Contractors to strike?
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Contractors to strike?
Heard a rumor that one of the contractors providing flying training for the RAF are facing a strike over pay, despite a no strike agreement in their contract. The unit concerned has trains Air Engineers and the workforce, mostly ex RAF, have recently formed a union to protest at their low pay and lack of manpower. Aparently skilled engineers are being paid £13K for fixing aircraft as the company relies on the fact that most have an ex service pension. Given the RAF are due to renew this contract in the next year does this mean that the contract price may jump? Just a thought! Maybe it could end up cheaper to do it with blue suits. oh yeah we made all them redundant to save money didn't we!
Anyone know any more?
Anyone know any more?
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not the first time !
It is not the first time that I have seen companys pay low wages because they know that the employees have a (hard won) service pension.
All I can say to the is if these people are realy fully skilled engineers then dont strike , quit and go to one of the airlines or maintenance companys and double your wages overnight.
All I can say to the is if these people are realy fully skilled engineers then dont strike , quit and go to one of the airlines or maintenance companys and double your wages overnight.
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Harumph.
In my day contractors didn't go on strike. We were given the jobs in the first place because we were contractors, and therefore wouldn't go on strike; also in many cases because we weren't Irish. The MoD didn't trust the Irish and wouldn't let them make things that go bang....plenty of Arabs, Libyans, Kurds, Basque etc, but no Paddies please.
A large chunk of the workshop was usually devoted to homers, and we were frequently AWOL in the pub, but we didn't go on strike.
Then again that was in Maggie Thatcher's day and the money was actually pretty damn good.
In my day contractors didn't go on strike. We were given the jobs in the first place because we were contractors, and therefore wouldn't go on strike; also in many cases because we weren't Irish. The MoD didn't trust the Irish and wouldn't let them make things that go bang....plenty of Arabs, Libyans, Kurds, Basque etc, but no Paddies please.
A large chunk of the workshop was usually devoted to homers, and we were frequently AWOL in the pub, but we didn't go on strike.
Then again that was in Maggie Thatcher's day and the money was actually pretty damn good.
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Many, many years ago when Manby was the home to the School of Refresher Flying, civilian contractors provided aircraft engineering. One day they announced that there would be no flying the next morning since they were holding a union ralley and meeting in Louth. And there would be no-one left to tow out and BF the aircraft.
The Boss was a v. unhappy bear, not only losing 2 flying waves, but because he objected mightily to being dictated to by a bunch of lefties. So the following morning, all the QFIs and Stoods opened the hangar doors and removed and BF'd 9 JPs.
At 1100 precisely, a 9-ship flew over the top of the open-air union meeting as the chief agitator was making a keynote speech.
At 1130 the flight line was fully manned.
The Boss was a v. unhappy bear, not only losing 2 flying waves, but because he objected mightily to being dictated to by a bunch of lefties. So the following morning, all the QFIs and Stoods opened the hangar doors and removed and BF'd 9 JPs.
At 1100 precisely, a 9-ship flew over the top of the open-air union meeting as the chief agitator was making a keynote speech.
At 1130 the flight line was fully manned.
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FJJP, Nice story, unfortunately in this case this wouldn't work as the contractors provide ATC , Fire cover, MT etc as well as aircraft engineering. Therefore if they do strike the chances are they will stop all training for as long as they're out. The point I was trying to make was that the short term view of the RAF may be about to bite them on the a***! These companies rely on ready trained ex RAF personell whom they take on at a pittance knowing they have a pension. Unfortunately the ready supply of ex service trained staff has started to dry up and they are strugling to recruit mainly due to low pay. Also a number of their people are coming up to real retirement and will need to be replaced. Therefore the company either has to increase its pay or train new people itself both of which will cost money, this will be passed on to the RAF in increased contract price. This could become very high profile not just because it will slow the training of new Air Engineers but also multi engine training and the unit is quite high profile having a historic college and OASC on it as well. I understand their are similar problems at another station on Anglesey. Sureley it will eventually hit all the contractors providing training given that almost all is now non service provided. I just hope the powers that be see the writing on the wall if this strike does happen before its too late!
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We are not too happy with our pay on the Tutor fleet either. Take out the overtime and weekend(compulsory) working element and we are on about £12k. Within four years, 80% of the aircraft techies on my unit will be fully retired. We only have one driver, we should have three. They get paid even less and we cant find any daft enough to work for that sort of money. A one bed flat in this area costs £120k. Big trouble is in the offing.
