Getting a different view on things

This morning we had a big meeting with the reps of the PCS union, effectively launching the campaign in response to the Land Registry Board’s proposals. I’ll not go into too much detail here, but it certainly gave us a lot to think about. In summary, don’t believe everything you may have heard. For example, where we may have been told that there’ll be no compulsion to move to other civil service jobs, and that the board will do everything they can to ensure that any redundancies are under the current, more generous, terms, this in fact is not shown to be the case when you look in detail at what’s been published.

PCS members gather at Stevenage Office

The union’s campaign is based on opposing pretty much everything in the proposals. They’re saying that the propsals are based on a fundamental misinterpretation of how the value of Land Registry is calculated. Land Registration are not a business; it is a public service. By proposing an entirely different vision for Land Registry based on a return to civil service values, they’re pushing for no office closures and no need to lose staff. Yes, they agree we have too much office space but would look at other ways of addressing that like moving to smaller offices or using some of our excess space to house other parts of the business. (File storage was mentioned, for example.)

So, two opposing poles. Management at one end, union at the other. I guess what happens will be somewhere in between.

I’ve also done a bit more reading about the possibility of training to become a driving instructor. Always worth doing a bit of online research! There are comments on blogs and forums that will make me think very carefully about embarking on such a path. Some of these give serious pause for thought:

Driving instructors’ association:
http://www.driving.org/becomeadrivinginstructor.html

UK Instructor training:
http://www.uk-instructortraining.co.uk/index.htm

Blog:
http://www.ukadi.co.uk/2008/06/becoming-driving-instructor-dont-do-it.html

Squidoo:
http://www.squidoo.com/driving_instructors

(I note a lot of the comments on some of these pages are focused on the RED driving instructor training school. The AA don’t get many mentions, but some of the same applies.)

So, in both areas, opposing views with the truth somewhere in the middle. Much like life, I guess.