Quote Originally Posted by bigmarco View Post
There is a ballot ongoing at the moment but it's for action short of a strike. They have done away with framework agreements for the Olympics and have introduced some 9hr 30 min shift at the weekends. The problem is they originally accepted to allocate the duties to volunteers but then they added if there is not enough volunteers they would force drivers to work the shifts.
The problem for me is that if you have 4 SPADS (signals passed at danger) in a 2 year period you lose your job on the trains and they have allowed no let up in this for the Olympic period. So if a driver is already on say 2 spads he doesn't really want to be forced to do longer shifts.
Fortunately at my depot we have more than enough volunteers to do the longer shifts because they do carry an attractive premium.
So there is no danger of a strike it's just a case of giving some drivers protection if they want to stay within current parameters.
I see what you mean. And of course you are more likely to have a SPAD if you are tired...they should know that.