[Stuart]

Some good news. Our department is in the process of being restructured, and a couple of weeks ago, I was called into the bosses office. He explained that my job was being downgraded, and he was telling me early so I could fight the decision. Fight, I did, with the help of my Line manager, and I think, to some extent, Unison (my union). The same boss who had told me a couple of weeks ago told me in a department meeting on Wednesday that I'd won my fight. His application to regrade my job had been successful, along with his application for an increase in staffing budget to enable him to employ more technical staff.

Why am I happy, bearing in mind that after a lot of fighting I am essentially back to square one? Simple. Things could have been a lot worse. I now know that my career and financial circumstances will not change for the foreseeable future. That's knowledge I've not had for a year now. Of course, I don't have a cast-iron guarantee that my job will stay forever, but who does?

There's also the salary drop. When I took this job, I was on a much lower salary than what it would have dropped to, but my circumstances were different then. I was quite comfortably off then, but I cannot afford to lose that much money now. I know that my salary would have been protected, but I'd still have had to look for another job. Something which I don't want to do, as I enjoy this job.