perhaps the lack of staff in SY on Christmas Eve may be related to the withdrawal of all endorsements of a contract (awa) ALM midday 23rd.
the ALM went home, non operational, at the beginning of the shift (1200 on 23rd) leaving that shift and the next three (24,25,26 Dec) needing to be replaced.
this ALM, a supposed ground specialist that has not exercised any ground control for at least two years, has been stood down on 'human factors' grounds for "read back/hear back" and delivery errors on Clearance Delivery 133.8 the only operational endorsement held, (apart from overall tower supervisor - SY TWR staff will testify to this individuals competency or lack of in this regard.)
the mail is that this individual is pissed he missed out on VR and is going for LOEQ.