Floating duty clarification

PostmanTwat · Post by **PostmanTwat** » 02 May 2018, 16:28

Looking for some clarification with regards to floating duties.

I am on a floating duty and cover 5 duties. Regularly one of the duty holders works his day off. And another one gets every Tuesday off, so 5 weeks out of 6 he gets a different day off than what he is scheduled for.

My question is, who has to move in these situations?

Post by **hothothot** » 02 May 2018, 16:37

You do, unfortunately

Post by **ihatedogs** » 02 May 2018, 17:06

I respectfully disagree. Although the OP describes himself as a floater I believe he actually holds a cover duty.
It is his job to cover 5 duties on their day off & as such is a fixed duty.
He cannot be moved from his duty to accommodate someone's overtime & he should be bringing this up with both his rep & DOM.

Post by **hothothot** » 02 May 2018, 17:19

they desperately need people to do overtime and postie's who work overtime get priority over a duty holder managers think it's wrong but that's the way it is. managers can get you to do any duty they want.

rubberbond · Post by **rubberbond** » 02 May 2018, 17:21

hothothot wrote:You do, unfortunately

That's not right, if the duty holder wishes to work their day off,then they should be working another duty other than their own, except in the case of annual leave/sickness etc. The correspondent has a duty to cover 5 walks, therefore that is what he should be doing. That's the way it works in my office and it's a fair system. For Royal Mail at least ,which is unusual.

Post by **hothothot** » 02 May 2018, 17:31

People who work Thier day off in my office say if you want me to work it will have to be on my duty otherwise the answer is no and managers always give in to them it's not fair but that's the way it is.

Celgar · Post by **Celgar** » 02 May 2018, 17:51

If the DO is short staffed and duty holders offer to work their day off to help the office they will usually do their own walks. They are putting themselves out so that seems fair to me. I personally wouldn't come in and do another duty or be sent to another office on overtime. Cover staff have to cover what is left. I realise it isn't fun as we have all probably been cover or reserves when we started working for RM.

Post by **IloveMYredTROLLEY!** » 02 May 2018, 18:13

If I were a day off cover and I was the one always being required to move because the duty holder regularly works thier day off, but only on their own duty, play them at their own game to point out the descrimination...

Offer to come in on what should be a day off for you, if they agree then go in, but insist you do this duty holder's duty. Let the lino and duty holder kick up a stink, if they don't agree, ask why is it ok to move you every time and tell them you are going home.

Post by **Pathfinder** » 02 May 2018, 20:13

I'm meant to have a ''cover'' duty but don't think I've done a full week on the duties i'm meant to cover since I got it!

Such a farce

GT85 · Post by **GT85** » 02 May 2018, 20:22

As above it happens but it's wrong imo, after all the floaters have signed for a duty made up of covering 5 specific walks when those 5 walk holders are on rest day. If you're happy to work random duties you may as well stick with being a reserve.

Luckily in our place the walk holders will normally only agree to work days off on their own duties so long as the floaters don't mind moving.

Seymour Buts · Post by **Seymour Buts** » 02 May 2018, 22:31

If you've signed for a cover group that becomes your duty on that particular day, so they should go reserve because for that day it is your duty and they are spare. In practice though it never happens that way, as others have said most would simply refuse to work their rest day if they were made to go spare.

clashcityrocker · Post by **clashcityrocker** » 03 May 2018, 14:27

Celgar wrote: They are putting themselves out so that seems fair to me.

They are getting paid overtime. How exactly are they putting themselves out?
There are far too many selfish w*****s and far too many spineless "managers".

If I want my rest day cover to move to accommodate me working my day off I ask him/her if it is OK.
That is treating them with dignity and respect.
If they say they don't want to move I respect that decision and I either find something else or I don't work my day off.
I don't expect other people to be inconvenienced for the sake of my overtime.

Celgar · Post by **Celgar** » 03 May 2018, 17:26

clashcityrocker wrote:
Celgar wrote: They are putting themselves out so that seems fair to me.
They are getting paid overtime. How exactly are they putting themselves out?
There are far too many selfish w*****s and far too many spineless "managers".

If I want my rest day cover to move to accommodate me working my day off I ask him/her if it is OK.
That is treating them with dignity and respect.
If they say they don't want to move I respect that decision and I either find something else or I don't work my day off.
I don't expect other people to be inconvenienced for the sake of my overtime.

Our DO is probably different to a lot of others in that it is small with only eleven walks. We have posties to cover for days off and AL but no cover groups - they move about and only do walks they have been trained on. I have been working my days off for a while as we have been really short staffed. The alternative was that either part or likely all of my walk would be left so I would have to deliver two days worth of mail the following day. This isn't fun to do hence I offered to do my walk on overtime. My walk is a rural and is too long so others aren't too keen to do it. We are finally back to being fully staffed now so there is less call to work days off most of the time.
Considering the above I would say I was putting myself out although I was willing to do it. I wouldn't say I was selfish in doing so as it likely wouldn't have been delivered otherwise.

matthew68 · Post by **matthew68** » 08 May 2018, 21:37

clashcityrocker wrote:
Celgar wrote: They are putting themselves out so that seems fair to me.
They are getting paid overtime. How exactly are they putting themselves out?
There are far too many selfish w*****s and far too many spineless "managers".

If I want my rest day cover to move to accommodate me working my day off I ask him/her if it is OK.
That is treating them with dignity and respect.
If they say they don't want to move I respect that decision and I either find something else or I don't work my day off.
I don't expect other people to be inconvenienced for the sake of my overtime.

Totally agree , when I was floating 3 of the duties were working days off and I always had to move,it’s bad enough doing 5 different ways a week as it is so why do I have to change again? Having your own walk is so much easier and the Dom just says it’s just the way it is! They go on about treating people fairly yet only keep moving the same people it really is beyond belief that in this day and age they treat people like this , the double standards of this company is beyond belief

Kesknight · Post by **Kesknight** » 08 May 2018, 22:38

My job is a rest day cover, i've worked for Royal Mail for 31 years. The duty holder wouldn't work his day off if he had to do something else other than his own duty. It doesn't bother me what duty i do, it's only for one day.