The "How was your day" thread.

[Cucumber]

It's not only against the rules to take all your break at the end of a shift, it's also illegal under the Working Time Directive

Why are you hung up on this? It's happening. All parties involved are fine with it. Im not being forced to take it at the end. It's voluntary. Move on.

Because it is a bit like deciding you won't wear your seat belt.
It isn't your choice. It is the law.
Which other laws are voluntary?

Bit extreme and hardly comparable. I also don't think it is against the law considering there are exemptions and the wording states your employers can't not you can't. INB4 you say something about it being dangerous to not take your break. The offices break is already scheduled before we go out on delivery so everyone is still doing a full walk without a break.

Again though, Why are you lot hung up on it? I know its not because you care about my H&S and it cant be because you care about the publics H&S because of what iv just told you. So why do you care?

RM will just look at it as an excuse to take hours out of your office. Thy;re just going to see it as people finishing early. The bean counters higher up the food chain will just assume that you've taken your break during the shift and not at the end

What about those starting later just now yet finishing at their original time? Plenty of staff doing nothing like their usual amount of hours, but as long as you finish at your old time it'll fly under the radar? There must be thousands of staff starting in the street doing this. Also lots of people starting early/finishing early just now to allow for afternoon shifts. I don't think it's a simple as saying Joe Bloggs is scheduled to finish at 3pm every day, but he's now logging off at 1:30, so that's a 1.5 hour potential saving.

[SpacePhoenix]

What about those starting later just now yet finishing at their original time? Plenty of staff doing nothing like their usual amount of hours, but as long as you finish at your old time it'll fly under the radar? There must be thousands of staff starting in the street doing this. Also lots of people starting early/finishing early just now to allow for afternoon shifts. I don't think it's a simple as saying Joe Bloggs is scheduled to finish at 3pm every day, but he's now logging off at 1:30, so that's a 1.5 hour potential saving.

https://www.royalmailchat.co.uk/communi ... 18&t=96547" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You might want to read through that thread. If GLS does get sold off then RM will be looking to make massive savings, no matter where them savings come from

[Cucumber]

What about those starting later just now yet finishing at their original time? Plenty of staff doing nothing like their usual amount of hours, but as long as you finish at your old time it'll fly under the radar? There must be thousands of staff starting in the street doing this. Also lots of people starting early/finishing early just now to allow for afternoon shifts. I don't think it's a simple as saying Joe Bloggs is scheduled to finish at 3pm every day, but he's now logging off at 1:30, so that's a 1.5 hour potential saving.

https://www.royalmailchat.co.uk/communi ... 18&t=96547" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You might want to read through that thread. If GLS does get sold off then RM will be looking to make massive savings, no matter where them savings come from

My point is that RM simply can't cut hours from any given office based on current ways of working without doing an in depth look at where the money is being spent. Hell, there are people in our DO that are now on hybrid duties finishing 3-4 hours before they used to - but guess what, they are starting 3-4 hours earlier than they did before - are those 3-4 hours fair game? Same with what is being talked about above, instead of a 7:30am full time start, people are coming in at 6am, doing their hours and passing the van over to someone at 1pm instead of after 3pm. Of course, as with any office currently, there are going to be huge inefficiencies owing to the ways of working, but I'd bet a lot of them aren't simply down to people finishing earlier than they used to.

[SpacePhoenix]

RM don't give a s**t how early someone comes in before what their start time is meant to be, all they'll see are people finishing before what their finish time is meant to be

[Cucumber]

RM don't give a s**t how early someone comes in before what their start time is meant to be, all they'll see are people finishing before what their finish time is meant to be

Using that logic, then they must also see people finishing at 7pm, 4 hours AFTER their usual time? (these new afternoon shifts)

And by people coming in early, I'm not talking about staff doing it off their own back for their own gains, I'm talking about management asking people to do so and they are agreeing, to allow for vans to be freed up later in the day. There is absolutely no need for the mail to arrive in our DO and sit there for 90 mins before the main body of staff come in.

[2yearpostie]

RM don't give a s**t how early someone comes in before what their start time is meant to be, all they'll see are people finishing before what their finish time is meant to be

If thats the case then in my place we would be paying 5 people to sit and do nothing as they come in later and go out at 12 when the first vans get back. If the vans werent coming back till 3 then nobody would offer to do afternoons and we would have 5 extra walks fail on top of the 3 we are failing anyway.

WE NEED MORE VANS.

[Cucumber]

RM don't give a s**t how early someone comes in before what their start time is meant to be, all they'll see are people finishing before what their finish time is meant to be

If thats the case then in my place we would be paying 5 people to sit and do nothing as they come in later and go out at 12 when the first vans get back. If the vans werent coming back till 3 then nobody would offer to do afternoons and we would have 5 extra walks fail on top of the 3 we are failing anyway.

WE NEED MORE VANS.

If staff weren't working with some flexibility in mind then practically nothing would be getting done in many offices. However, I'm certain there won't be any more vans made available. The vans still sit there not being used for quite a long time between 7am and 7pm.

[Grumpyoldmailman]

However, I'm certain there won't be any more vans made available. The vans still sit there not being used for quite a long time between 7am and 7pm.

The vans are falling apart on a daily basis up here due to them being worked on double shifts, serious investment needed in a better fleet.

[Cucumber]

However, I'm certain there won't be any more vans made available. The vans still sit there not being used for quite a long time between 7am and 7pm.

The vans are falling apart on a daily basis up here due to them being worked on double shifts, serious investment needed in a better fleet.

Going forward, I think the company would be more inclined to invest in new fleet if they were getting, say, 10 hours 'work' from the majority of vans each day.

