Time to reflect and restore

Ah few months ago ah mentioned dat ah heard dat de Reclassification Report foh public servants was going to be “bad news” foh ah large number ah lower salaried wukers whose jobs were zero rated and salaries were to be either cut or frozen. And den ah went on to say dat de PM would be well advised to shelve dat report. But we done know how it go wid Prime Ministers, is only one person dey could sit down and listen to, and dat is dey demself. In dis day and age way tings could not be worse, ah reduction ah salary is unpardonable. Dat report is in contradiction wid reality, in particular SVG way everything seems beyond people’s wages; food prices and basic necessities crying out loud foh another Rev-all-yuh-shun by itself.{{more}} My question is why would de ULP Guv-ah-mint implement ah report dat is in contradiction wid dey own policies? How can dey in one breath be speaking bout Education Rev-all-yuh-shun dat sets out to eradicate illiteracy and upgrade people’s learning skills, and in de same breath devalue de contribution, status and salary ah de Teachers. Dey “dis-in” Teachers, “Dis” as in dis-respect and dis-try de morale ah de majority ah we treasured teachers. Ah have stated over and over dat teaching is ah Noble Profession, ah married to one who has been committed to de profession all she wuking life. We must also treasure our Police and Health wukers. Naturally we have ah few bad ones among de lot, but de majority is who counts and we got to mek dem happy foh dem to give of dey best.

Having said dat bit, de Executive ah de Teachers Union acted either out ah desperation, frustration or incompetence to what they call ‘betrayal ah trust’ when in de midst ah negotiations, dey call ah two days strike, but dis is only de smoke, wait till end-ah-month or whenever de adjusted salaries will tek full effect.

My hope is dat de Teachers, in particular de Executive, really spend de two days doing as President Joy-fully said: “we need time to Reflect and Restore”. Yes in dey pull-it-tek-all stupor, Executives after Executives keep forgetting dey Soul behind, now dey need to Rest and let dey Souls catch up wid dem. De SVGTU play too much polly-tricks; Fitz Jones followed by Utter-some’s, sir-render-red de Soul ah de Union, hook, line and sinker to de mercies ah de ruling regime. And de rewards dey got dey-dey foh all to see. How eye-ran-ache to hear de present Executive pretending to be oblivious of the facts and crying out foh “betrayal”, And don’t be fooled, some ah dem carrying ULP membership cards and sitting on ULP executives. Ah feel is Guv-ah-mint who should be crying “be-tray-all”! Tangled webs dey weaving, both sides.

Wid all fear-ness to de Guv-ah-mint, dey tried to mek de wukers good foh de Christmas, 20 plus million dollars in payouts is by any standard ah good package and indeed everybody was happy; but like de proverbial cow dat gave ah bucket ah milk and den tek e-lef foot and kick over de entire content, Guv-ah-mint should ah held back de implementation ah dis iniquity-us Report.

MIKE REMEMBER NAH

What is wrong wid Minister Mike Browne, ah former Teachers’ Union General Secretary and President who fought gallantly foh de teachers in his day, Ah want to remind him dat de same critic-is-him he leveling at de Union foh not following PROCEED-JAH and accusing teachers wid NDP influence of force-in de Union to strike; dat is de same, I-dent-he-call things Milton Cato had to say bout de Teachers’ Union led by Mike and Yvonne Francis in 1975. Could it be dat de teachers have decided dat dey will no longer allow dey future to be messed up by ah ULP Executive. My, My, how easily we forget dat “what goes around does come back around”, and sometimes we need to be reminded dat “de more ting change, de more ting stap de same darm way”! Ah suppose in 2000, de opposition had adhered fully to de PROCEED-JAH when dey declared de country un-gov-an-able and blocked de roads.

ARM-IN WINS AH ROUND

Arm-in Eustace must be commended in all ah dis foh his positive contribution to de whole Reclassification Report. Early-o-clock he was on Radio taking pains to explain dat de Reclassification was not necessarily ah raise ah pay exercise, and his concern was dat ah lot ah small salaried people will be badly hit if and when it is implemented. He did not sound like ah man rejoice-in or wanting to score cheap pull-it-tek-all points over de predicament dat was waiting round de corner, but like ah prophesy, it’s happening now. Arm-in, dubbed de man who got no Charisma (Caress-mah), no understanding ah econ-nah-mix, no cents, no smile, dey even say he needs to borrow de PM’s false grin; seems he proved himself right foh once, or is it once more. In response de Guv-ah-mint down-play all dat was said and Arm-in was re-deemed visionless and ah prophet ah doom. De sad reality is dat we still have ah serious problem on we hands to deal wid. People’s nerves dey pon de edge, de country heading foh ah pull-it-tek-all slash econ-nah-mek-all nervous breakdown. Like de Teachers, Guv-ah-mint in all dey self praising and chest beating have left dey Soul behind, dey too must tek time out to Reflect on de situation and Restore dem-selves, let dey Souls catch up wid dem. And wid dat ah gone go look foh me Soul.

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