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Serco staff cuts


fionajohn
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Fusion wrote:

 

you can get better rooms in a hotel for far less and get the entire family in it with plenty of room. And its the same price wheather your on your own or if you use all the beds. i grudge every penny,

 

No, if you don't need all the beds you just book per bunk and share a cabin.

 

or you can fly and miss the boat all together

or sleep on the bar floor or or or

 

its still a rip off

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Does life line mean the ability to get a car to Aberdeen? I have wondered about this. The service is there to get you to the hospital say, you may not need a car for that, as there are buses and taxis. There is also a thriving car rental industry as well on both sides of the water. We never needed a car when we stayed at the Red Cross hostel while folk were in hospital.

 

Perhaps a definition of what the life line service is, should be extracted verbatim from the contract and agreements. Not from hearsay though, that tends to be wrong and suits the current argument and not the facts. Then, you could start a campaign.

 

The boat, passage only, for me to visit my family, sick or not is still the cheapest for me, passage only is a great deal compared to the additional costs of flying and the limitations. I could not afford to fly anyhow.

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The points made about what happens when an unexpectedly large number of passengers turns up in (say) mid-November are important and Serco need to address them. Suppose that flights are cancelled and the boat suddenly has 200 aboard instead of 40. Are there any safety implications and is it possible that they might then have to limit passenger numbers? Will the catering work? If staff are brought in to cope with the busy winter periods, what about the safety training of those staff?

 

I wonder if these staffing cuts were factored into the bid that Serco made to run the service, and (if they were) whether or not the Scottish Government understood what was involved.

 

Or, having secured the contract, are they now doing what Serco specialises in, namely shaving costs to the absolute minimum in order to increase their profits, with the aim of running a service that is flaky but not quite flaky enough to make the Scottish Government withdraw their contract? In outsourcing companies, that's par for the course. Sometimes they misjudge that fine balance, as when G4S screwed up on the Olympics or Reliance kept losing prisoners.

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Does life line mean the ability to get a car to Aberdeen? I have wondered about this. The service is there to get you to the hospital say, you may not need a car for that, as there are buses and taxis. There is also a thriving car rental industry as well on both sides of the water. We never needed a car when we stayed at the Red Cross hostel while folk were in hospital.

 

Perhaps a definition of what the life line service is, should be extracted verbatim from the contract and agreements. Not from hearsay though, that tends to be wrong and suits the current argument and not the facts. Then, you could start a campaign.

 

The boat, passage only, for me to visit my family, sick or not is still the cheapest for me, passage only is a great deal compared to the additional costs of flying and the limitations. I could not afford to fly anyhow.

 

 

 

Well I'm guessing then Pete that you've never travelled with young kids on the boat , earlier this year although I booked about three months ahead it turned out my forward planning wasn't enough and I had the privilege of trying to get my kids to sleep on a cafe seat , what an absolute nightmare , the kids got about 3 hours kip and me a lucky 2 . The worst start to a holiday ever , every one was so tired and out of sorts that the whole first day of our holidays was a right off , don't know about you but every day of leave is hard earned and don't appreciate the "lifeline service" robbing me of one of them. As you said , flying wasn't an option due to cost and the fact that I was needing a new motor and had sold the car I owned to a buyer south meant I had to take it with me , think that isn't too unusual so should be acceptable to assume the "lifeline" part should include taking a vehicle with you ?

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There seem to be always be kids, or even children on the boat when I travel.

Are folks saying now that to afford the staff cuts, Serco will limit the number of passengers and will not be able to fill the boat to capacity. That would be good to be seen in black and white from Serco.

 

As for the car being part of the lifeline service, you could be quite right, but as I said, you would need to find the legal definition within the tender of the lifeline service.

 

I do remember my Mam when we were little, working and saving nearly all year so we could come up in the summer for 5 weeks, the costs were quite prohibitive then. That did include the train. For me to come up would require about 4 months of saving though there are funds set aside for that emergency when required.

 

There are also the odd facts and stats that may be used. We all have been told that Shetland has a very high pay average, the sums quoted here in this thread to transport a family are similar to that. The average of course is distorted by those few on the island who do earn a substantial wage, this of course does no good to folk like us who either just about earn a living wage or those on minimum wage using benefits they are entitled to to top that up.

 

The crew levels would have to fit with current legislation. You could find that the crew would have to multi task more. I have often wondered what happens to the galley crew once meals have stopped.

 

Cutting staff/crew is an emotive subject, to fight such cuts need to be a little hard nosed. The emotions can still be there but it would have to be backed up with hard facts and figures to prove your cause. Sadly, we do not get that here often, as ever, just hearsay.

 

If folk are worried about this, then, as with the MCA cuts, Shetland folk can band together with one voice, there are still ongoing campaigns for other services, sadly forgotten on here, that sorta shows folks interest.

 

Oh, we hear of these "non-jobs" all the time now, generally spoken by those who know little of the facts.

 

The first step would be for someone to get all the details about this part of Serco including staffing/crew and shore based staff.

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... You could find that the crew would have to multi task more. I have often wondered what happens to the galley crew once meals have stopped.

