Genius stuff :D

A bit off topic, but please follow through
 

This is a bit off topic, but I thought that whilst we are whingeing about pensions or pay and conditions (and I am one of those whingers), it was worth taking stock of what we have and count ourselves lucky.

To that end I'd like to bring your attention the following which is running on the military forum.
In short it's about a guy who at 23 has been given a year to live due cancer - this after he had sucessfully beaten it as a kid and after numerous operations.

Instead of giving up, he is doing a coast to coast walk to raise money for his hospice - his initial target has been smashed and he is now trying to reach £40k.

Try to donate something, or if you can't, at the very least give up a little bit of your time to read about him - it really does knock pension caps or scheme closures into touch.

http://www.pprune.org/military-aircr...s-son-tom.html

to donate or just to read his daily walk diary:

Justgiving - Making a molehill out of some mountains

Donating takes 2 minutes if you are not already registered with 'Just Giving', less if you are - and if you are a UK resident you can stick 2 fingers up at HMRC by selecting Gift Aid to stop HMG from taking tax - a good reason to donate in itself :ok:

Very sobering, a timely reminder there are far more important things to worry about than pensions etc. Thanks for bringing it to our attention on this thread.

Wot vote?
 

Have received ZILCH ballot paper on the issue from my union.

WHERE is my ballot paper PCS?

Funny ol' fing, can't vote (NOOOOOOOOO!) without one.

NIFTY

So it's a YES on all 3 ballots then.

So what happens now? :confused:

RS

The pension changes happen.

Management will play hard ball on the pay talks (we've asked for Aug RPI+1%) - expect rumours of a pay freeze.

Expect further cuts in Ts & Cs

At least 5% staff cuts over next 6 to 18 months

NSL will undergo some changes...

Mr Barron will leave with a nice golden handshake within 18 months.

New joiners will be on a different pension scheme - which is the biggest issue by the way - and this 2 tier scheme will be used in the medium to long term future to cause more rifts in the workforce.

Expect NATS to come cap in hand well before the 15 year period is up, claiming they can't afford the pension...

Money will continue to be wasted on lavish awards ceremonies/projects/new management posts that duplicate work already being carried out

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...ert/Turkey.jpg

Picture says it all ..........Merry Xmas :eek:

There is much talk of a sell off of part of the group, but is anyone considering how difficult that might be without full cooperation and agreement of the Pension schem trustees and the Regulator (particularly if the PPF is also involved). Trustees are duty bound to do a covenant assesment of any potential new employer and if they are not satisfied then it will not be that easy to just spin off part of a company attached to a FS pension scheme, particularly if it is still open to further accrual (certainly not without some firm and potentially very expensve guarantees or even a buyout).

Biddedout

there are many ways for NATS to release itself from some of the 'burden' that is NSL - the simplest is to just not bother tendering for contracts when they come up for renewal.

I'm all for us keeping NSL as it is...

But I can't reconcile the fact that on the one hand we are being told we need to tighten our belts, yet on the other we will bid for contracts in such a manner that we know they will make us a loss...

doesn't make sense to me, looking at it from a very simplistic profit/loss point of view

Another thing.

It can depend on what you mean by loss making - whether you include fixed costs or not

Say you have 10 airport contracts all alike. Costs £100m a year to run each airport, plus it costs £150m to run the central office, HR etc. the central office functions are fixed overheads - they cost the same whether you run 8 airports or 12

So the total costs of the company are £1,150m. So the break even price for running each airport is £115m. Lets say they all airports are currently contracted at £120m a year, i.e. total revene is £1200m, a profit of £50m

If one comes up for renewal and you bid at £110m that is technically loss making when you consider fixed overheads. But the company overall makes a profit of £40m if you win at that 'loss-making' price, but uf you withdraw from the contract the company profit would only be £30m off £1080m revenue.

Thats the first explanation, others reasons involve price of money (i.e. interest rates), strategic importance, leverage on other contracts etc

Anotherthing.

Good point, not closely involved, so I hadn't thought of that. Another reason for very close scutiny of the books and business plans I guess.

Pay negotiations
 

RPI in August was 4.8%

RPI plus 1% is, I hear, the opening gambit...

what next?

My money is on RPI -4.8%....

Pay Negotiations - UK/NATS
 

Someone didn't read the "thread titles" thread...:=

The contracts were not tendered for by NATS on the basis of them being loss-making. Now they've learned their lesson, I don't think NSL will bid for any more contracts at the same level.

Dubai or Abu Dhabi anyone???

Maybe we could charter a swanky Emirates A380 and fill it full of top notch UK ATCO's to go and enjoy sunnier climes.....

My loyalty to NATS from here on in is gone. if its about the cash and a cushy life, the wife and I are off. Im sure any ATCO's from NATS will be relatively sought after considering the amount of traffic, minimal space and mix of traffic etc etc....

Until then my friends, the next time I come out of a sector and am asked by some management monkey to go straight into another without my sky sports watching 30 minute break..... the answer is NO. I love my job and the people I work with, thanks for screwing the morale permanetly and making me not enjoy going to work, Mrs Louis is going to love my grumpy arse now :ok:

I will see how that land lies in the next few weeks but am considering slowly withdrawing my extra VOLUNTARY duties me thinks.

KL

I can see it now. NATS gets the tender for DXB, and CTC moves to....the Burj Al Arab.

Yahoo, I'm told that you refer to me by name in a post above, and that apparently you've done so before when referring to my Christmas headset

Would you mind refraining from doing so in future please? Granted, my identity is well known amongst my colleagues, nevertheless I believe it is poor etiquette, especially given that I don't know who you are.

Thank you.

the next shafting
 

The dramatic climbdown has already begun - brace yourselfs.

From the Pensions Ballot Result circular:

Not a very robust stance to take from the outset - expect a poor pay award.

Also, am I alone in thinking that it is a little bit out of order that we were balloted on the Pension proposals when the MOU has not even been agreed yet? We have now accepted the changes - the MOU could now be written to give us yet another shafting, especially as management will harp on about the downturn in the economy, despite our money spining transatlantic flights actually growing in number...