{"id":387,"date":"2010-12-02T20:01:37","date_gmt":"2010-12-02T19:01:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lasunison.sc12.co.uk\/eblog\/?p=387"},"modified":"2010-12-02T20:01:37","modified_gmt":"2010-12-02T19:01:37","slug":"no-rest-for-the-wicked-or-ambulance-staff-it-seems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/?p=387","title":{"rendered":"No Rest For The Wicked (Or Ambulance Staff It Seems)."},"content":{"rendered":"

When we agreed the current Rest Break Agreement <\/em>in 2006, it was the first time, ever, in any Ambulance Service, that operational staff were guaranteed an uninterruptible rest break, \u00c2\u00a0once it was allocated. So why is it, at the time of writing, that only 35% of staff\u00c2\u00a0 are actually allocated a break?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Our aspirations and expectations\u00c2\u00a0at the time of signing the agreement was that an average of 75% of staff would have the rest break that they were entitled to.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Apart from the first couple of months when rest\u00c2\u00a0breaks were in the spotlight, the Service has not gone anywhere near that figure.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It has got to the stage were it is taken for granted by both staff and management that rest breaks will not be allocated. This is unacceptable and totally undermines the progress we originally made.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our Rest Break Agreement <\/em>was, and is, a groundbreaking, progressive move forward which gave\u00c2\u00a0ambulance staff\u00c2\u00a0 the same rights as all workers to have a break; a time of rest, away from their work. In theory of course, we always had that right. In practise, however,\u00c2\u00a0it rarely happened.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Both the Union and management took a bold step, in the face of criticism from the press and other Services, with this policy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We are slowly, bit by bit, drip by drip,\u00c2\u00a0going into reverse,\u00c2\u00a0back to the bad old\u00c2\u00a0days. It sometimes feels that giving staff a break is too much of a nuisance, a policy\u00c2\u00a0that gets in the way of running an ambulance service.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As you would expect there is a lot of debate, excuses, argument and counter argument, over how and why we have reached this position of 35%.<\/strong><\/p>\n

One thing cannot be argued though, and that is that the Rest Break<\/em> Agreement <\/em>(jointly signed let us not forget) has never been given the chance to work, or, conversely, to show that it doesn’t work.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is through no fault of staff, either in EOC (Emergency Operation Centre) or staff on stations.<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is a lack of focus.<\/strong><\/p>\n

No one has taken control, or responsibility, of making sure that rest breaks are allocated fairly,\u00c2\u00a0 correctly and consistently.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That is the problem. Everything else is peripheral. <\/strong><\/p>\n

The recent Rest Break Review meeting ended\u00c2\u00a0without agreement.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 UNISON Senior Sector Representatives want to see the current policy working as it was intended before any changes (that might be needed)\u00c2\u00a0are made.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I do not believe that is an unreasonable request. I support that position.<\/strong><\/p>\n

____________________<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you are reading this, work for the London Ambulance Service or are eligible to join,\u00c2\u00a0and are not yet a member of UNISON: Join Today! <\/strong><\/p>\n

I Am Frontline You Are Frontline We Are All Frontline<\/strong><\/p>\n

We are stronger together.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Eric Roberts<\/strong><\/p>\n

Branch Secretary.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When we agreed the current Rest Break Agreement in 2006, it was the first time, ever, in any Ambulance Service, that operational staff were guaranteed an uninterruptible rest break, \u00c2\u00a0once it was allocated. So why is it, at the time of writing, that only 35% of staff\u00c2\u00a0 are actually allocated…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":895,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ericsblog.lasunison.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}