An employee in one of government’s corporations commented recently that a visit to a few of the Caribbean islands has made him appreciate how blessed are those who live in these islands of the shallow seas.
He said that until fairly recently he and his wife always vacationed in the US. Later they decided to take some of their holidays in the Caribbean. After several visits to various islands his wife told him that she would never again complain about the Bahamas.
“The trouble is,” he said, “Bahamians need a reality check.” He was particularly concerned about the greed of some of the unions. In his opinion Bahamians were always comparing their little country with the wealthy United States. Whatever an American has, Bahamians feel they should also have. They forget, he said, that there is no way that such a small country, with no natural resources, other than beaches, ocean and sunshine, can offer their citizens the same benefits as can America.
Bahamians, he concluded, have higher expectations than their country can afford. He believed if they would compare themselves with the rest of the Caribbean they would get a healthier perspective of their place in the world. They would also appreciate how unusually well off they are.
He scoffed at the high pensions, medical, and other benefits, not to mention salaries, that BEC workers expect taxpayers to willingly pay them. He believed they should be reminded that this is not the United States. This is the Bahamas with limited resources and an exhausted Public Treasury. He suggested that they compare their wages to those of their Caribbean brothers and then hang their heads in shame at their greed.
The Bahamas Union of Teachers are to be commended for their decision to postpone their industrial negotiations until January next year. Instead the teachers will turn their attention to helping those affected by Hurricane Wilma, especially their 25 union members who lost their homes. This shows tremendous maturity – the maturity that one would expect from teachers who are responsible for helping to mould decent attitudes in our youth.
Not so, the BEC union. When some of their technicians were desperately needed by hurricane-torn Abaco to get their lights back on this weekend, technicians could not be found. Many had called in sick, although their leaders had undertaken that no industrial action would be resorted to until the union had an answer from the BEC chairman who was off the island. They gave him until noon Monday to reply. However, their members took to their – beds on Friday, withdrawing their services from the public.
It shows a complete lack of interest in the public’s welfare. Therefore, there is no reason that the public should take an interest in their squabbles with their managers. As a matter of fact many members of the public are annoyed at the general attitude of many of the public departments, whose staff have decided to withdraw their services by not answering the telephones, and, in the case of BEC, not accepting payment for bills. We are told that at 9am yesterday BEC’s Marathon office was crowded with people trying to pay their bills before going to work. The person said that three lines of customers extended out of BEC’s payment office and flowed about 30 to 40 feet into the mall.
And while demonstrating unionists selfishly think only of their own pockets – pockets they want filled before the next election – there are Bahamians who have no shelter over their heads and have to depend on charity for their next crust of bread.
A Freeport resident telephoned yesterday to ask if we had been down as yet to see Eight Mile Rock. We said that our photographers were flown in and that we had published several photographs. “Well then, he said, “they” do not tell the story of the devastation here.” He said he had his wife drive him to Eight Mile Rock to see the damage. “I couldn’t take it,” he said, “it just made me sick. I have never seen anything like it in my life. This area had a tsunami, everything is gone. I was so upset that I couldn’t continue into Pinder’s Point. I asked my wife to take me home.”
He said he saw a desolate man, broom in hand, sweeping what he thought must have been his living room. “But, I don’t know why he was sweeping,” he said. “There was no roof, no walls, nothing, only the slab he was sweeping.”
And Americans, who still have no electricity or water in some areas of Florida, are now in Nassau until electricity can be restored to their homes.
By Saturday Florida Power and Light had restored service to 60 per cent of the 3.2 million customers who lost power during Hurricane Wilma.
However, 1.29 million customers are still waiting for service. Full service is not expected to be back before November 22.
Instead of wasting the public’s time on picket lines at a time like this, these unionists should be spending their weekends in Grand Bahama, hammer in hand trying to help put a roof over people’s heads.
Editorial from The Tribune, Nassau Bahamas
