[geeks] 4th of july plans

[David Cantrell]

On Wed, Jul 03, 2002 at 10:31:05AM -0500, Bill Bradford wrote:
> On Wed, Jul 03, 2002 at 04:20:06PM +0100, David Cantrell wrote:
> > On Friday, I have a tutored bourbon-tasting!  Oh, and a meeting with my
> > union reps in the morning.
> You're a sysadmin, and you have a UNION?

Me?  A sysadmin?  In the past I've been a sysadmin.  And a programmer.
And even been a bus conductor*.  But right now, I'm alleged to be a
project manager**.  In practice, my job is closer to pre-sales technical
consultancy.  Sort of.

I've been a member of the Manufacturing Science and Finance union for
approaching ten years.  I'm now *also* a member of the delightfully named
Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union, mostly because
they have rocking union reps in the BBC and cos that's what the rest of my
department joined.  Hehe, we went from 5% union membership (me) to 75%
in one day after manglement decided to screw us over.

See http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/7/25730.html and
http://www.ntk.net/index.cgi?b=02002-06-14&l=48#l

Yes, the disciplinary action *was* taken, despite management lies to the
contrary (admittedly it was dropped when the union got medieval on their
arses), and the bit about us being consulted is a fabrication.  Also, staff
elsewhere in the BBC who are worried about their websites disappearing when
we all resign have been leant on by manglement and ordered to toe the
party line.

And yes, I am looking for alternative employment***.  They're going to have
to come up with a quite spectacular package to make me stay.

* - that was the most fun.  I'm really tempted to jack it all in and become
a trucker.

** - yes, I know that would usually provoke cries of "anathema sit!", but
rest assured, I don't do MS Project, or Wyrd, or Excel, or Powerpoint.
AFAIC, the only tools I need are xterms, mutt and vi.  I believe that a
project manager's job is mostly to tell the client when they are wrong.

*** - CV available on my website

-- 
David Cantrell | david at cantrell.org.uk | http://www.cantrell.org.uk/david

If you save all your money for three years, you'll be able to afford this
new computer.  If, however, you blow all your money on poker, booze and
loose women - you'll still be able to afford it in three years.
                                                      -- anon, on Usenet