I'm in a squadron within the military that works shifts. I would rather not get too specific beyond that. We do two day shifts, two night shifts, and then get four days off. Each shift is twelve hours. It's a very physically and mentally demanding job, so getting a good work life balance is really important.
Every member of the UK military gets 38 days of leave, to use as they want. But my squadron has a weird policy. One day off costs us one day of leave (as you might expect). Two days costs three days of leave, three costs four, and four costs six. So if you book off four days at a time (an entire shift rotation), which is what most personnel do, then you're actually getting about 25 days of leave a year, rather than 38.
I went looking through the all the regulations, publications, and laws relating to both civilian leave policies and the military, and realised that this policy was sort of illegal. So I decided to fight it.
This policy has been in place for at least twenty years. No one on my squadron can remember how long it's been there, or why it was made, but the higher ups refuse to repeal it. I've been fighting it since a few months after finishing training, about a year ago. I'm the lowest rank (outside of training ranks), going up against very high level officers, so the assumption was that I would lose and probably be punished for 'getting ideas'. The chances of succeeding were basically zero and I was repeatedly told that I was insane for even considering it.
I took the complaint outside of our trade and it went to the permanent joint head quarters of the ministry of defence, who sided with me. The UK's military law was changed to include a big paragraph which specifically rules out policies like the one my squadron used. So now four days off costs us four days of leave. Every member of my squadron now gets as many as 13 days more leave each year.
I wanted to post this because this sub is a massive inspiration to me. And I wanted this to show that everyone, even the most powerless person in the most authoritarian institution, has the ability to push for better rights and treatment.