Originally Posted by
28right
What shift pattern is being worked, that gives only one day off in ten? The UK ATCs at most units operate a 5 team system on a 10 day repeating roster, with a legal limitation of controller duty hours. They have had that since 1996, is Sydney ATC not operated with similar conditions.
Firstly, Sydney Tower (and the rest of Australian ATC for that matter) don't work in teams as you have in Heathrow or Gatwick.
The roster pattern is based on two sets of rules, Principles of Rostering (or Hours of Work) that defines the length of shifts, the number of hours between shifts, the minimum and maximum number of shifts in a block of shifts, the minimum number of hours between blocks of shifts. These rules are listed in the Enterprise Agreement (Industrial agreement). Sydney Tower has blocks of shifts that contain 3, 4 or 5 shifts in a row, and it is the overtime shifts that could mean an ATC might work 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or even 10 shifts in a row. A combination of regular and overtime shifts. At 10 shifts in a row, then the ATC must have a day off. Once again these rules are listed in the Enterprise Agreement.
Overlaying the Enterprise Agreement Principles of Rostering (or Hours of Work) is another rule-set, well actually two sets of FRMS rules. One set of rules must be applied when a roster is published (the Strategic rules) and another set of rules that need to be applied when allocating overtime or initiating changes to a published roster (the Tactical rules).
The Enterprise Agreement rules of a maximum of 10 shifts in a row has existed for about 30 years and pre-dates NATS legal limitation of controller duty hours by nearly a decade. What hasn't happened is that the maximum 10 shifts in a row rule should have been brought back incrementally to 9, 8 or even 7 shifts in a row.
Unfortunately the Australian ATC system is heavily reliant on individual giving up their day off to cover short term and long term absences (and in some cases, training and projects).
And, the Enterprise Agreement also dictates that an ATC only has to give 2 weeks notice to resign (it takes roughly 2 years from when HR places the advertisement in seek.com until the person is licensed to work in ATC).