On pensions - I would expect to see the tone of messages coming from the TU to alter soon.... in order to show a clear distance between the negotiating sides. Gridlock.
On pay - We may well end up getting something around the expected RPI + 0.5 - 1% but I very much doubt it will all come as part of a 'core' pay offer. Rather, I'd expect to see a core offer under RPI with a multitude of agreements on efficiencies and trimming of costs paying for the rest. The message coming from NATS is 'whatever payrise you get has to be paid for with savings for us'. But thats been the case in recent years.
On a general note - reading these NATS discussions I think it's often forgotten that there are people who work for NATS, doing 40-50 hours a week and supporting a family on £20-£25k. They are also most often the ones who are made to work harder and longer to cover for job cuts made to fund increases. No, they don't wear a headset - but their gas went up by the same 35%, their petrol costs just as much - they just don't have the Ferrari to put it in
