Originally Posted by
blubak
I would have thought that working to a published roster was exactly what syd trains would be expecting of their employees.
Getting quite off topic but....
On the contrary, ST publishes a "Master Roster" for each depot, that has dozens of different lines on it, each line corresponds to an individual driver, and tells them what specific job they'll be doing each day, so the Driver can roughly plan their lives, as each specific job has details of each train they'll drive throughout the shift. What ST has been doing - due to chronic understaffing - is swapping driver's jobs between them, or requiring a, say, Sydney Central driver to cover Hornsby working, and in turn, stuffing them around by getting them home later than their (original, Central) roster said. The other problem that is ongoing is the rostering of Driver's to repeatedly work on their RDO's and getting peeved when they refuse. This is the norm, rather than the exception and is solely due to ST not having enough staff, to the point they're basically running the network on the goodwill of the crew doing overtime.
A rough corollary would be rocking up to work a nice 0900-1700 day flying Syd-Bne-Mel-Syd triangle and being told "Oh, the previous crew booked off sick, and we're still short over west, so now you're doing Syd-Drw-Per-Kta-Per-Kta-Per-Syd and getting home god knows when. CityRail had this very same issue back in 2004 when crews got jack of working continuous OT and said
"Enough's enough. Family time is more important!" and the network virtually collapsed then too. Everything old is new again...
The other point the union is making regards the new
NIF Mariyung trains and the ST dream to have them setup as Driver-Only-Operation, with no Guards on board, and the associated job losses. I've worked DOO freighters for 12 years and wouldn't wish DOO working in the Sydney Metro passsenger network on anyone. Yes, I know it
can be done, but I firmly believe it
shouldn't be done...Driver-Only working, especially on freighters, is quite enjoyable if you're a bit introverted but the way in which ST (and Metro in Melbourne) want it to be done is not as safe as having a Guard on board, no matter what the Transport Minister says...