9 day fortnight pattern

ANTO · Post by **ANTO** » 16 Feb 2016, 19:06

Hi, we currently work 9 day fortnight pattern but with looming revision we are told we could be put back on 5 day week.This seems a backward step to me, any comrades have experience or knowledge of this. The system works well.

IcanthelpthewayIam · Post by **IcanthelpthewayIam** » 16 Feb 2016, 19:50

Your office would need to vote to agree changing back to this pattern else it would need to be imposed by rm, If you want to stay as is make sure rep fights it through the ir process all the way

ANTO · Post by **ANTO** » 16 Feb 2016, 20:40

The change is being proposed by rm management after 3 years of successful running. The revision will need 2 additional vans and 30 more core hours spent, NOT SAVED! weekly and we're told this is progress! I will seek advice on raising a disagreement, thanks.

IcanthelpthewayIam · Post by **IcanthelpthewayIam** » 16 Feb 2016, 20:50

This one could potentially be hard to get your office to agree to, if hours getting put in you may find part timers may vote for this due to potential increase in contracted hours

Whysoslowyehcfc · Post by **Whysoslowyehcfc** » 17 Feb 2016, 08:32

ANTO wrote:The change is being proposed by rm management after 3 years of successful running. The revision will need 2 additional vans and 30 more core hours spent, NOT SAVED! weekly and we're told this is progress! I will seek advice on raising a disagreement, thanks.

If the office doesn't want it, then go to disagreement, better still have a vote on a 4 day week, this might suit the staff and management

ANTO · Post by **ANTO** » 17 Feb 2016, 19:10

Thanks for the input comrades, 9df are a fantastic pattern and it's a shame to have them removed from an office through slack management.

daveyeff · Post by **daveyeff** » 18 Feb 2016, 11:06

they did it to us over a year ago...we were all on 9 day fornites and 3 weeks on one week off. the UNION told us RM wanted to remove it because there was not enough work on Mondays and Tuesdays to justify the work patterns. we were given a vote for new shift patterns but NOT to keep our 9 day fortnites and 3 over 4s. these shift patterns were not included in the voting strategy. union said if we wanted to keep our existing shift patterns it would mean losing 9 jobs out of the office. we were all very aggrieved and disgusted with the union. even the branch were involved. we felt the reps and branch were in bed with management. we felt it was a smoke screen to rape us of our beloved shift patterns. they got their way and we lost them. 15 people dropped out of the union. we were told they are going to do this nationally. so be prepared to lose them. by the way, we are still inundated with work so it WAS ONE BIG f*****G LIE by them to get what they wanted. with union involvement.

daveyeff · Post by **daveyeff** » 18 Feb 2016, 11:10

Whysoslowyehcfc wrote:
ANTO wrote:The change is being proposed by rm management after 3 years of successful running. The revision will need 2 additional vans and 30 more core hours spent, NOT SAVED! weekly and we're told this is progress! I will seek advice on raising a disagreement, thanks.
If the office doesn't want it, then go to disagreement, better still have a vote on a 4 day week, this might suit the staff and management

they will probably tell them theres not enough work on mon/tues/ and sat to justify four ten hour shifts. they did with us.

Post by **rambo1** » 20 Feb 2016, 20:21

9 day fortnights were fantastic, used to feel much fresher, could go away for a couple of days midweek or a proper long weekend. All that ended a yr ago here. I'm much more knackered now. We were forced into it and 'given' one in fours to 'compensate'. Now they want us on one in sixes. Say the whole business will be on them soon. More efficient. Well I certainly think I worked more efficiently when I was fresher. Short sighted management.

ANTO · Post by **ANTO** » 20 Feb 2016, 22:55

We took on an extra hour of delivery to accommodate the 9 day fortnight, this SAVED the office 7-9 hours overtime for every 3 duty rotation. This also made for a very flexible and accommodating work force due to being able to work/move days off to make sure other duties were covered. Reasons we were given to revise this pattern was that they were harder to manage than one day off in six. This is simply lazy management considering the salary, bonuses and early Saturday finishes for this mngt team. Yet again, the value of goodwill and and a flexible team is underestimated but will come to an end!

IcanthelpthewayIam · Post by **IcanthelpthewayIam** » 21 Feb 2016, 14:35

rambo1 wrote:9 day fortnights were fantastic, used to feel much fresher, could go away for a couple of days midweek or a proper long weekend. All that ended a yr ago here. I'm much more knackered now. We were forced into it and 'given' one in fours to 'compensate'. Now they want us on one in sixes. Say the whole business will be on them soon. More efficient. Well I certainly think I worked more efficiently when I was fresher. Short sighted management.

Why didn't your rep follow the ir process through and fight those changes last time, and also this time round fight them again, rm are really not that willing to impose executive action against disagreements so your rep should fight this all the way

ANTO · Post by **ANTO** » 21 Feb 2016, 15:18

At the moment the plan to revert back to 1 in 6 is has been submitted to senior mngt for approval as not only will put core hour spend up by 30 hours a week but they also need to 2 new vans in the office. This sounds so ridiculous that it just might get approved!

Post by **rambo1** » 22 Feb 2016, 17:22

zx135 wrote:
rambo1 wrote:9 day fortnights were fantastic, used to feel much fresher, could go away for a couple of days midweek or a proper long weekend. All that ended a yr ago here. I'm much more knackered now. We were forced into it and 'given' one in fours to 'compensate'. Now they want us on one in sixes. Say the whole business will be on them soon. More efficient. Well I certainly think I worked more efficiently when I was fresher. Short sighted management.

Why didn't your rep follow the ir process through and fight those changes last time, and also this time round fight them again, rm are really not that willing to impose executive action against disagreements so your rep should fight this all the way

It went to dispute stages but in the end area union just signed it off anyway.

IcanthelpthewayIam · Post by **IcanthelpthewayIam** » 22 Feb 2016, 17:41

rambo1 wrote:
zx135 wrote:
rambo1 wrote:9 day fortnights were fantastic, used to feel much fresher, could go away for a couple of days midweek or a proper long weekend. All that ended a yr ago here. I'm much more knackered now. We were forced into it and 'given' one in fours to 'compensate'. Now they want us on one in sixes. Say the whole business will be on them soon. More efficient. Well I certainly think I worked more efficiently when I was fresher. Short sighted management.

Why didn't your rep follow the ir process through and fight those changes last time, and also this time round fight them again, rm are really not that willing to impose executive action against disagreements so your rep should fight this all the way
It went to dispute stages but in the end area union just signed it off anyway.

If the office had wanted it they could have taken it further up the ir process regardless of what rep or area rep personally wanted

k979aaa · Post by **k979aaa** » 27 Feb 2016, 18:10

rambo1 wrote:
zx135 wrote:
rambo1 wrote:9 day fortnights were fantastic, used to feel much fresher, could go away for a couple of days midweek or a proper long weekend. All that ended a yr ago here. I'm much more knackered now. We were forced into it and 'given' one in fours to 'compensate'. Now they want us on one in sixes. Say the whole business will be on them soon. More efficient. Well I certainly think I worked more efficiently when I was fresher. Short sighted management.

Why didn't your rep follow the ir process through and fight those changes last time, and also this time round fight them again, rm are really not that willing to impose executive action against disagreements so your rep should fight this all the way
It went to dispute stages but in the end area union just signed it off anyway.

Don't forget you are the union if this rep is too cosy in his bed with management you could kick him out and stage a coup!