DC10RealMan
You had the option of being of the age that retirement would work for you without too much of a penalty,
Please bear in mind (considering your stance and posts during the pension debate) that many of the people you are berating are not of the age that early retirement is feasible. The fact we stay with the company does not make us people who have no backbone to take action like you did - we have no real choice.
We said exactly the same things as you did, and voted 'No'. Unfortunately we are stuck with it, even though many of us believe that the MOU is not worth the paper it is written on.
Amongst many of the predictions I made before the 'yes' vote went through were: (copied from the thread titled "What happens within NATS after the pension results are in??")
Prediction 1.
'The Vote'
62% Yes
38% No
Prediction 2.
Swiftly followed by a complete shafting on the annual pay award (I reckon 3% - which would be less than RPI)...
Prediction 3.
3-5% overall reduction in NATS staff by Jul 009.
Prediction 4.
Departure of Mr Barron within 18 months of changing the pension scheme.
Prediction 5.
Break up and shelving of some NSL contracts within 60 months of pension scheme change.
Also earlier talk that the MOU was not worth the paper it was written on given the track history of NATS.
So, prediction 3 was a bit on the lean side as it turns out, prediction 4 might be a pipe dream, prediction 5 - wait to see what happens at the Special Delegates Conference.
Enjoy your retirement, for what it's worth I think you made entirely the correct decision to go early for the very reasons you state.
The reason some of us spout of on this forum is because it is the only way to get opinions across to people outside of our normal circle. Exactly what you were doing 4 or 5 months ago.
If people (as is their right) ignore certain points of view, then there's nowt much else that can be done.
It's quite telling that very few of those who spouted off "Vote yes save jobs" - who also spout off "get in the real world you can't expect a pay rise" have gone quiet and have nothing to say about redundancies and the Barrons pay rise.
These are the people that are happy to bend over and be shafted... unfortunately they sem to be in the majority.