STRIKE 8-hour day centre of our agreements

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The effects on health course builds up. judge by reports from Brad- save money - a mere £9 ford University outlining the million up to 1986. The aim effect of flexible rostering is to break the power of on the continent where the ASLEF and thus make it life expectancy of some possible to introduce any drivers has been reduced to number of productivity 50 years. with Tory policy to drive Working nights on these down the conditions of new shifts you would lose workers in so many industhe equivalent of one night's tries, to break their ability sleep a week and this of to organise.

AN extra twist of the knife in BR's ultimatum is the threat to The sacking decree means that drivers also lose all pension rights beyond the statutory minimum. For the many drivers who are getting near retirement age, this is no small matter. One driver near retirement told us that he stood to lose £10,000. These older drivers have slaved for BR for 30 to 40 years, Gratitude? A sense of decency or responsibility? None of that for the BR bosses! For them, 'industrial relations' mean to uefend their interests is to adopt the same philosophy on Steve Good (Kings X ASLEF) explains the issue Probably nobody would be convinced that in itself flexiblity around the eight hour day, one hour either side, seven to nine hours, is something of fantastic importance.

But on the eight hour day hinge a whole number of agreements which are central to the conditions of footplate workers.

Once the cight hour day is lost it means the automatic revision of a whole set of agreements, particularly the 1965 manning agree: ment.

Once the manning agreement is renegotiated, then it: means an enormous number of redundancies will take place - 6,500 is the BR Board's own cstimate. The jobs of drivers' assistants, who are the younger men in the line of promotion, are certain to disappear.

This is in spite of the fact that over the next five years, 30% of the footplatemen will be retiring.

Flexible rostering will also mean a further disruption of the social life of the drivers. The rosters we are being presented with now are the seven to nine hour ones. No doubt in the pipeline are the six to ten hour ones and following them the four to twelve hour ones.

In conjunction with that will come the introduction of split shifts. The social life of footplatemen is already completely disrupted by the flexibility that we have already. An increase in that any kind of social life or home life.

Some drivers do not actually see their familics in a social sense for up to six wecks at a timc with the pattern of shift work as it is. could be quite staggering to drivers' pension rights.

working all sorts of hours of the clock.

their side.

The new rosters will not changes in the future in line

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flexibility will make it virtually impossible to have