Caractacus,
I have the DHL contract infront of me and can assure you that it does not mention any rostering agreement and the FTL scheme is yet to be approved. As you correctly state, "the carrot" being offered by Walton Churchill, not DHL, is 4 on / 4 off. To be honest I can't see how it can be commercially viable. I guess it'll drift towards 4 on / 2 off.
The pension on offer is still 10-15% and will probably set at the lower end or as the market dictates.
The set-up looks good. Lots of cash has been spent so far (Tref's good at that) and it all seems professional. I've been assured that the current MD (TJ) will be there only 9 months before returning to DHL Europe from whence he came.
If you take it all at face value, it has a good feel.
Despite all that, I'm un-decided!
Brgds