Rest Breaks Suspended
You'll recall from a couple of posts ago that we have had a new rest break policy brought in, which allows us to have a rest break under the European Working Time Directive.
The fact that I haven't been given even one official break since this policy was brought in is neither here nor there - at least I got the chance to go home early because of not getting a break, which I've managed to do once.
Now, we are told that rest breaks have been cancelled during the festive period, starting from tomorrow, Christmas Day. This means that NO ambulance crews will be given a rest break, and will be expected to work straight through their entire shift, and not be able to go home early. We do however get a tenner and overtime at double time for working through our unpaid break.
I can understand this if there was a major incident - we can't all just bugger off and say we need a rest break, but I can't understand why otherwise?
So we have a rest break policy which we were told was given to us because the law said so, but it can be suspended at any time by senior managers. Maybe it's just me, but is this right?
The fact that I haven't been given even one official break since this policy was brought in is neither here nor there - at least I got the chance to go home early because of not getting a break, which I've managed to do once.
Now, we are told that rest breaks have been cancelled during the festive period, starting from tomorrow, Christmas Day. This means that NO ambulance crews will be given a rest break, and will be expected to work straight through their entire shift, and not be able to go home early. We do however get a tenner and overtime at double time for working through our unpaid break.
I can understand this if there was a major incident - we can't all just bugger off and say we need a rest break, but I can't understand why otherwise?
So we have a rest break policy which we were told was given to us because the law said so, but it can be suspended at any time by senior managers. Maybe it's just me, but is this right?
written on the PRF by Steve at 2:07 pm
2 Comments:
That really sucks for you, although I must admit I'll be glad to see the back of rest breaks and the arguments they have been causing.
I think that in future, crews should just be able to decide from themselves if and when they want a break, press an "on break" button on their MDT, and that should be that.
Further to Mark's comment, all this would be avoided if there were enough ambulances and crews to go around, AMPDS was fit for purpose and abusing the emergency number was a criminal offence.
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