trainee salaries
Join Date: Feb 2007
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Well, I'm off to Fareham on Friday for the final assessment and am very much looking forward to it. I'm not really thinking about the wages side of things just yet until the next selection phase is completed. If I'm offered a position at Bournmouth then thats when I'll have to sit down and work things out. I'm a serving Police Officer earning £35,000 a year. The massive reduction in pay does cause concern as does the move to the 'Sarf' and the possibilty of relocation once in post.
My missus is 100% behind me though because she knows I'm a plane nut that would be in their element working in this environment.
Besides I'm sick of dealing with scum!
I've always loved to be part of this.
Does anyone know of a Trainee ATCO forum?
My missus is 100% behind me though because she knows I'm a plane nut that would be in their element working in this environment.
Besides I'm sick of dealing with scum!
I've always loved to be part of this.
Does anyone know of a Trainee ATCO forum?
Join Date: Dec 1999
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Vegas,
Might see you there then!
Once you get accepted on to a course you're given a log in to a trainee forum that's hidden on the NATS careers website, so you can get to know the others on your course before you start, and co-ordinate things such as lodging.
I'm off to Fareham on Friday
Does anyone know of a Trainee ATCO forum?
Join Date: Dec 2009
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Help!
I am just getting ready for stage 2 test and I wonder. I am a personal trainer and train people all week, if I will succeed to go to college do I have to be there 5 days a week? I mean lessons are till late evening hours??? I live with gf who studies fullt so I provide for the house and to be honest now I am getting worried that if I will pass I will not be able to afford that first three years.
Please Reply!!!!
Thanks!
Please Reply!!!!
Thanks!
Join Date: May 2007
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just think though, that if you get out of the college you will spend 12-18 months on a pittance of a salary compared to your "peers" who voted for an extra 20p on top of their massive wages (and therefore a 50% reduction in trainee wages).
another example of our union looking out for it's weakest member.
another example of our union looking out for it's weakest member.
Join Date: Mar 2009
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trainee wages are an intriguing state of affairs- you get paid less as a trainee ATCO than you do as a trainee accountant, or in many cases as a trainee hairdresser! The benefits longterm are of course better, but its tough for someone in the late twenties, with a family (working as the main bread winner) to go from earning a reaonsable salary to pittance. Surely it can't be sensible for NATS to expect its students to get themselves into debt in order to do the job?
the rather fatuous argument that if you aren't prepared to work cheaply then you shouldn't bother turning up, is countered by the rather alarming number of ATCOs who seem to think that earning E900k is equitable! whats good for goose is clearly NOT good for the gander!
the rather fatuous argument that if you aren't prepared to work cheaply then you shouldn't bother turning up, is countered by the rather alarming number of ATCOs who seem to think that earning E900k is equitable! whats good for goose is clearly NOT good for the gander!
Join Date: Jan 2003
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Pugwash
Why not look upon it as being the same as training to be anything that needs a degree, they have to do 3 years in uni and pay for the privilege or at least their parents do. Makes free tuition and £10K look really good, and no student debt and guaranteed job when you qualify!
Why not look upon it as being the same as training to be anything that needs a degree, they have to do 3 years in uni and pay for the privilege or at least their parents do. Makes free tuition and £10K look really good, and no student debt and guaranteed job when you qualify!
Join Date: Jun 2009
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The effect on financials NATS between paying 60 people 13k and 20k for 24 months is tiny compared to the overall wage bill and other financial cost- BUT the effect on that difference in wage for those 60 people is huge.
They mess up with the intakes, put people on hold, students finish college and have no posting etc etc and in the meantime they are paying a lot of people for nothing, plus their accommodation costs sometimes, while they could manage the whole thing more efficiently and offer a better salary to start with.
The "no posting" after college trend is a recent thing and quite increasingly so (this applies to NSL mostly, aerodrome students) and it's a worrying indicator of the communication breakdown between college and the units.
Join Date: Jan 2001
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The "no posting" after college trend is a recent thing and quite increasingly so (this applies to NSL mostly, aerodrome students) and it's a worrying indicator of the communication breakdown between college and the units.
Join Date: Oct 2008
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Actually driven by Heathrow House, with most units reducing their OR in the past year at their instigation, rather than the units directly.
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Eric,
"just think though, that if you get out of the college you will spend 12-18 months on a pittance of a salary compared to your "peers" who voted for an extra 20p on top of their massive wages (and therefore a 50% reduction in trainee wages).
another example of our union looking out for it's weakest member."
