UK - NATS Pay negotiations - latest rumours

[hold at SATAN]

regarding the timing of the ballot; from the atcos website:

The unions made it clear to management that we would not wait until September (when the August 2009 RPI figure is to be published) in order to agree a consolidated and pensionable pay increase for staff

OK, since the damned thing was going to be draged until June/July, what difference would a couple of month have made. I've yet to receive my ballot papers, but when I do it will be a NO vote for two reasons;

1 - I think the offer is crap
2 - Management need to know that they can't take the piss (any more)

[Scuzi]

BBC NEWS | England | Airline staff ballot over strike

Maybe we could learn a thing or two from the boys and girls over at Monarch?

[anotherthing]

My No vote is in the post but I did notice that the cross had to be in black ink. Does this mean a cross in any other colour will be a spoilt vote?

Doesn't stipulate anywhere on my form (blue ballot form) or the accompanying letter what colour ink to use.

A vote is a vote, the 'wrong' colour of ink should won't count as a spoiled paper... there is no need for it to be any particular colour for any reason.

[roidster]

My NO vote has just gone in.

If only NATS hadn't spunked £45mil out on dividends they may have offered us a fair deal or looked after our pension a bit better.

Vote NO.

[45 before POL]

No vote also gone in by myself and mrs 45 before. Agree that the dividend was a step too far and should have gone towards sorting the pension.
As for those that say jobs are on the line? Well they are going to lay off as many as they possibly can just to maximise their profit..regardless.....the asset stripping has just started next the college and probably another big dividend to the airline group.....but they will still plead poverty. Not the cosy not for profit company that we were led to believe at PPP.

[DC10RealMan]

To paraphrase the pigs in the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell. "Profit Good, Public Service bad", maybe some of the profit from your labours and pension fund has also gone to the "Hardship fund for misunderstood and victimised MPs"

[Ceannairceach]

My no was posted this morning.

Quite frankly, paying the huge dividend was the last straw. And when the company can pay thousands of pounds for aeroplane pictures in the new Scottish centre (check the A380 out - very impressive), and pay bonuses out to those who tell us to save and save, whilst collecting their own huge bonuses - then those of us who actually keep the company business ticking over deserve better. Simple as that.

And before anyone says get in the real world....why? When the rich in our company get richer we get an abysmal pay deal, job cuts, altered T&Cs and the spectre of enforced redundancy looming large over the engineering and ATSA staff.

I'd accept the deal without reservation if it applied across the board and we weren't still splashing out money on the whims of management.

And let me tell you, I would not hesitate in taking industrial action should the ATSA staff, or any other group of my colleagues, be forced into needless redundancy.....

[fisbangwollop]

My no vote posted........also to me the dividend hand out was the last straw.....the straw that broke the camels back maybe??.........30 years ago we all...ATSA's ATCE,ATCo and yes our Managers all worked to achieve the same outcome.....that was to shift traffic in a "SAFE" and expedicous way......today the guys on the shop floor continue to do the same and a good job they do.......sadly the managements only aim to me now is how we can save more money, and what we save how much can we feed the shareholders to keep them happy...........n other words fcuk the staff as long as the share holders are happy that all that maters..........as for safety, these swinging staff cuts we are starting to see must ultimately have an outcome on that safety...........yes safety is expensive but try having an accident and see what that costs!!!!!.........I would not like to be the one that sanctions staff cuts and see that as the reason for any ensuing mid-air!!!!!!

[Vote NO]

They call it "risk management", but this lot couldn't manage to break wind . The corporate manslaughter legislation would see them swing but I bet they would squeal "it was not me gov" blame the guy wearing the headset, he should have asked for help sooner.....

[anotherthing]

I honestly think that middle and senior management have already started down the road of a 'blame culture' and 'passing the buck'.

Why else would they have so many new 'cover your arse' schemes running? It's the same with the raft of new engraved 'reminder' strips that appear almost weekly - they (management) don't want to (or cant be bothered to) tackle the real problem such as individual controller ability etc... instead they bring out some new OPNOT etc that they can refer back to if someone has an incident.

