A reaction you will not see is denial because what I posted is true. Funny how those who whinge about how hard a job it is and how underpaid they are don't mention this up-side to their job.
dontshootme - you seem to have a problem with this but in doing so fail to understand the nature of air traffic and the rules regarding the rostering of controllers. Like most companies, NATS has agreements negotiated with its staff regarding length of shift, time between shifts, shift patterns, meal breaks and so on. Add to this the satutory requirements of SRATCOH and start to build your watch roster.
Air traffic, however, follows its own pattern dependent on time of the day. day of the week and, in some cases, weather patterns. Staffing has to, within reason, cater for the busy periods which means that during the quiet periods there may well be an excess of staff. It happens in other walks of life - look at your average charter pilot for example - working his bollocks off in summer but largely idle in the winter (I expect I'll get flamed for that
)
So yes, there are perks in the job regarding hours but, it has to be said, not nearly as many as there were. (And I'm sure there are Swanwick controllers out there that can confirm that due to staff shortages that their 'perks' are virtually non-existant now.)
But just because some of us might get a few hours kip on a night shift does not mean that we don't have genuine concerns about aspects of the job and that we shouldn't air them on an ATC forum. Most ATCO's want to provide the best service possible. Also, for the record, I don't think I'm underpaid as a top of the scale ATCO 2 but I do feel that there are certian pay issues that should be addressed such as the length of the incremental pay scale and some unit grading issues.
So dontshootme, how about taking that chip of your shoulder, eh? I've no idea what you do for a living but (unless you are an MP
) I'm not going to slag off your chosen profession.