Band2Drone
Short answer –
YES.
Longer answer –
We are about to announce huge profits.
We are paying a ridiculous dividend to the airlines.
Our operational staff continue to reduce delays and improve safety.
Our support staff continue to work long hours on other business enterprises.
What NATS is right to do is to look at what people are actually doing and see what is necessary for the company. Bin the projects etc that will not enhance NATS. Look at manpower properly and ensure that they are gainfully employed. If it becomes apparent that there is excess staff, then get rid. Even if that means permanent positions.
NATS is a business; once PPP came in we needed to run it like a business. Assessing the business as in the above paragraph should be done continually, not just because there is a financial downturn.
Case in point – the NATS awards. Many people have said this is a waste of good money. This year it is announced that they will not go ahead. If they were previously deemed to be so essential that we had to waste thousands of pounds running them, why are they no longer essential? Does that not indicate that it was indeed an unnecessary waste of cash?
Getting rid of permanent staff is not pleasant, but to steal a phrase often used by management lackeys when talking about pay freezes – ‘look at what’s happening in the real world’.
We should not be keeping staff purely through sentimentality.
The staff that remain, who will continue to make NATS the world leader that it is (despite managements interfering), deserve a pay rise.