the NATS handbook willing to comment?), then we may as well take the money as it is a fait a complis (sp).
If it is not true, then it would be silly for us to take the money and run. In the case of this vote, we need to know what the company can and cannot legally do.
At least this vote and 'bung' will be slightly different compared to the HTD vote in so much that it affects everyone - the HTD vote was a joke, giving people who did not qualify for HTD £250 if the scheme was cancelled..... hmmmm £250 to vote to bin something you are not entitled to... it's no wonder management pushed it through!!