UNITE VIEWPOINT HICKERY DICKERY DOCK
Firstly and before we get into the main thrust of this month’s article, I thought I’d take time to applaud the Government’s recent exten- sion of their ‘Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme’ for
employees, until the end of October; announced by the Chancellor on 12 May 2020.
Whilst applauding this common sense approach towards the employees, I have to seriously question, with some suspicion I might add, why the Government didn’t extend the ‘Self-Employment Income Sup- port Scheme’ in the same terms and at the same time? Why does there continuously seem to be such a glaring disparity in the treatment of the self-employed by the Government vis-à-vis their employee counterparts? Why are the self-employed treated like lepers by the current Govern- ment?
Many trade members have had to endure in excess of two months of no work and no income. Some trade members have found themselves entitled to nothing – through no fault of their own!
This brings me onto this month’s article; during the current emergency and in the absence of driving a cab, I have been more than occupied with assisting our members with all sorts of ‘Coronavirus’ connected issues. Yet, I have also through the pro- found difference in my usual routine, found myself with a lot of time to think and to contemplate life’s mysteries!
‘reasonable and necessary’ – whilst also remaining proportionate. Candidates must also be asked if they can present the local trade as a bunch of untrustworthy rogues to be harshly regulated for everyone’s pro- tection, regardless of the fact that many of them possess far more experience and expertise than the officers.
Finally, the mindless and dogged perse- verance and observance of fallacious policy in the face of overwhelming evi- dence to the contrary – would seem to be ‘must haves’ in terms of a ‘good fit’ for offi- cer employment.
Given the outrageous conduct and behaviour of many local authorities in their response to this global pandemic, the same question seems to recur in my mind: “What makes a local authority licensing officer tick?”
It’s certainly a conundrum worthy perhaps of someone’s ‘chosen specialist subject’ on Mastermind.
Let’s start at the beginning, what is the interview process like? What’s the REAL job description and what ‘specialist’ quali- ties do authorities look for in potential applicants? The evidence drawn from successful can- didates who have gone on to to be fully fledged officers seems to point to a possi- ble ‘laundry list’ of potential attributes, including; a complete lack of empathy, a lack of consideration for others, the inabil- ity to rationally, pragmatically and properly think through strategies to be
I have come to believe that the first ques- tion at interview must be, “Do you have any experience in the transport industry and do you know the difference between a taxi and a private hire vehicle? No? Excel- lent, you’ve passed part one of the interview!
Are applicants, as I believe, treated during the interview process to a ‘role play’ involving such dilemmas as: “Tell us about a time when you’ve successfully dreamt up some mindless overregulation purely based upon your own personal whim and caprice without any local evidential basis; and then gone onto defend your policy against legitimate challenge that is under- pinned by overwhelming evidence?” Perhaps moving onto: “Can you remember a time where you’ve meddled with some- thing that you did not understand and what’s more had no experience or exper- tise in, only to break it and then gone on to blame everyone else?”
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JUNE 2020
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