Looking back, four years from now

In last June, this blog have made 4 years, I'm really sad that is not walking the way I thought.


From the last two years I am not writing much about the main goals of this blog. Like the name says this has been think to post information about cryptology and about synchrotron related stuff (this partially more in general about the physics I'm learning due to my job, but also write about software engineering on my job). At least I have wrote this way in the second post. I remember when I wrote the first one.


But looking back, the fact is that the events in the job are not the best to focus on development. From the smallest to the biggest. From the macroeconomic to daily work. From the global crisis and the particular situation of Spain to the lasts incidents that happens at work.


What the hell!! Cannot be the things easier? Is not possible to live in peace? Dedicating the efforts in what makes work funy.


In Alba, the head of Experiments division "decided to stop activity": complicated way to say in an email that he will left Alba next September. In the "good bye" email, with the cold subject "information" (reflects a lot the behaviour of the workers at this institution) he have mention many times the word "reputation".


Next years will be crucial for this synchrotron reputation. I have a similar opinion, but a bit different perspective.


Yes, the Alba's reputation is made by many individual users who come to perform experiments. The effort of all the workers will make the users happy and they will comeback and tell they colleges about how good the work is done here.


And also there is motivation. Motivation of the workers to do our best. But since the last years this is becoming difficult. We succeed in linac start up in 2008, then comes the booster and after the storage, this year the beamlines commissioning. But there are "individuals" who have capacity to break this good environment. Specially the people how are upper in the hierarchy, they have more public skills. And they broke it.


By today, the company has been demanded in the trial for it's attitude against the workers unions. About the acts that some one in the management has made to threatening the workers. This action is not what brakes the environment, this is the consequence of an aggressive attitude subtended in time. A long time, years.


Don't believe them when they say: then the victim reports the assault is injuring the reputation of the institution. It's a very bad excuse and it criminalizes the victim to say that has been harm.


The directors of the cells consortium (and the LLS and the ST -4, another society in the Alba's area) have done many actions that disturbs the environment. Since I start to work here I have seen many situations of power abuse. Under the umbrella of this happens from time to time and you have to be aware and as far from him that you can work, the better. We have lost many good workers. There are examples of fired people, and many are people who left Alba as fast as possible to go to "better" places (meaning better by anywhere, but many to the ITER and its European corp). And all of them have a very good background and skills. They were very big losses. We suffer it.


The president of this institution has been kept inform of this events. He has been informed of the unpleasant situations with out acting to protect the workers. I think he is more interested in the reputation perspective from outside. If this news didn't go outside, to the public opinion, to the end-users, they are not important. Is not important if a worker is intimidated, the important thing is that no body else would know that.


I don't think as a good plan for reputation, when someone is attacked, try to silent the victim. This doesn't fix the problem, this would happen again, and it happens many times.


Having the people afraid to be vexed (or fired as a better situation) is not a way to make reputation on an institution. This is the way to have the people busy searching for a job somewhere else.