Strike over "sickie"

[Lugy]

Haven't seen this posted in here;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-16620288

Saw this in the paper at work (granted it was a red top). So what ASLEF is saying, is that it's okay to call a sick day to cover seeing a football game. I know in my contract that's seen as gross misconduct and depending whether he was given sick pay it could be seen as fraud IMO.

[Blib]

Nothing that train and tube drivers strike over surprises me any longer.

[EDLT]

Is it still 1970 in Scotland? If he wasn't in the union he'd have been sacked.

[ninja-lewis]

Someone posted some more details on a railway forum - it may or may not be accurate:

said:

The staff member in question had apparently been granted lieu leave for the day in question and had made his plans accordingly.

Scotrail management then decided to unilaterally and without preamble, cancel all previously granted leave.

Why?

Scotrail drivers at that time had decided to withdraw from working overtime in protest of staffing levels. In short they felt the company relied too heavily on drivers working extra shifts to fulfil the rostered workload and they wanted the company to increase the complement of drivers to meet the demands of each depot. The company denied there was a problem so the simplest way to illustrate this reliance was for drivers to withdraw from working overtime.

The management response to this was to cancel all lieu leave despite the fact that an agreement exists which guarantees lieu leave for the first applicant(s) to apply (the exact number of guaranteed lieu days varies per depot and is based on complement size) .

So, having made his plans based on an agreement with the company, plans which involved being out of the country, the driver in question found himself looking at the decision of cancelling everything and swallowing the financial loss involved (flights, hotel etc) or "pulling a sickie" for the day.

In another instance, a driver had taken two lieu days to supplement a weeks annual leave. He was to be off or a week, come back to work for the Monday and Tuesday and then be rest day Wdenesday and Thursday so he took lieu leave for the Monday and Tuesday in order to have a longer uninterrupted break.
Whilst he was on annual leave his lieu days were cancelled without warning or notification so when he returned to work on the following Friday he learned that his lieu leave had been cancelled on the Monday and Tuesday and that he was being docked two days wages.

But it seems utterly baffling that none of the ASLEF announcements mention any of this. Instead they've gone straight for the "Sacking/demotion for one unwise ‘sickie’ in 21 years of working on the railway is deeply, deeply unfair" line - that's from their own website so it's not been twisted by the media or anything.

It's clearly Gross Misconduct and it looks like the driver's service was taken into account hence why the punishment was changed from sacking to demotion. The Union seem to be an absolute bunch of idiots - not just for seemingly failing to defend their member properly but for actually thinking the punishment should be any less for straightforward cases of abusing sick leave.

[Lugy]

EDLT said:

Is it still 1970 in Scotland? If he wasn't in the union he'd have been sacked.

I do wonder at times!

[Disco_Dale]

ninja-lewis said:

But it seems utterly baffling that none of the ASLEF announcements mention any of this. Instead they've gone straight for the "Sacking/demotion for one unwise ‘sickie’ in 21 years of working on the railway is deeply, deeply unfair" line - that's from their own website so it's not been twisted by the media or anything.

It's clearly Gross Misconduct and it looks like the driver's service was taken into account hence why the punishment was changed from sacking to demotion. The Union seem to be an absolute bunch of idiots - not just for seemingly failing to defend their member properly but for actually thinking the punishment should be any less for straightforward cases of abusing sick leave.

If the quote you provided is accurate, then there is certainly more to it than meets the eye.

Can't see why people should be expected to routinely work more than their contracted hours to cover inadequate staffing levels. Most of those being asked to cover have families and all have lives outside their job.

Cancelling all leiu days seems a petty response from the employer and was always going to result in innocent parties being affected.

The union needs some better leadership and some better PR.

[98elise]

Disco_Dale said:

ninja-lewis said:

But it seems utterly baffling that none of the ASLEF announcements mention any of this. Instead they've gone straight for the "Sacking/demotion for one unwise ‘sickie’ in 21 years of working on the railway is deeply, deeply unfair" line - that's from their own website so it's not been twisted by the media or anything.

