When My Wife was a Child Minder, Parents would come and speak to her to asses her qualifications, her ability and most importantly, her attitude to her job. After all they were expecting her to take the best possible care of their loved ones whilst they could not.
When I hand my own Children over to the School at 4 years old I have every right to expect the Teachers to look after their best interests. Also when I tell my Children to go to a Policeman if they ever find themselves lost or find something valuable, I expect the Police to look after them and return them to us. When I was in a Management position in the Construction Industry and I employed a night time Security Guard, I had every right to expect him to look after the work place as if it was his own, because as in all of these Roles they are in a position of trust. And if at any time, one of these people betrays this trust the full weight of the law comes down on them because society believes in the importance of TRUST.
Now to put this in terms of Pigeon Racing, when I hand over my pigeons to an Organisation as regards to a race, I have every right to expect them to be looked after and released in the best possible conditions. The Convoyer is in a position of trust. I have invested hard earned cash and time into my pigeons and I do not expect anyone to take their welfare lightly.
But when a Convoyer takes a chance or gamble with the liberation of the pigeons he is breaching this trust and the full weight of the Union should come down on this individual. He is a paid servant of the Organisation, he has taken the job and he should respect the position of trust he is in. I know that most organisations have a position of Race Controller to help and guide the Convoyer, but sometimes after a poor decision to liberate in bad conditions they resort to pointing the finger at each other and members are left in a difficult situation as to trying to decide who to believe, who is telling the truth.
The truth is, the final decision to liberate lies solely with the Convoyer, it says so on his licence. The Licence given to him by the Union whose rules we race under. It has been designed to give no doubt that all Convoyers know they are placing themselves in a position of trust and responsibility and if they breach this trust they should be removed forthwith and banned from any such position for the future. It is exactly what Society would expect if any of the above roles abuse this trust, be it a Child Minder, Teacher, Policeman, Security Guard or Convoyer.
Also when I pay a large subscription to an Organisation upfront for race costs at the beginning of the season, I can rightfully expect value for that money. Right now with one Organisation I am a member of I feel like demanding a refund because in two of the first four races, very poor decisions have been taken that have not been in the best interests of our pigeons. But unfortunately no one accepts or can be held responsible, we can only keep taking the knocks and hoping that next weeks race will be better. And thats just not right!
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