Originally Posted by jpa-in
On the subject of HTD -
Happened to mention to some of our civvie-service counterparts the way RILOR was changed to HTD overnight ( mid tour for most ) with a reduction in the rates and the 50 mile capping.
Was greeted with 'gasps' of shock, horror & disbelief and comments of 'we'd never accept that..', ' oooh the unions would throw a right wobbler..' etc....
Anyone else's comments on JPA brought on the same reaction I wonder ?
Funny how HTD was the one of the last things to hit the JSP just before the intro...hmmmm......
Of course nobody else would accept it, which is why it's been introduced to the audience it has! I'm all for the one-way military relationship when we're being shot at or otherwise trying to get the job done, but this shouldn't be used to deny military personnel the right to some residual employment rights that don't interfere with operational output - I didn't sign-up 'anything they want to do to save money'. Work-time regs are another inconvenient law that the MoD
is obliged to follow the spirit of when staff are not on war/ops, but in reality it's routinely ignored except for aircrew and drivers. How many people here are working with less than prescribed manning because of OOAs? See - we shoulder other people's jobs/shifts
routinely.
At some point in the future there will be a truly operation-stopping manpower crisis or, even worse, a defeat of ill-equipped, poorly supported, inexperienced British forces. Although not directly responsible, JPA and it's stealth cuts will undoubtedly feature as contributory in the resultant Bloggs Report as another milestone in the erosion of quality of life.