Reserve days off especially saturdays!!

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

I will ask the question WHY IS MY UNION not doing anything about this grossly unfair working practise I don't hold out much hope when the chips are down they just like the all rest.. I will say till I am blue in the face the union should look after ALL its members not just the majority and feck the minority

Maxxy3 · Post by **Maxxy3** » 27 Feb 2016, 15:51

toomuchcoke wrote:
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?

In our office every job has longs and shorts, Tuesday being by far the shortest for obvious reasons.

So over 6 weeks you work 6x39 hours, but on the week where Tuesday is your day off you work 40-41, and the weeks where you have Wednesday and Thursdays off you work less than 39. Also reserves get paid up to the longs and shorts, so financially they should be no worse off for having a Tuesday off.

It's better than having the same time everyday, but like I said, people take advantage of it when booking their annual leave.

Also, like you people book off long weekends with their holiday, but more often than not they book it the week after they have had Saturday off.

Post by **bustedflush** » 27 Feb 2016, 18:23

Lots of reasons re. Saturdays.

1. - You need to go on the Wally Week. This guarantees you 12-13 Saturdays off per year.
2. - Old timers who work the 1 day per week system have 1 long weekend in 5. So you need to cover Sat/Mon.
3. - Cronyism - managers will bribe a docket whore for a favour by offering a Saturday off - you'll end up covering it.
4.- Sickness. Saturday is the most common single shift missed. Another reason rotas aren't posted until you come back Saturday.
5. Seniority - Seniors will always pick it for leave.

The job of a reserve is far more pressurized and stressful than a duty-holder's. Yes, maybe they deserve some recompense for this, but it'll never happen as we all need to be paid the same. The retention rate for new starters at RM is appalling. I was told 1/9 after 6 months. This thread is yet another contributory factor.

IcanthelpthewayIam · Post by **IcanthelpthewayIam** » 27 Feb 2016, 20:06

P739 wrote:I will ask the question WHY IS MY UNION not doing anything about this grossly unfair working practise I don't hold out much hope when the chips are down they just like the all rest.. I will say till I am blue in the face the union should look after ALL its members not just the majority and feck the minority

so the union have secured an agreement which gives all staff duty holders and reserves equal rights to the same amount of saturdays off, if it's not happening locally you should be asking your union rep why not as he has the ammunition to demand it provided by the union nationally, if he is not using said ammunition then it's a problem with your rep not doing his job, vote him out and get someone who will

P739 · Post by **P739** » 28 Feb 2016, 12:16

Can you show me where this is written down so I can print it off so I have something to back up my argument thanks

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 28 Feb 2016, 13:09

Saturday Attendances

In addition to the above it is jointly recognised that Saturday attendances and in particular
the number of Saturdays worked require special attention in order to meet the aspirations
of employees and the needs of the business.

In recognition of this Royal Mail and CWU commit to providing more Saturday off options as
part of improved attendance patterns for delivery employees. We have jointly explored and
identified a number of options/opportunities to maximise the number of Saturdays off.
Whilst the precise number of Saturdays off and the aspirations of employees will vary from
unit to unit, both parties believe we can deliver cost effective and reliable options that will
maximise the number of Saturdays off for those who wish them. Royal Mail and CWU
commit to achieving at least 1 in 4 Saturdays off for the majority of employees (including
reserves) during the roll out of the operational transformation programme. In some
circumstances this may be exceeded utilising jointly identified options to provide 1 Saturday
off in 2 or 3.

Page 25 >>>>> http://www.cwu.org/assets/cwu/legacy-as ... -_2010.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

rubberbond · Post by **rubberbond** » 01 Mar 2016, 20:41

As I have not had a Saturday off for well over a year, I was thinking about writing to Moyà about this, anyone on here beat me to it, if so what was the reply?

IcanthelpthewayIam · Post by **IcanthelpthewayIam** » 02 Mar 2016, 11:24

rubberbond wrote:As I have not had a Saturday off for well over a year, I was thinking about writing to Moyà about this, anyone on here beat me to it, if so what was the reply?

writing to moya about it will work, but have you tried writing to your dom about it first? as Doms don't like it when their mismanagement starts having a paper trail, you will probably find that sorts the matter if it doesn't then by all means write to moya just that writing to moya in first instance may put a big target on your back with a pissed of dom where as a stern letter to him may only slightly annoy him to get the same result

rubberbond · Post by **rubberbond** » 02 Mar 2016, 18:58

zx135 wrote:
rubberbond wrote:As I have not had a Saturday off for well over a year, I was thinking about writing to Moyà about this, anyone on here beat me to it, if so what was the reply?

writing to moya about it will work, but have you tried writing to your dom about it first? as Doms don't like it when their mismanagement starts having a paper trail, you will probably find that sorts the matter if it doesn't then by all means write to moya just that writing to moya in first instance may put a big target on your back with a pissed of dom where as a stern letter to him may only slightly annoy him to get the same result

Thank you, i will follow your eminently sensible advice. It is funny you mention targets,because I did consider the grievance procedure,however I prefer to remain a low profile moving target.

