Quote: (04-22-2012 03:07 PM)Bad Hussar Wrote:
Great thread Scotian. I think you've put in more work here than anyone else has in any other single thread.
Just curious how flexible companies are about the rotation for camp jobs in your experience. If you're hired initialy on a 7/7 shift, say, will they ever agree to something like 14/14 or ideally 24/11 (if they pay O/T). To me the 7/7 rotation is no good unless you live in Edmonton or Calgary. Otherwise the constant travelling from Calgary to wherever will cost too much and not give you enough time there to even make it worth your while.
I'm talking about direct hires with companies like Suncor or Canadian Natural, not contractors, if that makes any difference.
Lastly, out of curiosity. Do the charter flights from the remote camps to Calgary acctually terminate at YCC's main terminal, or another airfield/part of the airport?
Cheers.
There's lots of different rotations available and it really depends on the site, once you're experienced and have qualifications, you can pretty much negotiate your shift. I'm currently on a 24 and 4 schedule, they're brutal but that means I can take off half the year. I've worked them all, month on month off was pretty good but a month is a long time to work.
As far as getting to Fort Mac from Edmonton or Calgary to work, the companies pay for everything and the flight is only 45 minutes. For example, when I worked at CNRL on a 2 weeks on & 1 off rotation, I'd get to the Edmonton international airport at 7:30 (the flight centre is behind the main airport at a small terminal, same deal in Calgary), be on the plane by 8:00 and on site by 9:00. I'd check into my camp room and be at work by around 10-10:30, and of course all that travel time is paid, even my half hour drive to the airport, same deal with the flight back.
You're right 7/7 sucks if you're flying somewhere else after that, Vancouver or elsewhere isn't bad because you can fly direct from the Fort Mac airport and its only an hour flight, and since BC is an hour behind, you don't lose time. Flying east is a different story.
Also, lets say that you live in Vancouver or Toronto or somewhere far away and your company won't pay your flights (most will at least give you a flight allowance, especially for senior guys), you can claim the costs of those flights on you taxes every year and you'll get most (maybe all?) of that money back. Its called the T2200 form and you can find more info here:
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pbg/tf/t2200/
And all companies pay OT (some time and a half, others double, like mine), I'm pretty sure its illegal not to after 40 hours. So if you work seven 12 hour shifts, thats 84 hours, so 44 should be OT hours.