rumouroid- as an atco with twenty five years service I find your attitude towards the plight of the ATSA s amazing. Do you really not see that you will be in exactly the same position in ten to fifteen years! The job has already become simplified beyond belief and with the introduction of IFACts even more so. I dont know when you validated but I find the job so much easier now than when I was at west Drayton! I am sure I am not bucking the trend and becoming better as I get older so the only explanation can be that the job is becoming simplified! The days of the 100,000 a year ATCO are surely numbered . I will be gone by the time it happens but semi automation will be a fact and you young bucks who berate the atsa grade will be spending many years as computer monitors with no decision making required. Be careful what you wish for the atsas as it will surely be coming your way.