Eglnyt said:
There is no big pot of money secreted away.
Maybe no big pot of money secreted away however:
- £10's of millions of shareholder loans paid off 24 years EARLY, (£80 million?)
- £15 million in early redemption penalties of said loans,
- The rest of the shareholder loans refinanced at a lower interest rate, therefore saving millions in interest every year from now on (£5.5 million this year)
- £23 million spent on one off costs closing and relocating staff from WD to Swanwick,
- £millions given as 'bungs' to staff to buy out redundancy T+C's.
- £millions to be paid out in dividends to shareholders (if TAG bought into NATS at 'not for commercial gain' then why are they taking dividends??
Does this sound like a company that cannot find (up to a maximum of) £60 million to fund it's staff pension?
Is it fair or even moral that a company takes payment holidays and pays less than the underlying rate then turns round and asks it's staff to agree to losing £hundreds per month in their retirement?
- Management like to tell us how well the company is doing - A* credit rating, new contracts etc.
- How much have they spent on management trips away that can be done in-house or using video conferencing?
- How much is spent on awards ceremonies to reward staff for doing their job? I safely move aircraft around the sky and receive money in the bank each month - that is a good enough reward for doing a job properly.
NATS needs to get it's own housekeeping in order and curb excessive spending before considering any pension changes.
A happy workforce is a productive one. NATS cannot survive without a happy, loyal workforce.
A FINAL SALARY PENSION* = loyal workforce
* Pension based on actual "Final salary" not some notional salary cr@p