Reserve days off especially saturdays!!

WJBuck · Post by **WJBuck** » 26 Feb 2016, 17:03

Whats the deal with reserves days off?
I'm a part time reserve and the only way i ever get a saturday off is if the planets align and some otherworldly miracle happens.
Lots of the other reserves in the office are unhappy with not being told what day off they are having until the end of the week sometimes as late as saturday.
Surely everyone is entitled to saturdays off every once in a while, and surely there is the scope to plan a rota out for at least a month in advance, but yet this never ever happens. Is it the same elsewhere? I understand there needs to be scope for sick leave etc but it drives me insane.

yellowbelly · Post by **yellowbelly** » 26 Feb 2016, 17:22

In my short time in RM I've encountered exactly the same.....

If I don't volunteer to work day off, I get Tuesday off, if I volunteer to work day off - miraculously
it would have been any day of the week......

And yes, also often don't find out that I've got a day off (Tuesday!!) till the Saturday.

IcanthelpthewayIam · Post by **IcanthelpthewayIam** » 26 Feb 2016, 17:42

reserves should get the same amount of saturdays off as everyone else, so if an office has a 1 in 4 saturdays reserves should get on average the same amount of saturdays off, I say on average as reserves don't get a rotating day off so it won't necessarily be every 4th saturday off but you should get that amount off so you may need to work 6 saturdays but then should get the next 2 off as long as you average out at 1 in 4, it's part of national agreement if not getting it get your rep to raise a disagreement on behalf of all the reserves

korky · Post by **korky** » 26 Feb 2016, 17:44

yellowbelly wrote:In my short time in RM I've encountered exactly the same.....

If I don't volunteer to work day off, I get Tuesday off, if I volunteer to work day off - miraculously
it would have been any day of the week......

And yes, also often don't find out that I've got a day off (Tuesday!!) till the Saturday.

this subject crops up now & again

most don't realise that having tuesdays off too regular means you're working around 1 hour p/w for free, yes free!
inform your dom on the monday that you will be cutting off 1 hour early on the saturday as you will have worked your contracted hours by then and you definitely don't want overtime,
but be careful what time you get back on other days

Chewster · Post by **Chewster** » 26 Feb 2016, 19:26

I'm a fellow part timer (in contract only, I find myself working more than most full timers!), and I suppose I'd be classed as reserve despite only being trained on two duties. I've been here just over a year now and I've yet to get a Saturday OR a Monday off. I've been on the same duty since November (aside from the odd day to cover sickness) and by all rights, I should have had my long weekend last week as I'd had the Wednesday, then the Thursday, then the Friday. Well in the week in question, I was told that Friday would be my day off. I argued that it should have been Saturday, but the manager told me that as I wasn't on that duty the whole week (had to cover sickness and lapse my normal duty), I wouldn't get the day off. Is he right there or is he just being a cheeky bugger?

WJBuck · Post by **WJBuck** » 26 Feb 2016, 20:45

Chewster wrote:I'm a fellow part timer (in contract only, I find myself working more than most full timers!), and I suppose I'd be classed as reserve despite only being trained on two duties. I've been here just over a year now and I've yet to get a Saturday OR a Monday off. I've been on the same duty since November (aside from the odd day to cover sickness) and by all rights, I should have had my long weekend last week as I'd had the Wednesday, then the Thursday, then the Friday. Well in the week in question, I was told that Friday would be my day off. I argued that it should have been Saturday, but the manager told me that as I wasn't on that duty the whole week (had to cover sickness and lapse my normal duty), I wouldn't get the day off. Is he right there or is he just being a cheeky bugger?

Same goes here with working overtime. What i've found in our place is 1.favouritism has a big effect on who gets the saturdays. and 2. coincidentally ive noticed that myself and other part timers do officially get saturdays about 4-5 times a year but the way that cookie crumbles is when we book a week off. 'Oh your saturday was when you went on holiday. I suppose you did technically have the saturday off though'.
So i'd say cheeky bugger.

yellowbelly · Post by **yellowbelly** » 26 Feb 2016, 21:14

korky wrote: most don't realise that having tuesdays off too regular means you're working around 1 hour p/w for free, yes free!
inform your dom on the monday that you will be cutting off 1 hour early on the saturday as you will have worked your contracted hours by then and you definitely don't want overtime,
but be careful what time you get back on other days

I've seen this mentioned on other threads and perhaps I'm being a bit of a biff, but can you explain why/how?