They don't tackle the real problem, just go for a quick 'fix'.

You are increasingly on your own in NATS now... woe betide anyone who has a nasty incident.

[autothrottle]

I don't know what others think,but I find it very sad that a once great organisation is being sytematically ripped to pieces. THE most important asset in a company are its people . Sadly no longer here. If this was france ,management would be on their knees by now, not the staff. People criticise the french, but make no mistake they would NEVER allow management to screw them into the ground, like we have.

[White Hart]

Northerner

"..but it's not going to win you the support you really need..."

I and my ATSA 2 colleagues have spent the last 3 years expending time, effort and energy into simply trying to justify our very existence at LL Tower, and all to no avail.

On a personal/local level, the battle to garner support for the Heathrow ATSA2's would appear to be lost already. I appreciate that you and Ceannairceach may be prepared to put your ars*s on the line in the collective ATSA defence, but for every individual like yourselves, there are 49 others who will 'talk the talk' only, and another 50 who couldn't give a flying FK for anybody else save themselves. So, to the rest of you 'non-ATSAs' out there, ask yourself honestly which of the above groups you fit into - and just bear in mind that one day you too may find yourselves in a similar position to us.

Here's the bit that really sends my blood pressure into overdrive - we're continually told how 'important' we are to 'the team', and how 'essential' our presence is when the sh*t hits the fan. All fanny fart and utter bollox - it has made not a single jot of difference when push really came to shove! There is no support for us, and judging by the way that the ATCOs have leapt to our defence in the past (HAH!) and the current staff mindset (look after No.1), I expect there will be nothing forthcoming by way of support for the rest of the ATSA crew across NATS from anywhere else within the workforce, either.

The tasks and the problems which surface when equipment fails have not disappeared - they are just going to be dished out to others - YOU! The support grades are/were your extra pair of hands in such situations. All we are now is the sacrificial lambs - its a done deal. And, by looking at whats going on, and how many of us will soon be dealt the sh*ttiest hand in the deck, we can now also see where your priorities lie.


enjoy your payrise, folks, and pray our 'electronic replacements' dont ever let you down.

[Vote NO]

Autothrottle
I don't know what others think,but I find it very sad that a once great organisation is being sytematically ripped to pieces. THE most important asset in a company are its people . Sadly no longer here. If this was france ,management would be on their knees by now, not the staff. People criticise the french, but make no mistake they would NEVER allow management to screw them into the ground, like we have.

I agree entirely. I used to be be proud to work for NATS, now I and my colleagues feel undervalued and get the impression we are no more than an irritation to management. I wonder who they think separates the aircraft and brings in the bucks for NATS. Most of them will be gone in the next 10 months with a shed load of cash leaving the company leaner and a dam sight meaner!

[anotherthing]

Use Royal Mail

Not a conspiracy theory or anything but a little birdy has informed me that at a busy business orientated airport in Hants, a lot of postal votes for the Pension Ballot were placed in the NATS external Mail slot.

It was unfortunate for the substantial number of voters at that unit that it was not until after the ballot closed that it was discovered the mail had not been sent resulting in a large number of votes not being counted (allegedly a high proportion of 'NO' votes - not enough to change the result mind).

Use Royal Mail!!!

[Vote NO]

Have we all read PB's latest announcement today, pleading poverty and the potential for compulsory redundancies

Nice timing in the middle of the pay ballot

[General_Kirby]

What an absolute tosser! Removing himself and his cronies would save a few pennies. As would concentrating on providing ATC instead of assembling teams to start new projects......Does he just see ATC as a sideline?

[Vote NO]

Dear Colleague

In my last business update to you I explained the balance that is required in seeking to reward our employees, satisfy shareholders and maintain a healthy and viable company during a recession. Some of you may also remember me talking about the importance of profit as it enables us to achieve these objectives. However, generating profit is becoming more challenging because of falling traffic levels, rising costs and significant pressure on prices as we consult customers about Control Period 3.

