33 Million of Cost/Savings Per Annum

[Kavi Ugl]

Yikes, I see in Da Times this week that the "idea" of The Scottish Government(SG) taking over the inter-island ferries has taken a smallish step forward by being mentioned in some report......

 

If I remember correctly this "offer" actually came from the SG but surely for the life of Shetland we wouldn't go down this road?.

 

The Scottish Government/Serco in control of the inter-island ferries?.

 

Help......

[shetlandpeat]

I think you are right there Kavi, the ferries should remain in control of S.IC.

There seems now to be trouble in Orkney with the inter island ferries, not read up on it yet.

 

One thing that I did note in recent communications about Shetland ferries was the lack of ability to cover "emergency" runs because of the distance the crews lived away from the ferry. I was always told that to get a job on the ferry, you needed to live on the island it served (not the mainland or connecting island).

Some of the Scottish West Coast ferries are operated by Highways operatives. They get an enhancement for their ferry skills, and skills they have to use when operating the Luing - Seil ferry.

 

I would not like to see Serco involved, in any way.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-20911871

[CHUCK NORR1S]

Seen the essy kert out and about in toon this morning doing a collection! Is this normal practice? These guys will no doubt be on double time, can't say i've seen them out on Sunday before.

[JustMe]

This is them making up for Christmas. What you probably saw was the Friday collection being made two days late.

[fusion]

Seen the essy kert out and about in toon this morning doing a collection! Is this normal practice? These guys will no doubt be on double time, can't say i've seen them out on Sunday before.

 

yes tuesday and wednesdays colection was being colected 2 dates late, quite accetable i think, not sure if the guy with the perrie road sweeper needed to be out today as well.

 

no-one gets double time in the council now, i think that was scrapped under single status. most employes get time off on liue now or i think its time and a third but im not sure apart from xmas day etc. but ill seay stand corected.

[CHUCK NORR1S]

It seemed a bit out of the ordinary but makes sense now, cheers

[Staney Dale]

Can't see trad. male workers like the essy cert men doing something as flexible as time off in lieu. They will be getting time and a half as overtime plus an exta third for Sunday, so it's a hefty amount considering we could easily have held onto our bags an extra week. This is the same dept that want to close toilets and switch off street lights, so I'm not too impressed by the priorities.

[Mr. Biggins]

If they weren't to collect over the weekends during the Festive, wouldn't they end up with 3 weeks of rubbish to collect in one go? 3 of the most waste-intensive weeks of the year, at that? I'm not sure the trucks could hold it all, and if they ended up running late it'd all work out the same, overtime-wise, anyway.

I'm fairly sure every council employee can take TOIL if they want anyway, and have been able to for years. I'd imagine the guys on the kerts get little enough without being denied a Festive extra. Let alone one they get by putting in a few hours they'd rather spend at home this time of year.

Before you go discussing the wages these guys get, saving-wise, when they're a frontline service of actual worth, maybe the dead-wood in the offices would be a more worthy target?

[Staney Dale]

There is nothing 'worthy' about calling people 'dead wood' because their jobs are office-based. Seems a bit ignorant and insulting.

[Mr. Biggins]

Did I say because they were office based they were dead-wood? No. I merely inferred that many of the office-based positions may be less than essential. Whereas, and I may be going out on a limb here, but I suspect not, a week or two without a waste collection would prove how essential a service the Essy Kerts provide.

[Staney Dale]

No, what a week without a rubbish collection will prove is that we can easily cope with it once a year, especially since it only affects 2 days of collection. I'm talking about cutting out unnecessary overtime, not essential job or services, and I wouldn't call the essy cert men, or any other Council workers, 'dead wood' as it's disrespectful.

[Mr. Biggins]

Going back to my original post, two weeks of missed collection might not be a big deal for you, but the guys on the Kert will then have to lift THREE weeks of rubbish in ONE week...I'm not sure that's reasonable at all.

[Mr. Biggins]

And as far as disrespect goes, maybe, Staney Dale, you'd like to reconsider your opening sweeping generalization in this exchange?

[owre-weel]

and I wouldn't call the essy cert men, or any other Council workers, 'dead wood' as it's disrespectful.

 

Oh come on Staney Dale the council has always had some dead wood working for it. It would only be disrespectful if it wasn't true

[ariel]

I wonder if collection capacity has been reduced to take account of all the extra recycling and composting that the SIC has funded in recent years? Friends in Lerwick tell me they fill far fewer black bags these days. If that is the case, I'd hope we aren't doing the same volume of collection. A fortnightly collection in Lerwick would make sense, certainly more sense that the abolition of their bi- annual bulky collection.