{"id":14201,"date":"2017-12-19T15:34:27","date_gmt":"2017-12-19T15:34:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=14201"},"modified":"2017-12-20T15:39:18","modified_gmt":"2017-12-20T15:39:18","slug":"lets-stick-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=14201","title":{"rendered":"‘Let’s stick together’"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

When we think of workers who must give up time with their families over Christmas, we often think of public sector workers such as ambulance crew, nurses and police.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But there are many other workers who, although not working in emergency services, still have jobs that are critical to ensuring our safety over Christmas.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the part 2 of our series about working over Christmas, we speak to Jamie Bramwell<\/strong>, a highway maintenance operative who works in the North West for the firm\u00c2\u00a0Balfour Beatty.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been keeping motorways safe for the last 15 years \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and for 11 of these years he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worked over Christmas.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sad to miss out on family and friends over Christmas but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gotten easier now that my children \u00e2\u20ac\u201c who are 12 and 15 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c have gotten a bit older,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he explains. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere have been times when our schedules allow us to nip home on Christmas morning before we have to go straight back to work.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jamie says the work he does is enjoyable because no one day is the same \u00e2\u20ac\u201c one day he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be gritting roads when it snows, the next he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be dealing with animals on the road, and another day he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be called out after a diesel spill.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhat we do is largely reactionary so on a typical Christmas I could be doing any number of things,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he explains.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt can be especially challenging when the temperature drops and you have to work outside in challenging weather,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he adds. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt can also be frustrating when drivers don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take care when the roads are slippy \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we do all we can to make the roads safe but that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean you can drive normally when weather conditions are bad.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Still, Jamie enjoys his job, especially the way he and his colleagues work together.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Team work<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bDoing shift work you get to be really close with your colleagues \u00e2\u20ac\u201c there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a strong emphasis on team work. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re also all union members so there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a real sense of solidarity between us.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jamie adds that he and his colleagues have a deep sense of duty toward the motoring public \u00e2\u20ac\u201c so much so that it can be hard to turn down work when they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re called on to do so even on their days off.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bObviously when we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re on call we have to respond but there are many times when I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m on my day off and someone needs us to come in. We are that concerned \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we worry that, for example, someone will have an accident if the motorways aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t gritted \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll drop what we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re doing to work. I have to tell my supervisor that if he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want me to come on my day off he shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t call me.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jamie says he wishes workers such as those in highway maintenance got more credit for the work that they do over Christmas.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bDoctors, firemen and policemen, nurses and others all rightly get the credit that they deserve \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but sometimes I feel as though we aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t always properly acknowledged. Hundreds of thousands of people hit the road over Christmas in the UK and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s thanks to us that they can travel to see their families safely.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jamie wishes all a very happy Christmas and urges Unite members to look to the New Year as one of renewed worker solidarity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bLet\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all stick together.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When we think of workers who must give up time with their families over Christmas, we often think of public sector workers such as ambulance crew, nurses and police.   But there are many other workers who, although not working in emergency services, still have jobs that are critical to ensuring our safety over Christmas. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14214,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[648,167,522],"wps_subtitle":"Keeping roads clear for all this Christmas ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14201"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14201"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14236,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14201\/revisions\/14236"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}