worked for serco before being tuped over to nats 3 years ago...
bring back serco all is forgiven..with nats it seems to be all give and take, we keep giving and they keep taking.
were running one controller down on the union /management agreement, assistants are becoming an endangered species, and the whole unit runs soley on the goodwill of the staff to have their rosters chsnged at a few days notice,or cover for sickness.
4 highly experienced controllers are due to retire within 14 months,more than a third of our compliment,the first in possibly 5 months, and there is no sign of a replacement program.
in my youth air traffic used to be about providing a safe and expeditious service, not bean counting and buzz word bollox initiatives.