I have read this thread with much interest, and i have to agree with what has been said a few times, if the pension and pay is to be maintained we have to stick together.
As for the non ops staff being foolish for working more than the contracted hours for free as Pprune radar states, this is a bit harsh. Having worked in the real world (ie non NATS) this is the norm, and is expected. There are a lot of people within NATS who would have a huge culture shock if they had to work for a truly commercial company, having worked in engineering for 10 years before joining NATS i can vouch for this.
NATS are a good company to work for and the terms and conditions, pay and pension is excellent. NATS is however extremely top heavy with administration and with respect to NSL, will have to reduce this if it is to become a viable commercial business. For example at my unit one of the office staff generated a change request, for a document which they controlled, which is a ludicrous waste of time and effort,
also if you accrue TOIL there are at least four forms to fill in, discounting NIBS. However this is part of the growing accountability and paper chasing culture within NATS, that (in my opinion) creates an enormous amount of unnecessary paperwork and jobs for more paper pushers.
To get back on thread though, we all have to stick together regardless of what position we hold in the company, otherwise the barron will be like a dog with multiple dicks, and we may as well all bend over, as our pay and pension will be f****d
