However, not being able to make plans because they could decide to change your rota, potentially forcing extra hours onto drivers when gaps aren't filled, drivers working xmas day and new years day, on a 24 hour roster, change of booking on/off locations, flexibility on engineering possessions to change shifts to what the management please plus more. 12 weeks notice period to say you're leaving.
What's wrong with any of that? The "big event days" are what we all know- GNR day, Sunderland Airshow weekend, the Saturdat before Christmas. That clause is there because of the embarrassment caused in May when all the drivers decided to stop at home during the Rugby Champions Cup weekend.
It's there for predictable big events, to stop the annual blackmail at GNR time.
Metro doesn't operate Christmas Day or New Year's Day and there is no indication that is likely to change any time soon.
As for 12 weeks' notice, that is standard for staff in the public sector who are on pay scales high enough to merit a £46k pay packet. So- again- so what?
The race to the bottom. Why aren't these same people complaining about footballers' wages or pilots wages? Comparing to other industries is pointless.
Comparing to other public sector staff with similar responsibilities- nurses, for instance- is entirely fair. These people wanted to be in the public sector, they got what they wanted. There are cons to that as well as pros.
The drivers earn more than my wife, who is doing a specialist job in the NHS which required her to obtain a doctorate- at her own expense- in order to practice. So please spare me the lecture about how terribly terribly awful a pay deal of £46,000 a year is.
As for 15% being "3% a year", how do you work that out? It's 5%- minimum- and 5% is a pay deal every single other person working for a local authority in the north east- or even in the public sector more generally- would bite your arm off for.
Metro doesn't pay it's way, it is heavily subsidised, and it is subsidised by council tax payers earning a damn sight less than the drivers- the average wage up here is HALF of what the drivers were offered. The idea that being paid double the regional average wage is a "race to the bottom" is, quite frankly, laughable. The coppers you expect to come and deal with the ASB get paid £24,000!
Remember that when you're trying to claim you're hard done by.