Well here goes with my 1st blog entry.

Haven’t posted much recently because I’ve been having loads of hassle with my internet. BT Yahoo are a bunch of inept w*nkers. 2 months of constant breaks in connection, download speeds similar to 512k dial up when I’m meant to be on 6.5meg & their lack of response to numerous emails ended in me cancelling my direct debit to try and speed them up. Result – an invoice telling me to pay up the rest of my contract by today. Don’t know if there is an ‘or else’, will just have to wait and see. This is actually being written on Word so I can copy/paste it without fear of my connection freezing in the middle.

So, Happy New Year. Except it wasn’t. Over a year ago, the company I work for, cashline machine makers NCR, said they were going to open a new production plant in Hungary that would compliment the Dundee factory in the expansion into Eastern Europe/Russia. NCR already have production plants here, Canada, USA, Brazil, China & India. We immediately started questioning the company about the future of Dundee. ‘Don’t worry’ they said.

Speculation had been building up towards the end of last year with our weekly production totals tumbling as Hungary took more & more of the orders and the company refusing to comment to the workers, union, local councillors & MSPs/MPs about fears. This led to a rather tense Christmas/New Year and culminated in last weeks events.

Last Tuesday the company gave us a meeting telling us they were going to issue a statement telling us when they would issue a statement telling us when they would be having a meeting giving a statement of what was going to happen to the company. WTF!!!!!

So last Thursday a mass meeting took place. 650 shop floor workers & about 150 office/management. Did the bigwig CEO come to talk to us? NO! He sent a video telling us how sorry he was that he couldn’t be there personally and gave the usual corporate bullsh*t about restructuring & changing markets. A minion, sent on the CEO’s behalf, then gave a PowerPoint slideshow telling us how many job cuts there would be. Even the minion wouldn’t verbally tell us. 650 job losses in Dundee, made up of roughly 550 shop floor & 100 office/management. Canada, USA & Brazil all effectively closing with about 500 jobs lost. Don’t yet know who exactly is going but to be honest I don’t see the company being in Dundee for much longer so I think its time to get out.

My first thought? I’ll be luck to get to 1 festival this year, let alone the 3-4 I was planning. Aye, Happy New Year.

So what am I going to do now? I’m not going to get a job anywhere near my current salary without having a major skill. I was a plumber’s labourer for 3 years and know the basics so doing a plumbing course to get a certificate is a serious thought. I’ve worked in bars & a hotel so that’s a fall back. I’d like to get into the building/renovating property market but would need a lot of capital. I quite fancy finding out about midwifery (NOT for the reasons, those of you that know me, might think!). The most radical idea is to sell my flat, pay off all my debts and go travelling. My redundancy won’t be great as I’ve only been at NCR for 7 years. I reckon after paying the mortgage & credit cards I would have a substancial amount left, not that I would want to use it all. Would I be running away from finding a job or using this opportunity to do something I’ve always wanted to do? Who knows?

It’s been an emotional weekend so the mind may be a bit cloudy and any decisions will have to be seriously thought about. Time will tell.

Anyway, until I see you in a field or at a meet, enjoy.

Phil