Trouble shifts

[maddog369]

Just curious how shifts work in other areas. We used to work 8 hour shifts that rotated. 7 midnights then 4 days then second shift then back to midnights. Then went to 12 hour shifts, 4 one week 3 the next. This works better for some but not everyone likes it. Anyone out there work something different that works for them?

[Electriceel]

You will never make everyone happy. We don't have night crews, probably a good thing, just being in a call out rotation is enough to put some in a turmoil.
I always figured if I did not want to be bothered with after hours work, storms, etc. I should have pursued something else.

Good luck and you guys that have these night crews let's see if you can come up with some solutions for mdog!

[australiantroubleman]

We do 8 hr shifts 6AM to 2 PM , 2pm to 10 pm and 10pm till 6am.
Our day shifts and afternoon shifts are about equal , we do about 3 night shifts a month.

We work about one weekend in two and a half ,get penalty rates for weekends and shift allowance on all shifts .

We form our own rosters the company gives us the required shift coverage and we create our own usually via a majority vote .

Ive been doing this kind of shiftwork for about 28 yrs now , we structure the roster to give us some large breaks (up to five days in a row) though working nine days straight does tire me abit in my senior years now.
I really like shift work , no two weeks are the same have heaps of time off to fish ride my bike play golf , theres no way i could work straight day work it could bore me .

I enjoy the job you never know whats coming up next any time of the day or night .

Shiftwork doesnt suit everyone you have to adapt your life to it but its not all negative once you get your lifestyle arranged .

[markwho]

We don't have t-men on our property as of yet. We have 2 lineman on a truck during working hours covering the trouble, myself being one of them. We have wording in our contract, but the co. has not put it in place yet(it has been 4 yrs so far). The shifts we agreed to are as follows: no 12 midnight- 8a.m. shift is worked. Any calls would be shared by the workers before and after their respective shifts for 4 hrs. They must respond and would get a 5hr min.
X indicates days on: shift one: M T W Th F Sat. Sun.
8-4 - - X X X X X
shift two: X X X X X - -
8-4
shift three: X X X X X - -
4-12
Shift one would be responsible for covering 2hrs before and 2hrs after his shift.The gap on the weekends would revert back to our lineman call out list. the rotation I think will be at the discretion of the workers involved. There was talk of weekly or monthly rotation of shifts. needless to say this has not been implemented yet.Sorry the tables don't line up, seems to throw everything to the Left when I post!

[PA BEN]

If it's in your contract why doesn't the Union have management enforce it.

[LINETRASH]

In dade county we work permanent shifts with days off depending on senority.

This is a side agreement and works ok.

You have to wait till a senior guy bids out and then memo into his shift.

The new guy that bids in has to take whats left.

We get 50 cent shift diff for 3-11, 75 cents for 11-7, and $1 for weekends.

If you go to Broward county and points north, its full rotation.

We are allowed trades, I have had 3 day weekends for a long time.

The best part is working holidays, where you bank a vacation day.

I wind up with 5 weeks vac. as opposed to 3.

The rough and tumble troubleman works gets old here with the call volume.

Lotsa guys getting fed up and bidding out.

[markwho]

The wording in the contract allows management the right to direct the workforce as needed. This would fall under this area. My co worker and myself would like them to make at least 2 t-men during working hours. Our steward is not in favor of this notion stating that this is not what was negotiated in the contract. We are in favor of at least 2 men earning more pay for this title, also this would allow them to free up 2 lineman for the gangs and allow helpers to assist t-men. Right now they cannot because we need 2 first class for re-fusing cutouts and switching. Granted we would have to team up to glove any primary or get a 3 man gang for any poly phase work. They have stated we don't have enough lineman on the property to implement what was negotiated, 3 t-men and one relief position. Some days though we have 2 service trucks manned with 4 lineman when manpower allows it. Otherwise we have one truck covering 69 sq. miles with about 24,000 customers. There are other matters to consider including those workers who don't want to see t-men because they would lose there gravy calls, i.e. a 5 hr call out to check a bell loop down. Also having t-men would cut into our electricians work in regard to some substation o.t. and traffic light o.t.. So who knows what will ever happen. it would ultimately affect a lot of people in different ways.

[markwho]

We had a senior lineman who said he would work steady 4-12 shift. I guess if you could find a slot everyone was happy with it would be o.k., but the way we would be set up, somebody would have to work every weekend with their 2 days off during the week. I think our rotating shift workers get 1.69 for shift differential on all shifts out side normal working hrs. Our call volume varies, some days we are hopping without getting any regular work done and working through lunch and other days are quiet.

[glovenlove13kva]

The company I work at use to have the 8hr shift which was tough. We now have 12hr shifts. It works like this.

Work Fri,Sat,Sun and Monday nights 7pm-7am

Off Tues,Wed and Thurs

Work Fri,Sat and Sunday 7am-7pm.

Off Monday.

Work Tues,Wed and Thursday nights 7pm-7am

Off Fri,Sat and Sunday

Work Mon, Tues,Wed and Thursday 7am-7pm.

Off Fri,Sat,Sun,Mon,Tues,Wed and Thurs.

[Hebrew]

We here in Barbados have 13 guys doing trouble.6 crews,1 guy floating.We operate 3 shifts 6 till 2 ;2 till 10 ;10 till 6.An additional afternoon shift 1 till 9 and two days a week an additional morning crew working 7 till 3.We get a 10% premium for being on shift.There is a 4 then 3 day rotation and you get 2 weekends off like every six weeks.It isn't perfect but its ok.All holidays are paid overtime and anytime you go over finish time is time and one half except at night when it is double .