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Will ASLEF fight to keep stay at home spare after Coronavirus?

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Jlob2804

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Will ASLEF fight to keep stay at home spare after Coronavirus? I've heard on the grape vine that they will but what do people think?
 
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bramling

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Will ASLEF fight to keep stay at home spare after Coronavirus? I've heard on the grape vine that they will but what do people think?

Doubt it. The whole point of a spare is that they can be assigned a job at a moment’s notice. ASLEF should know this as much as anyone.
 

Jlob2804

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I just thought it might be that the company says you can't have a pay rise which is fair enough due to the economy etc and ASLEF might say we accept that if we keep stay at home spare?

Maybe wishful thinking on me and our reps part then, as it is obviously a problematic concept.

I've just realised the last few months that stay at home spare has value. As much value as a pay rise potentially.
 

theironroad

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I just thought it might be that the company says you can't have a pay rise which is fair enough due to the economy etc and ASLEF might say we accept that if we keep stay at home spare?

Maybe wishful thinking on me and our reps part then, as it is obviously a problematic concept.

I've just realised the last few months that stay at home spare has value. As much value as a pay rise potentially.

I'd suggest it has some limitations. While you can do your own thing to an extent, you are technically 'at work' and bound by all rules that come with that and obviously have to ready to get to work at moment's notice.

Especially during disruption, AO and Cover crew in a messroom are deployed at a moment's notice to do a shunt, cover a late PNB etc and there's often very little or no advance warning. The first a DRM might know about it is a call from control demanding to know why there is no crew on a service.

Having said that, a optimal daily attendance sheet would never have anyone left AO and any last minute unplanned non attendance such as late sickness would be covered by the cover crew.

If and when a full or fuller timetable returns there will be a lot less AO as there is a ever increasing training backlog for both productive and trainee drivers.

What could possibly work is a well planned base roster is certain spare turns being marked up as stay at home, so that if there is a surplus of AO, say due to engineering work, then some could stay at home while a small number are brought in on site.

I believe some airlines do run a dual system, where some crew are sitting on site while others have to report within a fixed period, maybe 2 hours. However, there is also a difference in operation of a airline and a railway, so not sure if it would translate successfully.

I think everyone would like it to stay, whether they'd be willing to forego pay rises or other changes to t&c is debatable.
 

vikingdriver

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Certainly during engineering work or when the 'snow plan' is brought in to use having 'home spares' would be a useful thing to consider going forward. I'm sure we've all been in a messroom full of spare traincrew when engineering work has massively thinned the service out, those actually with a job can't sit down for their grub break, and the resource managers seem reluctant to do anything to manage the situation and number of people at their disposal. It should be good practice in the post pandemic world rather than linked to anything else.
 

Jlob2804

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It seems like people aren't opposed to it staying on the whole (which I suppose is to be expected), but realistically speaking if it were to stay it would probably take a different form and would need to be voted in etc which may be a tall order.
 

357

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My TOC resumed spare turns at work months ago. Shunters are now apparently spare at home again, but mainline drivers still coming in for spare turns.
 

jamesst

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Whats this spare turn madness you're talking about?? We've barely got the staff to run the covid timetable!!
 

theironroad

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Whats this spare turn madness you're talking about?? We've barely got the staff to run the covid timetable!!

We do have a fair few spare at moment since the timetable was downgraded again when this lock down started. During the first lockdown and over summer they were heavily relying on free Day working.

Won't last once the rostered leave picks up and not sure of the new government extra clinically vulnerable will change things as well.
 
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