another thing et all,
I agree with you and like you I am no accountant / business guru.
However, we are allowed by the Regulator to pass on all pensions costs for all NERL employees who were employed by the Company before 1 Jan 06. I suspect that this would be a large majority of the total number of NATS employees (although I don't have the figures). This is called 'cost pass through' and is permitted by the Regulator during CP2 which runs until 2011. After 2011 this will then need to be re-negotiated.
Therefore, the extra £60million per annum that the Company must find could easily be substantially reduced by £10s of millions.
I have no problem with helping the Company reduce pension costs, but the manner of the briefings and Q & A sessions with management reps that barely understood the issues and could only answer every other question really doesn't help to sell a contentious idea to a sceptical audience.
Several things struck me when I found out about cost pass through during the briefings:
1. Why were we not given any other options except the Companies preferred one?
2. Not using cost pass through for the increase in NERL pension costs is simply trying to second guess what the Regulator will be looking for during the CP3 negotiations and is a weak argument for changing one of our major T & Cs.
3. Why not use some of our large profits to assist the existing pension scheme instead of paying off loans 20 years early?
4. The reality is that whatever the Union vote, this pension change is coming in January 09, strike threats or no strike threats.
5. The only plus side is that it is still a very good pension scheme, just not the one that we all signed up for!
6. In 5 years time the management may well be back again saying that the revised scheme is now unaffordable and they need to change it again.
7. NSL is soooo going to be sold off!!
PS:- I am not a fan of airing the Company's private business on an open forum, but I couldn't get a straight answer to the cost pass through question at the briefings and cannot get one on the pensions intranet site either.
Regards, ADIS