During the latest Machine Advisory Committee (MAC) meeting, ALBA staff sought to communicate concerns about the current situation at the facility. Management’s refusal ultimately resulted in a far more visible protest.
Last week, ALBA hosted the Machine Advisory Committee, or MAC for friends. The MAC is an external advisory committee that evaluates the progress being made on the ambitious new ALBA II megaproject. It is an important event, and the big names at the Synchrotron know it, so they put on their finest outfits (some even had to buy bleach to make their clothes that white), hire the best catering, take the committee members to a good restaurant, and proudly showcase the great progress that (their subordinates) have made on the project.
But reality is stubborn: neither the catering is particularly good, nor is there much progress to show. With an estimated 21 people working on the renewal of the entire infrastructure, it is difficult to present any significant achievements every six months. And because of that, for the first time, they have acknowledged that they do not even believe their own schedule:
Today’s level of confidence to start the dark period in 2029 is: LOW
So it is time to fall back on the usual filler material, talking about projects in which ALBA barely participates, such as InnoFAB, or highlighting talent-attraction initiatives, such as being very successful in offering university internships (being a synchrotron facility, it would be difficult not to be), having many followers on LinkedIn, or the fact that the facility was used as a filming location for a series “that is not going to win any Oscars”.
Aware that management’s carefully controlled message would contain more garnish than substance, the workforce organized to try to ensure that the current situation of the staff reached the ears of the Advisory Committee. This time, we even tried to do things the easy way: we spoke with the event organizers in an attempt to include a message, one that we even offered to agree upon jointly with them.
And what did we find? A direct and uncompromising prohibition from the director, as if she believed she could stop the tide. Sometimes people are luckier in life than they deserve to be, because the reaction was easy to predict: the largest banners ever seen at ALBA, carrying a message that was clear, direct and, however uncomfortable it may be, true:
For future occasions, we recommend that the director read the Wikipedia article on the Streisand Effect, or at least seek proper advice before deciding what she can actually allow or forbid workers from doing, because this kind of event happens quite frequently at ALBA. In fact, we have another opportunity this very week with the Scientific Advisory Committee, or SAC for friends.