YB

Pidleypoo · Post by **Pidleypoo** » 26 Feb 2016, 21:23

I've said this before,I'm not far off 10 years now and last year I had 3 Saturday's in total and one of those was because someone was kind enough to swap with me.i complain/argue about this with the Dom and union reps and still nothing is done and its absolutely disgraceful.i cannot remember the last time I had a long weekend and dutys these days aren't up until Saturday's.and if rumours about later start and finish times are true then they become even more important. I am a full timer as well and do not understand why the union do not have an enforceable agreement on this and I know it happens all over the country. Maybe it's because I use trolleys, take my breaks do van checks and start and finish on my time but this is what happens. Absolutely had enough to of this.

korky · Post by **korky** » 26 Feb 2016, 22:34

yellowbelly wrote:
korky wrote: most don't realise that having tuesdays off too regular means you're working around 1 hour p/w for free, yes free!
inform your dom on the monday that you will be cutting off 1 hour early on the saturday as you will have worked your contracted hours by then and you definitely don't want overtime,
but be careful what time you get back on other days
I've seen this mentioned on other threads and perhaps I'm being a bit of a biff, but can you explain why/how?

YB

i suppose it depends on your d/o shift pattern, but the principles the same.
a "DUTY" holder works a 1 in 6 rota and is 39 or 34 hrs or whatever p/w but i'll use 39hrs and i can't be arsed with the exact maths, but,
monday off equates to say 38.5 hours that week, tuesday off 40 hours that week, wed/thu/fri off the same but say 38 hours,sat off

basically over the 6 weeks if you have mon then tues then weds and so on, you will average exactly 39hrs.
but if you get say 5 or 6 shorter tuesdays as day off but adhere to the other start/finish times the you're working nearly a day for free every 6th week
this timetable ONLY works for a duty holder, reserves for once are not considered

i have my own duty and do tell reserves about this and also the rep but afraid in these times they all bitch like hell to others but won't say boo to those who matter.
i really feel for reserves but they are too weak to stand up & too many "i'm alright jacks"

miles_peters · Post by **miles_peters** » 26 Feb 2016, 22:44

reserves are treated like s**t. they are not treated equally. I was a reserve for many years and it caused me so much stress and worry. I wish the union would make a massive issue of this until something was done. I think its disgusting how royal mail get away with treating its employees unequally. they make a massive thing about equal opportunities. its all lies and the union need to step up. using the same old excuse of 'operational needs' is just a pathetic and weak reason.

yellowbelly · Post by **yellowbelly** » 27 Feb 2016, 07:03

Korky, thanks for explanation about the Tuesday day off and the 'working for free' business - as I was looking
at it from my own P/T reserve perspective I couldn't see it and it's not relevant to me, but I now understand how it works from a F/T'er's viewpoint.

Cheers

YB

P739 · Post by **P739** » 27 Feb 2016, 14:06

'you can thank your workmates and union for this sad state of affairs FECK YOU jACK I'm alright arse wipes have better working conditions than reserves FACT Union could not give a flying feck about us my rep even agreed with management when I asked about getting aright Saturday off told i was a reserve you ain't due any boils my fedking blood and obviously my Union pick choose their battles and us reserves are well down the pecking order.. M:arrrghhh

I wonder how they would feel if they were in a reserves shoes

Post by **Pathfinder** » 27 Feb 2016, 14:11

In a completely selfish way I glad to see it is not just me. I have started in August last year part time 5/6 and I've had 2 Saturday's off and 1 Monday. It wouldn't bother me if everyone in the do was the same but it's not and it seems that some seem to get every other Saturday off or at the very least 1/3..

Maxxy3 · Post by **Maxxy3** » 27 Feb 2016, 14:13

As I actually do the rota's you probably won't like my response to this, but here goes.

The reason you get more Tuesdays off and no Saturdays off is your fellow postmen.

As a reserve, you're meant to cover annual leave. If no one who is on annual leave was rota'ed to have a Saturday off, I can't give you Saturday off unless I can cover it with overtime. Everyone who wants to work overtime the rest of the week, doesn't want to on Saturday.

People plan their annual leave around their days off, if you're on annual leave when your day off is Tuesday, you get an extra hour of annual leave. It's not a coincedence how often this happens.

There is no big conspiracy to screw over reserves, fact is I try as hard as I can to look after my reserves, but every week I have no jobs on Tuesdays and loads on Saturdays.

Also if you need a day off, and ask nicely, people will generally bend over backwards to help you.

---

Also, this is why I think there should be an extra allowance for being a reserve. It's far harder to be a reserve than have your own job, and generally most complaints are because you have new postman making mistakes on walks they don't know.
If resevers were paid £1000 extra a year, you would get your best most expierenced postman/women doing the most challenging job. Unfortunately I don't think this will ever be pushed for.

toomuchcoke · Post by **toomuchcoke** » 27 Feb 2016, 14:26

Maxxy3 wrote:People plan their annual leave around their days off, if you're on annual leave when your day off is Tuesday, you get an extra hour of annual leave. It's not a coincedence how often this happens.

I try to plan the usage of my annual leave so that every time I have a week or two off it ends with a long weekend - that way I get an "extra day" of holiday for the same amount of annual leave!

Not sure where that extra hour would come from, given that (in my office at least) Tuesdays are the same length as Mondays. (Well in theory, if not actually in practice.) But I suppose other offices might be different?