Get real......
Lets face it people, it is easy to say "if you are too tired to work then call in sick" but it should not have to be up to the individual to ascertain that they are TOO TIRED to work. The culture in Hong Kong does not lend itself to taking time off because you have been working too hard. Unless you are a "dead man walking" you are expected to turn up for work - how many people do you see sitting at the console coughing and sneezing with a lousy head cold when they should be resting at home?
I know of 2 separate occasions where a controller working in Hong Kong called in sick after particularly nasty bouts of insomnia resulted in less than 2 hours of poor sleep prior to a morning shift - on both occasions the controller concerned (a Gweilo no less) was called down to the 4th floor on his return to work and asked for an explanation????????????????????????????????????????????????? ??
The inference taken from the interview was very definitely that "lack of sleep" was not sufficient reason to "take the day off."
The reason that organisations that have anything to do with aviation legislate break and rest periods is because individuals do not necessarily know when they are TOO TIRED. The whole idea of having enforced breaks during shifts and minimum time off between shifts is to ensure that staff do not get TOO TIRED. If these breaks are not enforced either by management, by staff themselves or by staff unions then the only obvious result will be REDUCED PERFORMANCE.
The minimum breaks that are recommended have been decided by experts who have spent years studying the problems associated with controller fatigue and any organisation that decides to reduce these rest periods leaves themselves wide open to legal action in the event of an incident. The sad thing is that the controllers involved also leave themselves open to legal action.
I remember a study that was carried out 4 or 5 years ago relating to controller fatigue - one part of the report stated that driving a car whilst fatigued was in fact more dangerous than driving whilst intoxicated - and who would want/allow a controller to work after a few wigs of vodka ???? (The exception being those few individuals who need it to function at all)
The situation in HK is such that, despite increased numbers of complaints from controllers and a soaring backlog of owed vacation time and TOIL, nothing is going to be done until there is a major incident or, God forbid, accident which can be directly linked to controller fatigue.
Maybe it is time for more than just lazygal to stand up and be counted. Remember, it could be you who is taken down when the colleague next to you screws up because he/she is too tired to function to the best of their ability.