…and labour
Today, your Eyewitness will be whipping out his snazzy red shirt and heading down to the mean streets of Georgetown. Even in the May-June rains that have arrived a tad ahead of schedule – to march as one of the working stiffs. Solidarity forever!! Solidarity forever…And the union makes us stroooong!!!
Now, he’s always wondered why the working girls of our Garden City don’t come out to join in on the parade: they’d look so cute in their little red dresses!! But then the Labour Unions are a tight little fraternity, aren’t they? Your Eyewitness is willing to wager his month’s salary that if a union of working girls were to apply via the Trade Union Recognition Act (1997), the gatekeepers won’t allow them in. And when you come down to it, that’s the problem with labour, isn’t it? – both here and in the rest of the world.
When our trade union movement was launched by ole Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow back in 1919 – hey! that’s almost 100 years ago! – it was not a coincidence it was done on the waterfronts. The strength of countries was weighed by how many TONS of merchandise shipped out. And if labour could flex its muscles there – then it could flex them anywhere!! But the world has moved on. While countries do ship minerals and what not – one firm on Wall Street gambling in derivatives can make more money than half of the countries in the world!! And all done by clicking a mouse on a desktop!!
Labour’s got to get with the programme – it’s got to convince those folks providing services THEY’re also labouring. It doesn’t matter they’re not mining bauxite or cutting cane – they’re the future. So, how about starting with those working girls, eh?? They labour. Now don’t think your Eyewitness believe things with “knowledge workers” will be much different than with the “manual workers”. If we go back to that black and white movie with Marlon Brando from the 1950s about corruption and graft “On the waterfront”, is it any different from what’s happening from the pioneering organised “knowledge workers” in the GPSU?
Yup! That’s right. Back in the day, Civil Servants wouldn’t be caught dead consorting with the likes of dock workers and cane cutters. The “great unwashed”! But look where Patrick Yarde and his clique’s brought them?! But there’s a bright side to the shameful spectacle of Police called in on vote counting: the new knowledge workers we have to bring in to the red-shirt movement just has to learn the lesson from GPSU’s experience.
If you play with puppies, you’ll get bitten by fleas!
…in Oil Contracts?
Over the past two years, your Eyewitness has been honing in on the totally clueless actions of Raphael Trotman in the sector. Why didn’t he insist on Royalties AND share of profits? Why mamaguy the nation about “oil refineries”, oil facilities, and now “power plants from gas, etc…
Now, it’s not that your Eyewitness is so daft to believe graft and corruption that’re so apparent in every facet of this government’s operations wouldn’t surface – he just didn’t think it’ll come this quick. But an Economics Prof at UG just identified what looks like an irrefutable smoking gun on financial hanky-panky in two contracts Trotman signed.
The first one’s deceptively small – a $70,000 contract for a “desktop” evaluation of the prospects for the “power from gas” facility – using Exxon’s data!! But this was just a misdirection for a yet-locally unannounced one to a huge Aussie firm to “evaluate” Exxon’s development plan?
So, what it’ll do with that evaluation?? Tell Exxon to scrap its FPSO?? What’s the kickback??
…on feasibility study
On a related matter, Transparency International’s complaining about Trotman’s stonewalling on Exxon’s feasibility study on our oil.
Wouldn’t TI’s evaluation – for free – be as useful as the mega bucks one from the Aussies??
But there’s no money to cream off with TI, is there??