Post by **newbie2011** » 06 Jun 2016, 18:53

reading the link containing the national agreement is interesting. I am a reserve and always photograph the rota when it goes up for the following week, on Saturday of course. often I've been spoken to for booking appointments and stuff during work time, admittedly I have occasionally booked it for close to the end time if that was all available, thinking if I work quicker on my round, I can make it. The phg criticize me, even though they often cover each other. The start of week one, I noticed several other reserves having many Saturdays off, by week 10, two have had 5 off, two have had one off, and i'm the only one who hasn't had one off. When I spoke to the union rep, I was told I need to request it, but that's not guaranteed, so best bet it to book it as annual leave. When I mentioned those with 4 and 5 Saturdays off, I was told they'd have requested it. When I then told my manager I'd cancel my week's annual leave this week, as I no longer needed it, and I knew they were struggling this week, but I needed the Saturday off still, maybe as a rest day, it was put as a days annual leave. Feeling rather frustrated as it appears to be one rule for one, and one for the others. if it goes on seniority, there's about ten reserves, and i'm third in seniority. Separate but similar question, if you're on a duty for the week, which was originally the duty of another reserve for that week (same duty all week), but that reserve went sick at the end of the previous week, so I was shifted onto that duty for the week.....made plans etc. then on Monday when I came back to the office, was told the other bloke was coming back the next day, and I'm now on different duties all week, is this right? I understand we're both reserves, but seems a bit unfair?

Post by **newbie2011** » 07 Jun 2016, 13:42

since I was able to work every Saturday due to childcare, which was December 2014, since that time, I have had one Saturday off other than holiday days, which was August last year. Next week, I'm doing the duty of a guy who's on holiday, and his day off would be Saturday, but oh what a surprise, I have Tuesday off!

fishtank · Post by **fishtank** » 07 Jun 2016, 15:41

I'm not sad enough to trawl through the calendar a year in advance to book my annual leave around my day off.
If I need the extra day for a flight I give them plenty of notice and use a spare day, it's never been an issue for any of our guys.
Some of your managers are cocks.

postslippete · Post by **postslippete** » 07 Jun 2016, 16:59

The deal is one in five Saturdays

So if you have worked for 5 months (or 20 weeks) then you should have had at least 4 Saturdays off - and not just because you had annual leave in those weeks!

And if it were me, I would kick up a real big fuss about it with the union and manager. I would raise a grievance and be prepared to upgrade it to stages 2 and 3 because they probably don't give a rat's ar*e about your work-life balance. Those that pussyfoot about, not wanting to be a 'target' end up being an even bigger target when it comes to even fewer Saturdays off. So they might put you on a duty that is the pits next week with Tuesday off? Simple. Just deliver what you can and let your boss do the rest. I would be tempted to leave a few more loops behind if they started being funny but as long as you follow the overrunning procedure and stand your ground, they tend not to walk all over you, probably like your fellow reserves. And I know because Ive been one

Post by **POSTMAN** » 08 Jun 2016, 15:57

In most cases, probably the majority...
It's NOTHING to do with annual leave.
It's NOTHING to do with shift patterns.
It's NOTHING to do with 'Bob' or 'Sue' planning in advance.
It's NOTHING to do with whether Tuesday night is due a full moon.

It's to do with w@nkey managers, w@nkey union reps and w@nkey colleagues who don't give a f**k.

viking1488 · Post by **viking1488** » 08 Jun 2016, 18:23

POSTMAN wrote:In most cases, probably the majority...
It's NOTHING to do with annual leave.
It's NOTHING to do with shift patterns.
It's NOTHING to do with 'Bob' or 'Sue' planning in advance.
It's NOTHING to do with whether Tuesday night is due a full moon.

It's to do with w@nkey managers, w@nkey union reps and w@nkey colleagues who don't give a f**k.