Dubai – we want you to do more for less – it is what it is
We are now in the 3rd month of the year - March 2012, & yet no announcements of a pay rise…. If any, of course……. We have not forgotten the events of 2011, where SERCO initially told us that there’s no money in the coffers….. ohhh yeah then to backtrack & follow DA’s announcement of a pay rise. What has 2012 brought us? So far a big zero – no positives at all, just the famous roadshows organized for us on our off days!
Does management think we all are, ‘a happy motivated bunch’??? With the yearly announcements by DA, breaking record after record, traffic increasing by a minimum of 7%, we definitely deserve more. We have not received a decent pay rise for nearly 4 years now, one must not forget that in 2010 we got nothing, & in 2011 we got 4% (on BASIC Salary of course), so considering the previous year – 2010 where we got nothing, one could argue that the 2011 increase was a mere 2%. The inflation has shot up by a minimum of 7% (yearly), and as we are experiencing, Dubai has got much more expensive to live in, fuel shot up by approx. 30%, not to mention that some grocery shopping also shot up by 30-50%.
SERCO no longer cover all the mandatory costs, no longer pay for eGate Card, no longer fully reimburse residence visa renewals. Some of us had all schooling allowances fully covered, however this is no longer the case. Same as when one resigns, SERCO no longer cover full emigration costs when shipping all personal stuff back home. Also when someone decides to leave SERCO accommodation – PSV, one has to redecorate all the house at own expense and not at one’s choice of contractor performing the works.
Leave issues - this summer does not look good at all, and with the recent ‘Leave Ban’ communication, and with a minimum complement of 8+1, most of us will be ending with just 1.5 cycle in the Summer period. We are also being rostered to attend training on our off days, if it’s the case of maximum 2 days, it’s not so bad (considering the famous claw back days), but now it has got to the point that more of our off days are being messed around with!
DWC Move – a real master class move – unlike a much preferred Swiss precision tick tock move. It’s hard to find some optimism about the move, actually it is really depressing. Location is in the middle of nowhere, Radar Room – no windows, few restrooms, no canteen or food courts, poor staff car park, and the poor bus service – it is so poor that one wonders if this service really exists!
Then we have the new kid on the block – Dr.Jekyll & Mr.R (a.k.a Chunder-B), who’s intro. to us was full of ‘bs’ of Q&A (simply copy/pasted from previous Co.) together with a few ‘yellow cards’ along the way to some of our colleagues. He seems to excel at portraying 2 different characters at work and off duty!
We are all aware that SERCO staff has passed the 300 mark, of which 70% are HR…… & who exactly are HR? Basically the cost of everything and the value of nothing – in other words the ‘Cancer of the Company’!!!
What about the recently introduced new ‘FREE ZONE Contract’ that we now have to sign? It is certainly not identical to the original SERCO contract we signed when we joined the company. It is advisable that legal advice is sought, even though we are verbally told both contracts are identical.
Last year alone – 2011, we had around half a dozen resignations, I’m sure that this year – 2012 we will at least reach the same number of resignations as last year. Management seem oblivious to this, and although the number of resignations are not yet ‘high enough’, does not mean that people are happy here. As soon as there are openings, get ready for more resignations.
If management has noticed, we are struggling to attract ATCOs with decent CV’s from busy ATC Units, you wonder why? Let alone how many ATCOs we have seen struggle to validate or not validate at all!
Good work SERCO for appreciating our hard work. For sure you have achieved an all time record of low morale and zero motivation. It has really become hard to find some job satisfaction, management are simply doing their best to annoy us ATCOs as best as they are capable of!