Having left the RAF in 1970, I do not have a pension, fortunately, my wife works a 35 hour week in an office. If she gets it wrong, no-one dies. She doesn`t get wet. She gets more holiday than I do. She gets a better pension deal than I do. She earns more than I do ( even with the overtime and weekends). I should go and get a job with B&Q but I like aeroplanes and the people I`m with and I can`t be bothered to start again again. I`ve only got 3.5 years to go.
Mike W
Having left the RAF in 1970, I do not have a pension, fortunately, my wife works a 35 hour week in an office. If she gets it wrong, no-one dies. She doesn`t get wet. She gets more holiday than I do. She gets a better pension deal than I do. She earns more than I do ( even with the overtime and weekends). I should go and get a job with B&Q but I like aeroplanes and the people I`m with and I can`t be bothered to start again again. I`ve only got 3.5 years to go.
Mike W
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contractors
i was at cranwell in the early 90's when the contractors were talking about going on strike. one point worth noting is that cranwell(where air engineers are trained) has raf atc. personally i think contractorisation is one of the most short sighted ideas ever thought of by mod. i know it was done to supposedly save money but as has been said before what happens when blokes retire? another major problem is that most of the blokes at cranwell were exsncos, a lot of them had big problems remembering that they were ex service. they didnt like an sac calling them mate or pal!
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Quelle Surprise!
The writing has been on the wall for some time now. The contractors employed lots of ex-military workers who, as the market was generally flooded with qualified, but un-licensed engineers, were willing to accept lower wages because of this and often they had a pension (though often not too).
Many of the managers too were ex-military types and it all relied on the "can do" attitude that the military encourages (or at least used to). The contractors are always being forced by the shareholders to increase profits and often the only way to do this is to squeeze the workforce. Suddenly, all that goodwill and "can do" is transformed into bad will and "can't do".
By treating their personnel with disdain the contractors are reaping the harvest of their own tightfistedness and poor management (what do you expect if they rely on ex-military managers?). These hard working and skilled people who are waking up to their rights and threatening to strike. Good on them.
As for the Air Force, well... Serves the MoD right for thinking it can economise on the defence of a Nation.
Many of the managers too were ex-military types and it all relied on the "can do" attitude that the military encourages (or at least used to). The contractors are always being forced by the shareholders to increase profits and often the only way to do this is to squeeze the workforce. Suddenly, all that goodwill and "can do" is transformed into bad will and "can't do".
By treating their personnel with disdain the contractors are reaping the harvest of their own tightfistedness and poor management (what do you expect if they rely on ex-military managers?). These hard working and skilled people who are waking up to their rights and threatening to strike. Good on them.
As for the Air Force, well... Serves the MoD right for thinking it can economise on the defence of a Nation.
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Frankly, I hope the contractors DO go on strike - it might give a just-in-time wake-up call to the powers that be. Many of us have been saying for years that civilian contractorisation brings with it a raft of problems. But nobody was listening. The accountants held sway.
Now we have large chunks of the Service that cannot be deployed; therefore those left in uniform take a heavier belt of deployed service, to the detriment of quality of their lives, as well as all but destroying family life. I do not exaggerate - we are so short of chefs, for example, that when a major deployment takes place, centralised messing instantly comes into force, and the uniformed guys get a major hammering time after time after time. No wonder they see the grass greener on the outside - not for the money particularly, but for better quality of life.
A strike by contractors in the training machine seriously disrupts training further down the line; thus OCU output gets affected and the Sqns end up short of bodies - to the detriment of operational effectiveness.
Civilianisation might look good on paper, but until you wrest control of the Armed Forces from the bean counters, renouned for their stock question 'quantify operational effectiveness in monetary terms' (impossible of course), this country will watch what was once the finest Air Force in the world reduced to a much less effective domestic police force.
Now we have large chunks of the Service that cannot be deployed; therefore those left in uniform take a heavier belt of deployed service, to the detriment of quality of their lives, as well as all but destroying family life. I do not exaggerate - we are so short of chefs, for example, that when a major deployment takes place, centralised messing instantly comes into force, and the uniformed guys get a major hammering time after time after time. No wonder they see the grass greener on the outside - not for the money particularly, but for better quality of life.
A strike by contractors in the training machine seriously disrupts training further down the line; thus OCU output gets affected and the Sqns end up short of bodies - to the detriment of operational effectiveness.
Civilianisation might look good on paper, but until you wrest control of the Armed Forces from the bean counters, renouned for their stock question 'quantify operational effectiveness in monetary terms' (impossible of course), this country will watch what was once the finest Air Force in the world reduced to a much less effective domestic police force.
