Something surprised me today. I was looking through the various blog-posts relating to the nastiness with the Union, and I was quite shocked to realise how many of the people that I (certainly now, probably always) think of as nightliners are now, in fact, ex-nightliners.
And I thought about the influence that those people had had on me, on who I am and how I answer that phone, and I realised something that hadn’t really occured to me before: even though we have a high turnover, and people aren’t normally with us for more than three or four years, that doesn’t mean that the org ‘loses’ them. Each successive generation of nightliners is built on the last.
And whilst, to the people answering the phones in ten years time, our current struggles may seem distant (if they aren’t forgotten entirely), hopefully we can achieve the kind of changes in our relationship with the Union which will mean that they are free to get on with doing what we’re here to do.
I think time trundles on, and you become aware that the exact role of being a nightliner is something you do or did, and it remains there. However I do think you don’t (hopefully) lose some of the good spirit. Its easy to be paranoid, scared and sometimes just damn right confused. When the chips are down though they are a bunch of people who on the whole contain more good than bad, look after each other when things aren’t fun, and sometimes manage to say the most brilliant but absurd things are three in the morning.
I actually feel quite guilty. At least some of your suspicion of the union was almost certainly from my attitude and general approach – and for that I am genuinely sorry. I appreciate you weren’t trying to start a witch-hunt Ruth, but I think most people will know I am not exactly mr. pro-union around here.
The problem is that the Union are going to see themselves as the good guys in this. Its all nightline being suspicious, not trusting, not sharing, etc etc. They don’t see the “stabbed in back so many times we’ve lost count” – which does I think at least partially explain the org’s reluctance to jump everytime the union coughs.
I hope it all gets better. And I hope Dan writes a stats generator.
Oops. Did I say that out loud.
Kit ;)