UK - NATS Pay negotiations - latest rumours
Beady Eye
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BD
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Front line fix yes but where does long term support come from? Who negotiates the contracts and spares replacements? Who engineered the replacement for RICE? Who is working on the replacement for VCS at LAC with VCCS?
BD
Maybe BD this is where the costs are too high mate, ever thought about that
Front line fix yes but where does long term support come from? Who negotiates the contracts and spares replacements? Who engineered the replacement for RICE? Who is working on the replacement for VCS at LAC with VCCS?
BD
Maybe BD this is where the costs are too high mate, ever thought about that
Beady Eye
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How about equipment, can we just keep going forever on existing equipment? Much as we might like to it doesn't last forever, things break. So we need spares but we can't buy a massive stockpile of spares 'just in case' (apart from the cost of purchasing and storing, we don't actually know what the attrition rate is until things have been in service for a while). So we set up a maintenance/support contract with the manufacturer for a period of time (because it costs money to have a maintenance/support contract and the longer it is the more it costs). The engineering team who look after systems centrally are based at the CTC and because it's a contract we also need some legal experts who can look after our interests, also based at the CTC. Sometimes we can buy stuff off the shelf for repairs but there is a team whose job it is to negotiate and get the best deal for us. They're based at the CTC.
Eventually the equipment will come to the end of it's life (in part because the manufacturer will no longer support it) so we need to replace it (preferably with something better with more bells and whistles). If you're replacing a big operational system, like voice comms, it's a really good idea to plan it. So you need people who are looking at new technologies as they come out and what's on the market as well as people who can plan the installation of your replacement system, they're based at the CTC.
You also need to pay for it which will involve going cap in hand to the banks for the loot. You need to pay for it (which you're not going to do in one big lump sum) and you need to have control of how and on what the money is being spent. This is another team of people plus various others with responsibilities and accountabilities. They're all based at the CTC.
Gosh that's quite a lot of people already surely they're not very busy? Well actually we're not just doing one thing in a linear fashion, NATS is doing lots of things all at the same time, like decommissioning the old Ops room at PC, running our area and airport operations and planning for the new things coming along like the olympics, VCCS change for LAC, LAMP (London Airspace Management Programme), iTEC, radar tracker replacement and a host of others. All of which need considerable planning in and of themselves and you don't want to be in the situation of planning a big engineering change to systems which will require operational Staff to be trained on it whilst someone else is planning an airspace change for delivery at the same time which also needs to be trained. The people doing the planning are based at the CTC.
I've only very briefly touched on some of the tasks performed by people based at the CTC to give a flavour of what the HQ staff are doing, there are plenty of other tasks being performed. I think it might be something of an eye opener for some operational staff who've never been there to go and have a look at the work being done to support them and understand that all of the changes which come along aren't done in an instant by magic pixies
BD
Previously based at Swanwick, based at CTC for the past 4 years and moving back to Swanwick.
Last edited by BDiONU; 7th May 2011 at 14:43.
Beady Eye
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Is this not similar to your deal?
Bob Crow's union secures pay rise and lump sum for rail workers | News
Take and spend the money, get the economy moving
Bob Crow's union secures pay rise and lump sum for rail workers | News
Take and spend the money, get the economy moving
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But per head probably moves the lowest number of planes.
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If the left wing of lefties likes the deal, then what hope do you have???????
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I really don't think we want any pay deals to be linked to movements-remeber they can go down as well as up!!
Anyway I see the briefings have now started and I've seen no comments on here-how are they going?
Anyway I see the briefings have now started and I've seen no comments on here-how are they going?
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BBC News - Inflation report warns of impact from higher fuel bills
Inflation to rise, as welll as energy prices. RPI for year two could be well above 5%...
Inflation to rise, as welll as energy prices. RPI for year two could be well above 5%...