This is why it continues to be important to save £45m from NERL’s controllable operating cost base by the end of Control Period 2 (March 2011). I last updated you on the progress we are making at the end of February and since then a number of decisions have been taken about how we intend to make the remaining cost savings. I would like to share these with you.

Before I go further, I want to be clear about the £45m, as I think there is some confusion surrounding it. Our controllable operating costs are around £321m per year. We have to identify ways to reduce this cost base by £45m by the end of Control Period 2 (March 2011) and thereby bring it down to £276m per year. Importantly, these savings then have to be sustained on an ongoing basis and costs cannot subsequently be brought back in to the business.

What we’ve done so far

So far we have secured savings worth £23 million. This has been achieved by focusing on our top priorities and bringing forward plans which have enabled us to release a number of contractors and permanent employees. I appreciate that for many of the line managers and employees concerned, this hasn’t been an easy process.

Over 90 contractors have been released in total – most of whom have already left the business. 160 permanent employees will be leaving the business on a voluntary basis through this financial year.

As a consequence, affected business areas are working to ensure that outstanding projects and activities are stopped, slowed down or redistributed.

Through local plans that your General Managers have been working on, we are confident that we can secure and deliver savings of a further £6 million by the end of Control Period 2. Elsewhere in our central business plan we should be able to save a further £5 million by the end of Control Period 2.

This leaves £11 million to find before the end of Control Period 2.

Making the remaining savings

We have spent the last couple of months considering a wide range of options and talking to our Trade Union colleagues. As a consequence we have decided to focus on four particular areas through which we intend to make efficiencies, each one of which will be sponsored by a member of the Executive team:

Operational Resourcing

This is about making savings at the heart of the operation. Working with our Trade Union colleagues, its primary focus will be on manpower requirements, working practices and rostering at our centres, affecting both ATCOs and ATSAs. The intention is to find efficiencies through better rostering and efficiently applying existing working practices. We will also explore changes to working practices where this would be beneficial.

Night-Time Operations

During the night shift both Swanwick and Prestwick are operational with minimal air traffic. This results in an inefficient and costly service from the perspective of resources used. We therefore believe there is some scope to deliver a more cost-effective and efficient night time operation.

Centres as Businesses

This is about understanding exactly how much it costs for our centres to operate and includes activities undertaken by external and internal suppliers to a centre such as ATC support services and Facilities Management. By having complete transparency of these costs it will enable our centres to understand and compare all of the costs of delivering the ATC service, to challenge their suppliers and ensure that we deliver the best value for money.

Teams involving people from right across the business are being put together for each one of the above projects and our Trade Union colleagues have been invited to participate in each of them.

Overhead Value Analysis

This sounds complicated but it’s a simple way to help individual business areas establish which activities they should be doing less of, tackle more efficiently or stop doing altogether. This is particularly important for those areas which have already released or, are in the process of releasing people and need to ensure that work load is appropriately managed. Supported by experts from the business, it will be rolled out to business areas from June so that they can identify their own action plans.

By October we will have a better idea of the savings each of these projects can produce and the exact timeframes in which we will deliver them. We will also understand whether we need to take further steps to secure any remaining savings needed. However, I can say with certainty that the outcomes of these projects, together with local plans will lead to further redundancies. We will try to achieve this through voluntary means and remain committed to the principles of theredeployment and redundancy agreement. Also non-staff costs will be challenged.

NATS does have a positive future beyond these difficult times. However, right now we need to continue to take decisive action to ensure we start Control Period 3 with a lower cost base and shape our business to be agile and responsive for when the economy returns and generates growth in flights and our income.

As always you have my commitment that I will keep you informed about what this means for you and our business.

Regards

Paul Barron
Chief Executive, NERL

[Vote NO]

Prepare to bend over............. you know what's next

[dallas2]

We need to find 11 million by the end of CP2, and we've just given 4 times that away. Unbelievable!!!!

[Roffa]

Perhaps Mr Barron's parting gift will be to provoke the first (NATS) ATC strike in some 30 years