How can a young person without any godfathers survive in this country?

Fri Aug 16, 2013

Editor: I have been on a job search over one year now, to no avail. The Service Commissions Department, banks, credit unions and private businesses are all operating on the “who know who” policy and concept, which is worrying to many of the unemployed.{{more}}

Many of us have targeted several workplaces, following up with phone and personal contacts, but it seems there is never any vacancy; probably no one is retiring, leaving for studies and getting promoted or fired.

Despite this, each time you visit the establishment there is a new face among the employees, and if you look closely and investigate, you would by no means be shocked that they are related to someone in authority in that entity or another. For instance, most of the new workers in banks and supermarkets etc are persons who studied science in college, while those with the business knowledge and training are being attached to the YES programme.

That brings me to ask: are we really serious in this country? What can $450 per month do to a YES worker, who may have to travel to Kingstown for six days a week? Can’t there be some arrangement so that the training is done four days a week? It appears to me that this system is set up to underpay us. Where else can they get cheap labour like this, because trust me, the YES workers do a full day’s work like a regular employee. Furthermore, why does a person have to be given a full year of training that does not even assure you that at the end you will be successful in your job hunt? As a matter of fact, you even have to get ‘pull string’ to be hired by YES!

I know many would try to blame this on the economic crisis, but does that justify the suffering of our nation’s youths, especially those from the classes and groups that have no godfathers? On the other hand, there are many people in the country who are collecting huge sums of taxpayers’ money in allowances and for consultancies. Is the economic crisis to fall only on the backs of the youth and the weak? Let us emancipate ourselves, SVG. This begins with EQUALITY AND JUSTICE IN EMPLOYING OUR YOUTH WITH DECENT JOBS.

Elma Francis