A quarter of major private sector firms expect to close their final salary pension schemes to existing members in the next few years, a survey suggests.
Most pension scheme members do not enjoy the protection in legislation that we do. Even if NATS management wished to do that they cannot and they are well aware of that. In the absence of the MOU they could try to force out those who've joined since 2001 but the majority of those are controllers (most other branches have been under a recruitment freeze for much of the time since then) so they aren't likely to do that.
If NATS took heed of the story of Joseph and his multi coloured dreamcoat and stocked up during the good years for the lean years
Thanks to Gordon Brown's £700 million looting of NATS, an RPI-x regulation and years and years of little or no investment under Government ownership there haven't been any good years in which to stock up.
So much for outraged indignation expressed earlier in this thread at the gall of the company for even suggesting that they should make cost cuts!!
Whether or not those going are going with a smile on their face is irrelevant. Those jobs will be gone for good whatever happens to income in the future and those left behind will still be expected to deliver exactly the same with less staff.