Category: Thoughts

Awards, contacts… and the magic we really need

We are also very glad to see ALBA receiving awards and recognition lately. After all, these awards are supposed to recognise the work, commitment and contribution of the whole ALBA team.

Although sometimes we are not entirely sure whether we are receiving these awards, or whether only our Director is.

If these recognitions belong to the whole ALBA team, it would be nice to see some representation of the staff at these events too. So far, no delegation of employees or their representatives seems to be invited to share these moments. Apparently, the award is collective, but the ceremony is somewhat less so.

Beyond the photos, speeches and celebrations, however, these events also provide something potentially much more valuable: direct contact with the institutions that can actually help solve some of the problems affecting ALBA staff.

The latest ceremony brought our Director into contact with representatives of the Spanish and Catalan governments. We would therefore like to ask a simple question:

Did we use this opportunity to raise the problem of promotions and our future seniority scheme?

And if the ceremony itself was obviously not the right place to discuss such matters, did we at least use the opportunity to establish the contacts needed to address them afterwards?

Because this is precisely where we need institutional support.

For years, ALBA staff have been affected by the restrictions preventing professional promotions, together with other unresolved salary issues: salaries that are increasingly losing competitiveness and pay differences between employees performing work within the same or very similar professional categories.

Solving these problems is no longer something that depends only on ALBA. We need to reach the Government and the Ministry of Finance, explain the situation properly and obtain the necessary authorisation to find a way forward.

Having direct access to senior representatives of these institutions is therefore an opportunity that should not be wasted.

And finally, regarding the possible visits of Joan Manuel Serrat and Mago Pop: we would genuinely be delighted to welcome them to ALBA and show them what we do here every day.

We only have one request for our Director.

If Mago Pop eventually comes, please do not just ask him not to make any of our instruments disappear.

Ask him to make our promotions reappear.

Because, at this point, it seems that recovering them may require nothing short of magic.

CGT-CELLS / SinControl

The Streisand Effect Reaches ALBA During the ALBA II MAC

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.