Mork calling Dave Kirk

[Willie Gamble]

Hello Dave
I was looking through some photos of steel shows on the old interweb thingy, and came across some of your set and wondered if you could up date us up here in Scotland how Carol is doing, her name is mention often at the workshop meetings and it would be good to hear how she is doing
Anyway, give her our love and best wishes for a speedy recovery

Willie Gamble

[Dave Kirk]

Hi Willie
Many Thanks for your post and kind thoughts of Carol. She is doing really well, and after a long recovery has just returned to work on a few days a week phased return until she is fitter.
The return made her fell she is wanted again and of some use to mankind, unfortunately within a few days, the Company (Local Government) told her that they were now undergoing a re-organisation and cut backs were being put in place, meaning it is likely she will be laid off after 28 years service.
9 people were going for 3 jobs, and she has had to fill in forms to re-apply for the job based upon a point scoring basis.
The forms will be studied by a committee of managers who don't know her, and the bummer is that one section is looking for how many days sick the applicant has had off in the last 12 months, Carol the poor love has had 365! and because the forms are anonymous she can't make a case that will help her.
As you can imagine, it has knocked her confidence something rotten and has caused some depression.

As for her general health, she has lost most of her taste buds so a lot of food is bland and tasteless, she has no saliva glands to help her with moisture when eating, but then best Medicine she has introduced in to her diet to help her is 'good old wine'
She is going to make Ireland this year, and is determined to play, even though her neck is in a pretty bad state from the surgery, she will not let that stop her.
I think she looks great, but she is very conscious about the third degree scaring to her neck, and has the crazy notion that people will make fun of her disfigurement so, she will be wearing thin scarfs around her neck to cover it up.

She gets so pleased when the steel community ask about her, and it really boosts her up a lot! look out for many hugs and kisses from her if you make Ireland this year, as it is her next goal so to speak.
I will be bringing her with me on a 1 week tour of gigs in Scotland at the end of July.
Many Many Thanks for your post we really do appreciate it
Kindest Regards
Dave

[Zumbilly(Murdoch)]

Carol and Dave,
It certainly was a pleasure reading Your post this morning.
I am completely in awe of Carol,She is an inspiration, and to be back at work shows how well She can fight.Do'nt let thoughts of redundancy get You down,You both have come through something that lesser mortals could never have done and I am sure that You have always looked on the positive side(It shows)
Let us know where and when You will be appearing in Scotland and I am sure You will get a visit from a few steel players,
Lots of love from Ann and Myself
Billy

[Ken Byng]

That is good news from the Kirk household. As a former local government officer (senior manager) I was grateful of the 6 months full pay and 6 months half pay system that is in place. Some employees took the mickey out of the system, but it is there as a safety net for those staff members who have genuine illness. Carol is an inspiration as Billy has said, and all of us must have been affected at some point either directly or indirectly by this cursed disease. The scarring will fade, but in the meantime anyone who makes idiotic throwaway comments about Carol's appearance is despicable.

[Dave Kirk]

Many Thanks for that Ken& Billy
by the way Ken I am playing at the Bluebird tonight if you are up for a pint!
Kindest Regards
Dave

[Ken Byng]

That's a shame Dave - I would have definitely come down to see you play. However I am at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton tonight. I am taking wifey and 2 friends to see a show. I would rather be at the Bluebirds club if I'm honest.

[Willie Gamble]

Hi Dave, thanks for the update, right glad are we to hear that Carol is on the mend, she really has been to Hell and back.
As far as her job is concerned, I don't thing any manager worth his or her salt would do that to a valued employee after what she has been through.
I too am a local government officer, and have been since 1967, I am thinking of making a career of it, what do you advise, yes or no.
Let us know where you gigs are
Lots of love and best wishes, and hunners o' hugs to Carol
See you in Ireland if not before

Willie

[Ken Byng]

Dave
The situation of local councils having to downsize its employee numbers is regrettable but inevitable given the cuts in funding to them by central government. I had the invidious job of having to make a large number of staff redundant in my own unitary authority a few years ago, and year on year was expected to make significant 'efficiency savings'. In a service-led industry, the only real way to make efficiency savings is to reduce overheads by way of staff salaries. As a consequence, this impacts upon service delivery - there can be no argument with that.

Carol's situation is one that I am familiar with, as one criteria that I was expected to look at was that of attendance records. I was more sympathetic with folks who had long term sickness than those who had repeated and regular bouts of short term sickness. I would have to try to manage those staff who were inclined to go sick for short periods. I presented many cases where I was seeking dismissal on the grounds of ill health, and most of them concerned short term sickness. I would make sure that those members of staff who had suffered from debilitating long term illnesses were given full support and aid to get back to work when and if they were in a position to do so. When the decision on Carol's future is made, consideration should be made on her performance and record prior to her illness. No organisation can afford to offload its best employees, regardless of any recent long term sickness history. I hope that commonsense prevails when the decision is made on her future.

[Willie Gamble]

Well said Mr Bing, I couldn't agree more, I would do the exact same thing myself

Asleep at the Steel

[nevada150]

Mr Ken Byng's words are music to my ears.
I worked in the Middle East for many years and for a period of 3 years I suffered recurrent lower disc problems, brought on by windsurfing! The company Doctor was a Pakistani Doctor from the UK and he made the necessary arrangements for 3 operations and subsequent lengthy recovery periods, all at the company's expense. As with most Middle Eastern multi-national companies, we had to undergo an annual assessment, the result of which determined not only your annual bonus, but whether you would be offered another contract. Due to the "time off" I accrued in these times I could have been finished, but Dr. Shah decided that because of my length of service and experience with the company I was still a valuable employee.
Unfortunately most companies now make their decisions on the length of time an employee is sick at one time rather than whether they are persistently off for short periods of time.
I remember a time when I worked for ICI in the UK and our Shop Steward used all of his "sick days" every year, thereby adding to his annual leave entitlement. A great example to all of us ???
Keith.