@rob788
That's a good question to ask, as some jobs have not had a 'restructuring initiative' and still have British Rail type enhancements to unsocial hours etc.
Great Northern Shunters (Ground Shunters, not Shunter Drivers) are an example of this.
As answered above, the Shunter Drivers at Three Bridges pay is 'all in', with the exception of Sundays.
The working week is 35 hours over 4 days, Monday - Saturday, and 1 in 3 Sundays rostered on top in addition.
So there aren't any enhancements except if you work overtime. It's a 'clean salary' with all previous unsocial hours payments that there were years ago, wrapped up in the basic pay. As mentioned, all Sundays worked are overtime, and you'll be rostered 1 in 3, so if you work these, you will earn a bit more.
I posted a roster of Three Bridges Shunter Drivers in another thread here:
https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/shunter-driver-three-bridges.215345/#post-5076544
There are 4 Early duties, 4 late, and 4 nights Monday to Saturday, and 2 Early, 2 Late, and 2 Nights on Sunday.
There doesn't appear to be any 'spare' cover, which there is in Mainline 'links' (rotas), so any leave or sickness appears to need to be covered with overtime.
You can make yourself available to work a Rest Day and could be rostered to cover an uncovered duty. This is done on a count system, so out of everyone who's said they are available to work a rest day that day, the person with the least rest days worked that year gets the overtime first. The caveat is that you must have 12 hours rest between every duty you work, so if you were lates, you couldn't work an early the next day. If you were nights, you couldn't work a late the next day.
There may be the possibility of volunteering to cover part of a duty before or after your rostered duty. For example, if you were Lates, and there was an uncovered Early, you could volunteer to come in at 11:15. The maximum daily spell you can work is 12 hours, and you'd need 12 hours rest from your late the previous day that finished at 23:15.
If this happens, it's likely that people volunteer for that kind of overtime nearer the time, to allow plenty of opportunity for anyone to volunteer for the whole shift as rest day work.
You've correctly stated that Shunter Driver is not a guarantee to Mainline Driver. However it is in the 'line of promotion' to Mainline Driver, and represented by the ASLEF union.
Mainline Drivers at Thameslink get 'time plus 55%' for Sundays. I don't know for certain if that's what Shunter Drivers get as well but the additional approximately £5k mentioned in Javelin_55's post above would fit with this.
Part time.
If you are asking, "Is the way from Shunter Driver to Mainline Driver via Part-Time Mainline Driver as it appears to be at C2C?" then the answer is no. Thameslink Mainline Driver vacancies have all been and, as far as I know, all currently planned to be, full-time. So the 'pathway' to Mainline Driver at Thameslink is to
be successful in applying for a full-time Mainline Driver position.
There have been three or four Shunter Drivers who have successfully gained Mainline positions at Three Bridges recently.
If you're asking, "Could I go part-time?" you would need to apply for accommodated hours, or find someone to job share with, and then wait to see if the company would agree.
I don't think there are any Shunter Drivers part-time currently.
There are limited numbers of Mainline Drivers who are either part-time (three days a week), or job share (sharing a line of work, so 2 days each, and then apportioning the rostered Sundays between them as they come around).
The 'limited numbers' are because the working hours are less, but it's still a full uniform allocation that needs supplying, and a periodical medical which needs paying and where a shift needs covering, and a rules recertification where a shift needs covering and a manager has to do assessments and admin the same as a full-time employee.
If you wanted Part-time Mainline Driver at Thameslink, you would need to gain a full-time Mainline Driver position first, before a (not guaranteed) request to go part time or job share.
www.gtrailwaycareers.com
