May be mentioned somewhere above but I'm interested as to the history of this strange arrangement. A 7 day a week operation where some depot staff (which ones?) are not contracted to work Sundays. Imagine hospitals and emergency services having what must be a unique arrangement.
Is it a legacy of BR or does it go back to the LMS or LNER or even further?
K
It's a legacy from when Sunday was a day of rest, and not many people wanted to go anywhere. It was not efficient to have a full shift on to cart air around.
It was the norm on the railway. Some companies decided to negotiate with staff seeing the increase in Sunday pax.
Some didn't, as they didn't want to spend money. That's basically the top and bottom of it.
It will cost money to implement. Not just in wages, but additional staff, pension, uniforms and management.
Whilst many howl at the moon against doctors and nurses it's very false. I know consultants and GP's and nurses who don't work weekends at all.
As many police officers - their isn't a 24/7 service that all staff are mandated to work every day of the week - Skelton staffing exists in all emergency roles. To say otherwise is simply untrue.
It's complex but also very simple. This talk of implementing different contracts is a very foolish way of trying to change. Firstly it introduces a two tier system that will cause numerous rostering and management issues.
Secondly, it would take 20 years to sort out.
A much simpler way to sort it is through negotiations. It may be costly initially but will solve the problem once and for all.