It wasn't a case of the union looking out for its weakest member at all.
What we actually voted for was to "disadvantage" future employees. Nobody who was a current trainee/union member was affected by the decision.
If someone offered you a decent payrise to the detriment of future employees who would have the facts presented to them and the choice to take the job or not, would you have turned it down?
Don't be so bloody ridiculous.
I don't know how current trainees survive on the money they get. I couldn't have done with a wife and hat full of kids but if I was in that situation now then I would simply not have taken the job.
A blessing some would say.
The union can be accused of a lot of things but in the end we all voted to screw over the future generation of employees and we have recently done it again over the pension. Did you feel bad about that one Eric?
There are some things you just have to be selfish about I'm afraid.
I do feel a little bit guilty whenever a new college trainee appears wearing rags but nobody forced them to sign up and they will eventually, if successful, reap the rewards of a well paid, relatively secure job.
"just think though, that if you get out of the college you will spend 12-18 months on a pittance of a salary compared to your "peers" who voted for an extra 20p on top of their massive wages (and therefore a 50% reduction in trainee wages).
another example of our union looking out for it's weakest member."
It wasn't a case of the union looking out for its weakest member at all.
What we actually voted for was to "disadvantage" future employees. Nobody who was a current trainee/union member was affected by the decision.
If someone offered you a decent payrise to the detriment of future employees who would have the facts presented to them and the choice to take the job or not, would you have turned it down?
Don't be so bloody ridiculous.
I don't know how current trainees survive on the money they get. I couldn't have done with a wife and hat full of kids but if I was in that situation now then I would simply not have taken the job.
A blessing some would say.
The union can be accused of a lot of things but in the end we all voted to screw over the future generation of employees and we have recently done it again over the pension. Did you feel bad about that one Eric?
There are some things you just have to be selfish about I'm afraid.
I do feel a little bit guilty whenever a new college trainee appears wearing rags but nobody forced them to sign up and they will eventually, if successful, reap the rewards of a well paid, relatively secure job.
Join Date: Mar 2007
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...future employees who would have the facts presented to them and the choice to take the job or not...
NATS was a second career for me, I had a wife and two kids at the time I started with the company and the financial scars to prove it! My wife and I figured that on the salary of £15k with accommodation allowance and paid trips home we could (just) make it work. By the time I found out the salary was £10k with none of the extras I was well past the point to be able to make a sensible decision about what to do. I continued and completed my training and have come out the other end a valid controller and am extremely glad I stuck with it and gave it everything I had.
I now earn a good salary but I'm financially ruined. Throughout the course of my training I was unable to concentrate on my studies and developing my skills because I was constantly worried about how I could keep a roof over my families head. Worries over money without a doubt contributed to me failing a number of assessments during my time at college and delayed my progress in unit training.
Looking back I'm glad I did it because I love my job and the people I work with. I'm also glad that things worked out the way they did, because had I known the salary when I first looked to apply for the job I never would have taken my application any further. Ultimately the only reason I'm now a valid controller is because NATS never told me the pay deal until my first day working for them when I'd successfully gone through the application process and left my previous employment. I find it a great pity that people like me who could just as easily make it to the end will be put off applying by the pittance of a salary.
I'd also like to point out that when I made the decision to change career I looked at NATS because it is an employer and as such I expected a salary; if I was in a financial position to go to university I could have chosen any number of professions. The truth of it was that I had financial commitments which needed to be maintained even whilst training and therefore I did not feel that returning to education was an option. Looking back on my times in poverty whilst working as a trainee controller for NATS I often wonder if I might have been better off if NATS hadn't paid me a salary at all and classed me as a student in higher education; I often found that I earnt so little as not to be able to afford the things I needed but too much in the eyes of the government to qualify for assistance.
I'm going on a bit now, but to summarise - I'm glad I am where I am and that fate allowed it happen as it did but armed with all the information I would never even have applied!
It is worth mentioning that after you are posted to a unit, but prior to validation, your monthly income will actually decrease slightly. Your salary increases, but you lose the accommodation allowance, so I ended up with about £50 less a month. This is based on a Band 2 unit though, so probably not true of the higher bands.
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Pug4 - do your potential future workmates a favour and jack it in now. One of the best jobs in the world does not need you, there are plenty of people who would make the most out of it.
Join Date: Dec 2008
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When did you apply pug? As far as I'm aware the salary has been approx £10,300 for a few years now. And this does not include the £60 a week accomodation payment which increases the salary by £3120 a year tax free.