Government to sell off their share in NATS?
 

Just seen the BBC news - Government considering selling off their share - any more news out there? :eek:

Not seen anything myself but wouldn't surprise me given the state of the coffers.

ZaNuLabour's final act of betrayal before disappearing off into the political wilderness.

Couldn't find anything on the BBC but here's a link to the SKYNews report.

So that's the Airline Group and the government wanting to sell. Just BAA to go.

If this is true, and Prospect don't come at this with all guns blazing and QUICK, I'll be leaving Prospect.

There comes a time when Prospect have to truly show that they're acting in the best interests of their members. I gave them the benefit of the doubt over the Pensions and, to a lesser extent, over the pay deal.

But having seen the way that things have gone slowly downhill since part-privatisation, any more of a sell off from the government will make things much worse, much quicker.

So come on Prospect, show you have the balls to stand up to this because if you don't then you will just be showing that there is absolutely no point in having you represent us.

anybody else getting a fuzzy feeling that we're about to be shafted again by our friendly politicians? :mad:

Bonjour SERCO!:eek:

Prospect........balls?? :}:}
Did a fine job of representing its membership in opposing PPP, The closure of MACC and the recent pensions thingy.
Allegedly, it has all the bite of a very old, three-legged, toothless whippet.

And the latest pay deal.

Apparently they were keeping their powder dry !! :)

This 'powder' must be the driest powder known to science! If the unions do not resist the asset strippers like Serco than I will leave pronto.:E

Minesapint,
allegedly the said powder is now officially classed as 'ultra-hygroscopic', and is extremely unstable at 'standard temperature and pressure'.

I am just surprised that anyone is surprised. This is just the final stage of the selling off of NATS that was started eight years ago. Clearly neither the NTUS and the employees are able or willing to do anything about it hence the inevitable conclusion.

Given what I've heard lately from within NATS, especially with regard to the quality of management at all non-op levels (and about what happens to management, even quite senior, when they stand up for their staff even just a little...), I'm amazed there are still people repeating the old mantra that NATS is the best ATC company in the UK to work for!

Prospect's ATC section should have been renamed "The Swanwick and London Controllers' Union" about 6 years ago, or possibly the "We're Alright, Stuff the Newbies Union". I was very happy, shortly before leaving NATS, to cancel my direct debit to Prospect.

Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if Serco, should they buy up the remains of NATS, did a much better job than the Airline Group.

Serco would certainly do a better job ON the staff than even the railway children have achieved. The union's powder will remain dry through that too!

Exactly what do you expect Prospect to do ? As DC10Realman quite rightly points out the principle of the shares not belonging to the Government was established back in 2001. The only people who can think that this changes anything would be those who believed New Labour when they said that Public Private Partnerships were not the same as Privatisation.

Prospect could ballot industrial action based on the belief of members that fully privatising a safety industry is not in the interests of the public, the business or the employees.

We all know they won't, but they could. Being mainly owned by the Government is a lot different than being owned by a company out to make as much profit as they can.

See the mess that the Spanish have made of BAA...

If the Post Office can succesfully fight full privatisation, you'd hope a safety critical business could make politicians see sense.

NATS and the Post Office - both a delivery service in a sense - just that the packages NATS are in charge of ensuring reach their destination are a little bit more fragile...

If Prospect were to propose industrial action how many employees would agree, maybe that is the reason that Prospect are reluctant. I note that PCS has already proposed it in the event of compulsary redundancies.

Therin lies a major problem - an apathetic union membership...

Anotherthing.

I would suggest that your post should read "Therein lies THE major problem"

Anotherthing has hit the nail on the head.

Union members had a vote on the Pension issue, some of them voted Yes, some voted No and a sizeable group couldn't be arsed!
Union members had a vote on the latest Pay deal, some of them voted Yes, some voted No and a sizeable group couldn't be arsed!

If full privatisation does come our way the members should be balloted on whether they want it to happen, if only to show the government and NATS management that we care what happens. I fear however that some would vote Yes, some would vote No and a sizeable group will yet again not bother their f**king arses to put a cross in the box.

It's not Prospect's fault if the membership don't vote!