A Country at Ransom!

First, it was the Doctors, then the Nurses and the Police. Now, it’s the Teachers and workers at the National Water Commission. Personally, I think all these strikes are a plot! They are a plot to hold the decent and law-abiding citizens of this country at ransom. I find it quite strange that suddenly everybody get up and decide to take on the government. Now don’t get me wrong, not for one minute am I defending the stance of the government but seriously, out of the blue everybody just want them money so!!!! Something fishy!!!

Let’s look at the issue of whether or not these workers deserve the increases they are sticking out for – in my personal opinion, if an employer and his employee make an agreement that after a certain period of time they will receive a salary increase, then undoubtedly the employer must fulfill his end of the bargain. It is not permissible for the employer to tell the employee that “him noh have no money and a just so it goh”. However, there is a major difference when the employer is the government and there is a country to run that has every imaginable deficit there is.

The fact is that, the government must learn to communicate with its employees and in a timely manner any difficulties they are having. It is not enough to appear on television and announce that “the teachers could strike all they want; after they are finished they are not getting one red cent more”. Diplomacy, tact and communication skills are seriously lacking in this current crop of government ministers.

On the other hand, one thing is crystal clear; the Government has no money!!!!. Regardless of how ‘tough’ Audley Shaw gets on collection of taxes and no matter how much he borrows from the multilaterals, the funds are just not enough to stretch to salary increases. Big and serious still, as a government employee myself, a raise would do me well right now but as a former Economics student, I know that if the government decides to print all the money we need and pay all the people we owe; all when Jesus come and gone 3000 years from now, Jamaica noh done pay debt yet!!!!

The other issue I have with these sudden strikes is the proliferation of Unions. Oh God!!! I find them so disingenuous!!! There is this popular Union Representative (him face favour Rat Bat)... all they do is boost up the workers to strike and when things go back to normal, management ‘slights’ the striking staff.

So now that I have ventilated my opinions on this ‘striking’ issue… here are my humble recommendations to the different groups;

1. To all – Go back to work; it’s plain and simple – the government does not have the money. Work out another reasonable yet workable timeline and demand your money then. Now my friends, is not a good time.

2. If you feel that you must hold me; a decent, law-abiding, tax-paying, water-rate paying citizen at ransom, then do only your assigned duties and work for your appointed time but for God sake, do not give children who already cannot count any extra time off from school. And as for the Water Commission workers; you are already perceived as an ineffective bunch, striking doesn’t do anything to increase your ratings.

3. Teachers – As someone who has the utmost respect for Educators, I am appalled that you could even have thought of closing down the education system for two whole days. In my opinion you are the most critical of the lot because you teach the doctors, nurses, police and national water commission staff. “Onoo shoulda shame”… imagine there is a 45% numeracy rate in primary schools and you find time to stay home and watch Jerry Springer and the Maury Show. Whether you believe it or not, the old adage which says ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ still stands, if the children are not being taught at home and not being taught at school, how is Jamaica as a society going to manage???

4. Now the Nurses, led by the great Edith Allwood-Anderson have been quiet for a while. But if I know Edith well, it’s only a matter of time before she shots out of the woodwork again and declare the nurses ‘sick’. But looky here my lovely Edith, allowing sick people to die does not score any cool points with God. If I were you, I would encourage my Nurses like the Teachers to do the whole ‘work-to-rule’ thingy cause I heard from a good source that Jesus doesn’t like human sacrifices!

Guys, let’s work this out. Our beloved country is already so unproductive and here we have professionals willing to give up good production time to prove a point. Try and work it out, you are all supposed to be educated people, act accordingly! I guess if all negotiations fail then we might have to bring in the Disputes Resolution Foundation or the Peace Management Initiative.
Lata,