Geffen
I agree with you 100%. I would hope the union likened pay awards to the RPI i.e.
cost of living.
A pay award of RPI is a
standard of living freeze.
Less than RPI is a cut in
standard of living.
A pay award above RPI is an incresae in
standard of living.
The company can bleat on all it wants that the RPI has decreased since the figure was taken last August (the figure that should be used), but they (NATS) base their charges for the year on the August RPI.
Therefore, if it is acceptable for NATS to charge its customers Aug RPI even when the RPI is now considerably lower, then it is acceptable for the employees to expect an RPI based pay award.
If NATS had the balls to turn round to its customers and say
"the economy has got worse since Aug 2008, therefore we have decided that to help you, our customer, out we are going to take the unusual step of reducing our charges using an interim (say DEC 08) RPI as the new basis", then maybe NATS would have a point in saying they cannot afford an Aug RPI pay rise.
Will NATS cut costs to help its customers? Don't be silly.
"In Tune With Our Customers" is a Destinations 2011 headline, but only when it suits NATS... as is
"Liberating and Inspiring People" 
A few months ago when the first forays into the pay award took place in the midst of the pension 'negotiations', management offered the unions a
1.9% pay rise. The unions rejected it.
Since then:
1. Several months have passed and the economy has worsened.
2. 35% of peope did not bother voting (for whatever reason) in the pension ballot - the thing that has a bigger impact on an individuals future wealth than any other issue. This indicates, rightly or wrongly to management that the workforce are apathetic and that the workforce will accept any old crap.
3. The Union have stated in the circular the came round after the pension ballot that they accept that the company is feeling the pinch.
What does this all mean? Probably that management will try to get away with an even lower offer as the economy has slowed down further...
Stand by for a lower than Aug RPI pay award whilst NATS continues to charge its customers, several of whom have already gone bankrupt, based on the Aug RPI.
I would take a pay freeze if our senior management did (too late though - Mr Barron got his large pay rise agreed a few months before the pension cap was introduced - clever bugger)- I would be even more 'happy' to do so if NATS acknowledged the trouble our customers are having and tried to help them out a little.
Doing so would aid NATS in the long term... after all, if we help our customers now, it means there will be more of them still around to charge when the economy rallies - which it will.
But of course NATS and long term planning/thinking ahead do not go hand in hand.
Note for management lackeys:
To any management lackey out there who says it is unrealistic to expect a pay award of 4.8% (Aug RPI), because prices have gone down since then - you are talking rubbish.
The Aug RPI is used as a snapshot for annual charges. The economy fluctuates. The Aug snapshot is the one we should use for pay awards because the economy will rally and prices will increase again. A one year deal is acceptable, whilst in incertain times, but you can't have your cake and eat it.
Pay awards have always been carried out this way - do not try to move the goal posts just because it suits you.
You were happy enough to accept RPI+0.25% etc 3 year deals in the past
when it suited you (i.e. when you were taking money from the pension fund and traffic levels were growing rapidly) - respect you employees and treat us fairly now!