I'm going to leap to the defence of the ATSAs here wind-up or not - niknak - to be honest I don't hear many of the Manch ATSAs complain about it anyhow - and certainly not on this thread?
I don't think your line
"Sorry if that hurts, but it's fact, that when Manchester area is at McNerc, the vast majority of EGCC ATCAs will not be, and why should you be?" is valid. If you were told your job was being moved and you, as a mobile grade, expected to be part of that move but instead were told get out now or take the redundancy in 5 years - you'd be a bit miffed I suspect?
They should be there becuase it's
their job being forcefully taken away - according to you to be replaced by cheap, easily trained and localised labour. Not really fair is it? (Oh stop me - I'm going all idealistic again
)
It's not a case of the geography at all - at the base level it's a simple case of people losing their jobs. And even you can surely see the sadness and slight injustice in that? A sign of these economically pressurised times and seemingly accepted by all assistants at MACC it may be - but still sad nonetheless - especially for those involved who aren't near the retirement age and have no deckchair awaiting
Apparently the ATSA grade is doomed anyhow with the introduction of some "OTS" technology. So it's not just going to be a MACC problem my friend. Oh no. If you're an ATSA then there are ever-gloomier times ahead - apparently.
(As a disclaimer I'd just like to say that I've heard all of this about the ATSA grade from the year dot so I'll believe it all when I see it)
I hope the ATSAs are your unit realise how much you value them for when their turns comes.
To drag this back onto topic a little more - the problem is ATCOs - the one grade NATS as a company shouldn't be looking to lose (or scare off to Canada as a few bloody good ATCOs from MACC / EGCC are doing at the moment) and as Mr A Tis (Are you a colleague of mine I wonder?) has said - feelings are running very very high at the moment with a great percentage of the staff at Manch very very anti-move North.
Whilst some of the ATSAs have gracefully accepted their inevitable demise I'm glad to say the ATCOs have not, and, I suspect, will not.
Interesting days ahead I feel.