Alfie 1999
I think you'll find that both the union and management have taken extensive legal advice.
There is nothing in the Transport Act which protects the pension scheme from being wound up or gives you any rights to be in it. The Secretary of State made an order which complied with 96(5) when the scheme was seperated into CAA and NATS sections. Were the Secretary of State to make any further orders he/she would have to act in accordance with 96(5) which is the no decrement clause but that clause only has any effect if an order is needed. The main protection of 96(5) is to stop anybody changing the Trust Deed or the rules of the scheme but there is no intention to do that and there wouldn't need to be any change if NATS went bust. Winding up the scheme if the employer won't fund it is already in the Trust Deed.
There is nothing in the Transport Act to force NATS, the Government or any successor company to fund the scheme. It is the Trust of Promise which forces NATS to fund the scheme and keep it available to those who were in it in July 2001 but that contains clauses which limit its effect if NATS is bust. Anybody that tells you your pension is not assured if NATS goes bust is not scaremongering they are telling you the truth. Of course the scheme may not be wound up and somebody might chose to fund it but that would be fortune and isn't assured by any means. I certainly wouldn't rely on this Government to do it.
Air Traffic administration is not re-nationalisation. The administrator would be appointed by the court and would have to act to meet the two aims contained in the Transport Act. The Act is careful to make it clear that the company would continue to trade as a company and indeed would be held liable for any money received from the Government to allow it to keep trading. It is possible that the Government would act before an administration order was needed or indeed that the company would be transferred to the Government by the Administrator but no amount of legal advice will be able to predict what will actually happen if it gets to that stage. Last time the Government decided to avoid administration, but last time it was easily fixed with a relatively small amount of capital.
If it does get to that stage the future for a lot of people in NATS will be very uncertain. There seem to be some on here who relish the idea of bringing the company to its knees. I thought those sort of ideas went out with the miners, the steelworkers, the printers and anybody else who destroyed their own industry. Personally I think that anybody trying to bring the company down is gambling with my job and many others as well but it is quite clear that some posting here and on NATSNET believe quite strongly that we should sacrifice our jobs for their pension rights anyway so I don't expect my views to count for much.