It's clearly Gross Misconduct and it looks like the driver's service was taken into account hence why the punishment was changed from sacking to demotion. The Union seem to be an absolute bunch of idiots - not just for seemingly failing to defend their member properly but for actually thinking the punishment should be any less for straightforward cases of abusing sick leave.

If the quote you provided is accurate, then there is certainly more to it than meets the eye.

Can't see why people should be expected to routinely work more than their contracted hours to cover inadequate staffing levels. Most of those being asked to cover have families and all have lives outside their job.

Cancelling all leiu days seems a petty response from the employer and was always going to result in innocent parties being affected.

The union needs some better leadership and some better PR.

They will have an overtime clause in their contracts, so it is contracted.

My last contract included a provision for woring evenings and weekends for no extra pay. I regularly had to work long hours when I had a young family. At times I felt like I missed my first born's early years.

Did I bh about it, or down tools.......no. I signed the contract with them, and I as free to walk away and get a different job at any time.

[Johnnytheboy]

This is why I prefer my car. The roads don't go on strike.

[Buff Mchugelarge]

What a piss take.

This country is so soft these days, it's embarrising.

[thinfourth2]

EDLT said:

Is it still 1970 in Scotland? If he wasn't in the union he'd have been sacked.

yeah as the trains and tube down south never have stupid strikes over petty issues

[Blib]

thinfourth2 said:

yeah as the trains and tube down south never have stupid strikes over petty issues

See the second post on this thread.

[Megaflow]

I was going to post this after seeing it this morning. Except I was going to call it 'We Are Screwed Part 2'

Really? I mean really? Is this what this country has become, taking a sickie to watch a fking football match and then taking the company out on strike when you get a bking for it!

Jesus Titty Christ...

If I'd been busted taking a sickie, I'd expect to lose my job.

As for the change in conditions, did he go and explain to his employers that he had commitments for that day off and if they were going to refuse it he wants compensating for his lose, or did he just do as I suspect and fk off with out telling anybody.

Edited by Megaflow on Thursday 19th January 12:15

[oyster]

If that new info is correct then most posters on this thread have got their mouth-frothing a little bit wrong.

It seems the company reneged on agreed days off in lieu. To be docked pay because the company decides to renege on this but not give enough notice to employees sounds disorganised at best and illegal at worst.

As to the sickie guy, that's slightly different, but we don't know the full story yet.

Here's a question. Your boss gives you a day off in lieu because of lots of weekend work you've been putting in. You make the day off a Friday and book a weekend away with a Mrs. With a few days to go, the company then withdraws the lieu day and you stand to be left several hundred pounds out of pocket - what would you do?

[maix27]

98elise said:

Disco_Dale said:

ninja-lewis said:

But it seems utterly baffling that none of the ASLEF announcements mention any of this. Instead they've gone straight for the "Sacking/demotion for one unwise ‘sickie’ in 21 years of working on the railway is deeply, deeply unfair" line - that's from their own website so it's not been twisted by the media or anything.

It's clearly Gross Misconduct and it looks like the driver's service was taken into account hence why the punishment was changed from sacking to demotion. The Union seem to be an absolute bunch of idiots - not just for seemingly failing to defend their member properly but for actually thinking the punishment should be any less for straightforward cases of abusing sick leave.

If the quote you provided is accurate, then there is certainly more to it than meets the eye.

Can't see why people should be expected to routinely work more than their contracted hours to cover inadequate staffing levels. Most of those being asked to cover have families and all have lives outside their job.

Cancelling all leiu days seems a petty response from the employer and was always going to result in innocent parties being affected.

The union needs some better leadership and some better PR.

They will have an overtime clause in their contracts, so it is contracted.

My last contract included a provision for woring evenings and weekends for no extra pay. I regularly had to work long hours when I had a young family. At times I felt like I missed my first born's early years.

Did I bh about it, or down tools.......no. I signed the contract with them, and I as free to walk away and get a different job at any time.

Wow, just wow. You put your job above knowing your kid?! Is any job worth that?

And you're also saying that you wouldn't have rather been in a union that could have supported you if you didn't work these long hours and decided not to? Surely that's like hanging of a cliff and saying' someone threw a rope down and I decided I was going to climb it myself'.