 

They already do multi-task. There's more to meals than just serving them, you know. Glad to know you've thought about cleaning down equipment, storing new supplies, preparing meals for the crew too and, perish the thought, that the crew have to sleep also! :roll:

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I rather doubt that this will just end up the way of everything in life now which is cut to the bone with either no people to do the work and the ones left having an inhuman workload heaped on them and expected to do it. Oh, and crewed by East Europeans....

 

What Serco are doing just shows how little they really know about the route and islands they're supposed to be serving. As mentioned what about the afternoon when 200 people turn up at Jamieson's Quay because the flights are cancelled or if the ferry misses a trip which results in the numbers doubling. There are a lot of workem coming and going in relation to the Total Gas Plant project now.

 

As the man said, it'll end in tears.....

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My bench mark for this is the cost compared to P&O. For me to get up, it is still cheaper than when they ran the service.

Um remember that other thing the boat does, called Freight, that's why it's a life-line service. Passenger travel is secondary to that. To benchmark on fare prices is short sighted.

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I do;t think anyone should be surprised at Serco trying to squeeze every ounce of profit out of the contract they can. After all, thats what they do.

 

The worry (speculation of course, as we really don't know yet) that these cuts will mean fewer passengers able to travel is completely logical, as Serco have said it is based on winter volumes and there is a lot of local knowledge to support this.

 

*If* that is the case, then at times when flights are cancelled, during holiday times when people go away and students come hom, up helly aa, music festivals etc if numbers are restricted - is it really Sercos fault?

 

Or is it the Government for not having a minimum level of service written in the contract?

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They already do multi-task. There's more to meals than just serving them, you know. Glad to know you've thought about cleaning down equipment, storing new supplies, preparing meals for the crew too and, perish the thought, that the crew have to sleep also! :roll:

 

That is the galley crews job description already. Day time is for sleeping when on nights....

 

Your post was as useful as this..

 

http://newhiteboard.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/stating-the-obvious.jpg

 

Siaradwch am ddatgan yr amlwg i gael swydd i fyny or there about

 

So thanks, we already sort of guessed that.

 

 

... You could find that the crew would have to multi task more. I have often wondered what happens to the galley crew once meals have stopped.

 

They may have to take on other duties, as you have become the oracle, what are their terms in their contracts?

 

Could jobs be saved that way...?

 

 

My bench mark for this is the cost compared to P&O. For me to get up, it is still cheaper than when they ran the service.

Um remember that other thing the boat does, called Freight, that's why it's a life-line service. Passenger travel is secondary to that. To benchmark on fare prices is short sighted.

 

I do not send freight. Ooops, I have sorry, I once sent a cement mixer to my dad, the offer was free delivery to the UK except Shetland, where, it was going to cost nearly £100 to have someone put it on the boat and my Dad to pick it off the boat, so I sent it in the post in separate parcels.

 

It too could be the bench mark of many, as the complaints and replies have just been about taking cars and families south. I can only assume the freight rates may increase as well.

 

 

As for safety, if the boat cannot take the additional hundreds that turn up then they do not take them. As they do now when there could be a risk to passenger safety. I dread to think what would happen if the 200+ turn up and the boat was already full!!! Kavi, how many staff cuts will make the various laws on ferry operations dangerous? You must know or are you doing a Corporal Jones thing?

 

Facts are the things that will help win not....a panic attack...

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Serco are saying the crew changes only affect the 'hotel' staff, not the traditional deck and engineering crew. However, all staff working on the ship are treated as 'crew'.

 

As part of the ships certification, the MCA will have set a maximumum number of passengers that can be carried and the minimum number of crew to safely operate the ship with those passengers onboard. In relation to passengers 'safely' means evacuation rather than any creature comforts. The vessel operotor has to demonstrate to the MCA that ang given number of crew 'is' suffcient for a given number of passengers.

 

It appears that Serco are in the process changing the certification to have a variable figure for the maximum number of passengers and minimum number of of crew.

 

I have no idea what the figure is, but they could derate the vessel to 100 passengers in the winter and have a proportionatly less number of crew.

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im sure when they took over they did say that there would be fare rises. and well if you think about it with fuel costs going up and with the improvements they have suggested then it seems fair? is it not only going to be about a 3% rise?

 

 

Whilst I agree that 3% dosn't seem too much it's still an outrageously expensive service , £550 or so to take the family and motor off the island is an outrageous fee for a lifeline service , and that's with islander discount. how the hell tourism is ever meant to flourish is beyond me . As I've said on here before , it's cheaper per hour to go on an unsubsidised cruise with Cunard that it is with northlink , and not just a little bit , more like to the tune of 50% more per hour to enjoy Northlinks wares over Cunards , and Cunard feed you for free !

 

well I suppose im looking at it from a different way from you then. Its just me and my partner so we can just go as foot passangers (he wont pay for a cabin for me hahaha)

So I suppose with a group and a car yes it will be expensive. But I do still think if they are making all these improvements the price hike may not feel so bad?

I dont go off this island very often so when I do it doesnt seem so bad....

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