I'd take 12% as pretty good compensation. Thats more than 10x the going rate for most other grades.
Exactly and lets face it drivers wages since privatisation have rocketed compared to pre privatisation...........
How do those who work for the police, fire service, ambulance, power workers, doctors, nurses, telecommunications etc manage then? Sorry but if you work for a 24/7 operation then you should expect that you might be required to work on Sundays.
I appreciate the family argument (I have kids) but I have CHOSEN to work in a job that doesn't operate on Sundays. Railway workers have. Sounds harsh but that's the reality.
Exactly and lets face it drivers wages since privatisation have rocketed compared to pre privatisation...........
Have you ever considered applying to become a Driver? You seem to grind the salary/Sundays axe whenever posts like this appear. I dont bleat and whinge about your weekends off or Six weeks off for the Summer. Why? Because that was what you expected when you took the job, just like I knew Id be getting a good salary and my Sundays off.
I am probably on slightly the wrong vein but would guess most that do not want sundays are older/more time served??!?!
Yes the 'headline' figure of 12% sounds great but the other tie ons seem to make this not the point which is fair enough
Actually I have considered it but there are not many TOCs willing to take someone off the street and train them up these days. Also I am probably too old at 48 for a TOC to want to take on board.
I will say that moving Sundays into the working week should be negotiated properly by both sides but it should be the norm within any industry that offers a 24/7 service.
Yes - But the RMT are also calling for strike action as well
You are right to a point, most would work Sundays if the remuneration was right, the problem is that the rail companies want i one size fits all, where as indivduals who choose not to work Sundays have their own reasons. I choose not to work Sundays when the company decided to reduce the amount of rostered Sundays from 1 in every 4 to 1 in every 6. But as i have said from May the company want me to work 2 in 4.
48? Still a spring chicken... There were chaps a good bit older than yourself on my course...
Sunday working was never an issue under BR due the far lower pay. People would work every hour they could, plus all the mileage/DOO 'fiddles' in order to up the salary. The Optional Sunday contracts were born out of Privatisation but with Sundays seemingly becoming a regular working day in many industries, particularly retail, Its plain to see why the TOCs are keen to change current practice.
Have you read the thread my dear friend? The reason why i have to ask is that your coming out with the same old, same old argument! I work in a industry where it runs 24/7, yet when i joined on 30 June 1980 i was given the option to opt out on Sundays COMPRENDE! This i have used on and off since i joined and still can. At the moment i have opted out.
You see that is the reality as well, work in 24/7 indudtry and still have the option to opt out of Sunday work.
Your argument about other industries does not wash either because when those staff applied for the job they knew already that Sunday work is a requirement, for us oldies in the rail industry we had and in some cases still have the option to work or not work on a Sunday and if what the company offers is not good enough for me to surrender my sunday option (we all have price as some would say) i will retain that option.
For me to surrender my Sundays i would want a minimum of £5,000 per annum based on future and not current diagrams. I also know the company will offer me no where near that figure.
A lot of people on here will say that i am being greedy, Currently my roster says i work one Sunday in 6, not bad you might say, but from May the company want to run a Saturday style service in other words doubling the amount of services, previously 2 trains on hour to 4 trains an hour. This will require me to work in future of a Sunday work every other week so a minimum of half of the amount of the 52 Sundays that you get in a year. Also when Sundays have become part of the working week the current enhancement you get is automatically withdrawn.
I am surprised they took people on that old? I remember seeing a programme on the TV a while back about an ex teacher who jacked in the job to drive for Great Western and loved it. It did make me think and still does. I do look occasionally have a look at the careers pages of Merseyrail/ATW/Northern to have a look and decide if I want a career change but not seen anything yet.......still time though by the looks of things!
Have to say it really wouldn't bother me to work Sundays as long as I got time off at other times in the week (35 hr week and all that). The pay is comparable to what I am doing now as well.
Yeah, I wouldn't fancy Committed Sundays. What if they want to increase the number of turns on Sundays? Got you then haven't they? Perhaps someone else would've worked your Sunday, but now they have their own booked Sunday to work instead!
I'd have voted no if it was me. Back to the negotiating table please!
Do you know something, I agree. I think it should be the Sundays in the working week for the reasons stated above. My take is that as long as you don't end up working more than you did in the past overall then what's the problem?
The thing is schools are not open more than 195 days a year and never have been. The railways on the other hand operate most days of the year and always have.
I will say that moving Sundays into the working week should be negotiated properly by both sides but it should be the norm within any industry that offers a 24/7 service.
age discrimination is illegal.
Clearly you either haven't read the passed upteen posts or haven't grasped the concept of sunday working.
Sundays outside the working week either equals a pretty much guaranteed day off on the weekends or where worked, a significant source of overtime.
Sunday in the working week removes the day off and removes that source of overtime. You really think staff should give that up for bugger all?
(my bold)
That was scenario B by Woosh above. It is the preferred option for the company, as the individual involved has to do all the work, and the company do not have to employ extra staff to cover the Sundays, which they would have to do if they implemented a true 5 day week.Is it not possible for staff to swap duties between themselves? I believe LU allow this, so long as all parties are in agreement and it doesn't breach their working time rules. Surely, then, the flexibility you describe (being able to work/not work Sundays, so long as overall there exist sufficient drivers to run the service) still exists, it just means the onus is more on the driver than the roster clerk.
That was scenario B by Woosh above. It is the preferred option for the company, as the individual involved has to do all the work, and the company do not have to employ extra staff to cover the Sundays, which they would have to do if they implemented a true 5 day week.
I am not sure if I can rely on the BBC on this occasion but I am wondering, what is the real issues behind the ATW strike.
Are drivers seriously asking for a 12% pay rise over 2 years?
Taking their pay (Or I assume the top level for drivers) to just under 40k?
Year 1
Basic rate increase of 3.7%
Addl payment of 0.8% for introduction of cross cover agreement
Addl payment of 2.5% for committed sundays (No commitment at present)
Sunday booking on payment to be abolished. Sunday pay to be time and a quarter. (At present sunday pay is flat rate plus the booking on payment)
Year 2
4.0% or May 2011 RPI whichever is the greater.
The above has not been voted on by ASLEF members yet. ATW Company council has advised acceptance.