Its as I said you can’t pick and chose if a N/A Sunday can’t be covered the persons who’s Sunday it is has to work. The only Sunday you don’t have to work is the middle Sunday of your AL. The G9 Signaller might be not able to cover a Sunday for various reasons , Hidden hours, doesn’t sign the workstation , can’t catch the next booked turn on their roster.
I think the answer to your question is a definitive "it depends". Each individual will have different priorities. Some people would prefer the Sunday off instead of working it despite the money, whatever the grade they are on. Some on the opposite side would be loathed to give one up even if they're a high grade. Depending on staffing and training levels, numbers on annual leave etc and the hunger for extra Sundays, you might be able to have every one covered... or not!
Yep, that’s fair enough. Every location will be different for a variety of reasons.
In my experience they wont ask you about anything like that and wouldn't expect you to know it anyway. You may be asked about the role you're applying for though and what skills and competence you bring to it
On the contrary, the higher grades can actually sometimes be the most cut-throat for Sundays and rest days. There is a lot of averice at the top of the tree and Covid has really brought this to the fore in some people.
It's scored under the Hayes system which is a sort of universal job scoring system. When looking at a regrade quite a lot of stuff is looked at, track miles, route miles, number of signals/points, traffic levels, complexity of layout and number of phonecalls, parties dealt with (station staff/announcer/depots)
Yup, this really is a total "it depends" answer. Within our ROC there are some panels that are pretty short of cover and therefore finding cover for a Sunday can be pretty difficult, whereas other panels it's pretty simple. Also worth noting current 12 hour roster patterns, most rosters have a 3 days either side of a Sunday, and staff will not be played off hidden just to cover that Sunday. (Sickness aside!)
The harsh reality going forwards is that there may be very little in the way of external recruitment for some time... I would suggest that most roles will only be open to internal candidates due to the need to re-deploy the almost certain redundancies elsewhere within NWR? Just my opinion but be prepared if you are an external candidate that there could be a distinct downturn in anything making it to an external advert...
I heard this only last week from a reliable source
That’s pretty poor. What is the union saying about it?
It only came to light about two days ago, so we're awaiting the response from management.
They won't get rid of signallers, that's one job the railway does need. You may find they only start recruiting from within for the time being though
You aren’t paid travel as long as there’s no PDTA involved. You will, however, receive the new grade if you still haven’t been released from your old job 12 weeks after [the date the job closed on the vacancy list] / [the date you were appointed to the job] - take your pick of either based on local HR interpretation of the blue book.
Isn't New St a G9 panel?
Hi , Thanks for replying! The job was advertised as a 2 year FTC G6, based at the control centre in Birmingham. Training to start in September, then field training, then once passed out, qualified at G6. There is a big recruitment drive as the 60 hour as week policy comes in to play, so I was told. They need more trained Signallers.
Yes that's the one.
Have you applied? Did you get an interview?
That rule didn’t apply to our recent recruits, one of whom lives 3 and 1/2 hours away from the location.
Hi yes I applied and have just completed the virtual interview stages - waiting to hear from them now.