It's all about having confidence in the reps. I think members often forget these are mostly people holding down a day job too. They get no reward for standing up and taking the responsibility on. They take all the abuse for free... The full-time paid union guys... that's different. Throw what you like at them, cause that's their job
I do think the pay deal will be a tough one. I, personally, am not willing to accept a real-terms pay cut. So it has to be at least RPI. But what RPI?
It was at NATS request that the August RPI figure was the one used each year to base the pay deal on. Since August RPI was the absolute top and it's fallen consistently ever since, I would bet NATS will now want to back-peddle on that one and claim it's unfair to expect a rise in January - as we head in to a year that could see inflation plummet to nothing - based on a figure taken before the bubble really burst.
I would hope the TUs tell them 'tough, you wanted it, you now have to stick to it'. but after the pensions debacle I have less confidence in the ability of the TUs to stand up to management on pay. They have become far too sympathetic to the squeeze for profit.