Previous comments have suggested that neither unions or TOCs want it - "all far too difficult" !!
The unions themselves want it . It is in the ASLEF charter . And it has always been RMT policy to try and secure full employment with a clean salary which means getting rid of a reliance on overtime to secure more jobs . Bringing sundays inside the week would do this .
There as with most things are differences of opinion between individual traincrew . But ultimately when something is in the charter of the union if it is offered by the company on favourable terms it will become part of the contract .
Staff want Sundays outside of the working week. Sundays inside is not going to happen.
Not so quick . Aslef and the RMT have negotiated for sundays inside the working week at many other TOC's . As above it is part of the charter of ASLEF and is part of RMT policy to have no systematic reliance on overtime . Sundays will eventually end up inside the working week at Northern regardless of the views of individual train crew .
I caution you once again about listening to the table banging messroom lawyers , they are often the ones not attending their respective unions branches or with the ears of their respective unions company council reps . They dont actually have any sway .
I suspect given ongoing discussions it will become part of the working week for drivers long before it does for conductors . The RMT is not really talking about much else with the company given the dispute .
Did the point completely fly over your head ?
Not enough Drivers to cover the work : Where there is an depot establishment there is a fixed ration of Drivers vs turns. Sundays are extra so you are still very limited to how much cover can be provided. Should there be an increase in the number of STP diagrams for example; you lose the flexibility to cover the work.
Exactly . Currently monday to saturday there are a ratio of traincrew shown spare in the links who can then be utilized by resource planning to cover any jobs they sign that come up "on the week" because of AL / Sickness / Traincrew brought off on medical or competency grounds . Then there are also a contingent of rostered standby crew who cannot be utilized by resource planning who are then used by shift managers and control for "on the day" shortages like someone booking sick at the last minute , people turning in late or having incidents or getting involved in substantial delays .
However on a sunday there are no rostered spare in the link . There are some rostered standby turns but nowhere near the ratio of spare on a Monday to Saturday . This can cause issues when someone would be booked Sunday but they are not available to work it because of various reasons such as (refusing to work altered diagram /annual leave / Long term sick / Not allowed to work trains for whatever reason) . If there is not a sufficient number of volunteers who sign the jobs or who can catch the work because of working hour restrictions then you have jobs being uncovered .
As for the agreement for drivers on the west at Northern . They are supposedly bound by local agreement to work a booked Sunday if no other volunteer can be found to work it . It would be interesting to see it challenged because there is a massive imbalance in favour of the company . I cannot see how there could be any formal consequences for breach of the agreement by an individual .
