WPC – a plumber’s perspective
<< Continued from page 25
Ruining jeans and bending pipes. Checking levels and mixing
concrete. Explaining the why and the what-for to Mr Jones and
unblocking overflowing drains. You see, the conference is dedicated
to the plumbing industry. It dawned on me that all this policymaking,
deciding, arguing, negotiating, meeting and greeting ... all this
talking was in the hope that I would go out and bruise my left index
knuckle again as I did last week. I realised that without boots on the
ground, nothing will ever be achieved. Lea Smith posed a question
to one of the speakers on Thursday morning, “On a scale of one to
10, please rate the importance of the plumber on the ground in your
estimation.” I think the answer was a high nine to 10. I did think that
it was a left-field question and a bit out of context, but I enjoyed the
answer nonetheless.
Importance of the plumber
That afternoon during a speech by Shayne La Combre, the incoming
chair of the World Plumbing Council, Smith again quite out of
context, posed the same question to La Combre, “Please give us
an indication of the importance of the plumber on the ground in
this whole affair.” Again, the answer was a rating of nine. I began to
realise the profundity of Smith’s actions: this was why we were all
here — the halls, the costs, and the logistics of it. The following day,
during the final keynote address on the effects of global warming
by Dave Viola, the COO of the IAPMO Group, Smith again asked,
“Dave, bearing in mind the gravity of the big issues you’re talking
about, and in this context, please give us an indication of how vital
you think the plumber is?” Before Smith could finish, Viola had
answered, smiling, “11. It’s 11.”
So, what good does talking do? I mean, if we’ve just established
that the most important cog in the proverbial wheel is the person
turning the spanner, what’s the good of talking? Well, the average
plumber would walk into that conference feeling just as I did that
first morning — quite insignificant, a little daunted, and with a
sense that all this high and mighty stuff is just a bit over his or her
head. The truth is, people are just people and most of us would feel
this way. Plumbers in particular in this country have a penchant for
feeling unworthy, however misplaced. Another truth is that many
plumbers did not attend the conference because it is not regarded
as an affordable exercise, and so they did not experience the same
upliftment as I did.
So what now? Have we returned to the same old predicament
whereby the people that really need coaching, re-enforcement,
guidance, and upliftment are the ones being left out in the cold? To
a certain extent, yes, it would seem so, but there is something we
all can continue doing, and that is to talk. Talk about your trade with
pride; shout it from the rooftops, because you are the people that
matter. The more talk that happens the more people will be reached
and the more the collective chests will start to swell. A hand will
swing the spanner, but talking gives it value. PA
Richard Bailie is the CEO of Springtide Plumbers.
November 2016 Volume 22 I Number 9
“It’s all about us, the plumbers.
All the high-flyers were there
because of us — not the other
way round.”
27