[Ren Hoëk]

The offices break is already scheduled before we go out on delivery

And there you have it.
The meal relief has been scheduled (as part of an agreement between RM and the CWU) but the agreement apparently doesn't apply to you.
If you were to have an accident with fatigue playing a critical role RM would point to the agreement that your break was scheduled but you didn't take it.

Legally your break has been scheduled by the business in line with the current working time directive and in line with its agreements with the union.
You choosing to ignore it doesn't negate its lawfulness.

Give it a rest. Our break is two hours into our shift at 8am. Its an agreement between me and my DOM so no, It doesn't apply to me. He knows when he's looking at the actuals to add 40 mins on to mine. I also log the extra on to the paper register. During this time we have come up with different ways of working. If I were to have an accident they would be hard pressed to say fatigue played a part when the fatiguing part of the day is no different to anyone else's. Why have you two latched on to that? You sound just like the bullying assholes im talking about. Why does it bother you so much?

[PostmanBitesDog]

Guys, don't do this. Seriously.

The YouTuber uploaded this an hour ago, saying the postie was kicking the parcel along the pathway. Actually, if you look closely it's more like he's using his foot to slide the parcel along the path. Just pick it up and stack it on the other parcels that are being carried or make another trip from the van.

Good grief.

[clockworkjerk]

It's the law that the employer can't tell you to take it at the end. If it's your choice to do so and the employer allows it, it's no issue.

WRONG!

From: https://www.gov.uk/rest-breaks-work/taking-breaks" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Taking breaks

Employers can say when employees take rest breaks during work time as long as:

the break is taken in one go somewhere in the middle of the day (not at the beginning or end)
workers are allowed to spend it away from their desk or workstation (ie away from where they actually work)

It doesn’t count as a rest break if an employer says an employee should go back to work before their break is finished.

Unless a worker’s employment contract says so, they don’t have the right to:

take smoking breaks
get paid for rest breaks

Don't think the taking all breaks at the end of a shift argument would wash with the HSE

The same exact reason that you don't actually have to sign the opt out form for 48 hours - that merely allows an employer to schedule you for 48 hours, you can still choose to do over 48 hours whether you've signed the form or not.

WRONG!

Did you read what I said? Just incase you didn't, I've quoted what I said in your post ...

When reading these things notice the 'should's - which gives you, the choice. If employer allows, some may, some may not. As bent as you thinkg RM is.... every big company allows these things when circumstances allow.

Basically it's better to sign it as you'll continually get flagged up on the system so they'll keep asking, but it doesn't prevent you choosing to do stuff.

[SpacePhoenix]

Give it a rest. Our break is two hours into our shift at 8am. Its an agreement between me and my DOM so no, It doesn't apply to me. He knows when he's looking at the actuals to add 40 mins on to mine. I also log the extra on to the paper register. During this time we have come up with different ways of working.

The DOM might know but the bean counter higher up the food chain won't know, they'll just see someone finishing before there start time and potentially hours that can be taken out.

If I were to have an accident they would be hard pressed to say fatigue played a part when the fatiguing part of the day is no different to anyone else's. Why have you two latched on to that? You sound just like the bullying assholes im talking about. Why does it bother you so much?

If you don't take your break and you have an accident as a result of fatigue you'll be up for a blameworthy and unless it's in writing the DOM will simply deny giving you permission to take your break at the end of the shift. You'd potentially be up for a conduct code charge and in the current environment you'd probably be sacked

[Ren Hoëk]

Give it a rest. Our break is two hours into our shift at 8am. Its an agreement between me and my DOM so no, It doesn't apply to me. He knows when he's looking at the actuals to add 40 mins on to mine. I also log the extra on to the paper register. During this time we have come up with different ways of working.

The DOM might know but the bean counter higher up the food chain won't know, they'll just see someone finishing before there start time and potentially hours that can be taken out.

If I were to have an accident they would be hard pressed to say fatigue played a part when the fatiguing part of the day is no different to anyone else's. Why have you two latched on to that? You sound just like the bullying assholes im talking about. Why does it bother you so much?

If you don't take your break and you have an accident as a result of fatigue you'll be up for a blameworthy and unless it's in writing the DOM will simply deny giving you permission to take your break at the end of the shift. You'd potentially be up for a conduct code charge and in the current environment you'd probably be sacked

Your first point has been covered by someone else already and as to why that argument just doesn't fly at the moment. I also covered your second point already. It is irrelevant. So why do YOU care so much about it? Why have you latched on to that aspect of my original post and not the main point of it being that our colleagues are just as responsible for the bullying that goes on in RM.

[SpacePhoenix]

Give it a rest. Our break is two hours into our shift at 8am. Its an agreement between me and my DOM so no, It doesn't apply to me. He knows when he's looking at the actuals to add 40 mins on to mine. I also log the extra on to the paper register. During this time we have come up with different ways of working.

The DOM might know but the bean counter higher up the food chain won't know, they'll just see someone finishing before there start time and potentially hours that can be taken out.

If I were to have an accident they would be hard pressed to say fatigue played a part when the fatiguing part of the day is no different to anyone else's. Why have you two latched on to that? You sound just like the bullying assholes im talking about. Why does it bother you so much?

If you don't take your break and you have an accident as a result of fatigue you'll be up for a blameworthy and unless it's in writing the DOM will simply deny giving you permission to take your break at the end of the shift. You'd potentially be up for a conduct code charge and in the current environment you'd probably be sacked

Your first point has been covered by someone else already and as to why that argument just doesn't fly at the moment. I also covered your second point already. It is irrelevant. So why do YOU care so much about it? Why have you latched on to that aspect of my original post and not the main point of it being that our colleagues are just as responsible for the bullying that goes on in RM.

The second point is very relevant. Don't come complaining on the forum when you have an accident from fatigue and potentially get sacked