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editorial
A
Tony affair
Why
suicide is not an option?
It is Grillo again, in the news. No, not the affable Italian TV
comedian Beppe Grillo but the UHM’s Grillo, who is calling
on the Freeport to award workers a Lm32-a-week incease. A crane
worker, we are told, earns only Lm5,200 a year.
The point here is not how much a crane worker earns, but rather
how much other workers in money-making organisations and companies
earn.
For all its talk about understanding the chemistry of this country,
the UHM has proven that it fails to look after the future of its
members and that of the country.
We all know that the Freeport is working in a highly competitive
market. We are aware that the Freeport is one of the first firms
to face privatisation.
With exaggerated and unsustainable wages, this would not be possible.
The Freeport still receives subventions from the state. To meet
the Grillo demands one will have to turn to the tax payer and ask
for more.
Mr Grillo should be told this.
He does not, because he opts to move on in a blinkered way.
A strong union leader is one that tells the workers the truth and
presents them with options.
The only option that Grillo knows is the one that applies the negotiating
strategy: ask for the impossible and you will be given plenty.
Once again, we turn to Freeport and call on it not to give in.
There is no room for manoeuvre here.
A
green agenda
This newspaper has a green agenda, but not one that is orchestrated
by extreme tree hugging philosophy. We are not alienated from the
simple fact that people want to live a comfortable life, eat well
and find time for recreation. We also know that there are simple
undeniable facts that we are not prone to talk against: the use
of a car, air-conditioning, a home, the use of technology, medical
services, travelling by air, attractive clothes, food, drink and
many others.
All these require the use of resources, energy and the unsustainable
erosion of our ecology.
What do we do? Do we stop living? No, we do not, but we can seek
compromises and methods that cushion some of the effects created
by our selfish society.
This is what sustainability is all about.
And perhaps what we badly need is translating all these catch phrases
into a credible strategy.
Protecting our natural resources
One aspect which needs serious attention is our sea. No, not only
the dumping of raw sewage into our seas, but the preservation of
our natural stocks.
A very quick look at the quantity and diversity of fish around our
shores will indicate a few trends. Some farmed fish have taken over
other more interesting species, though the mercenary scientists
who concoct the reports for the fish farms continue to deny that
this is the case.
The over-fishing for certain species has also taken its toll. The
Grouper is no longer found in its usual numbers, the same applies
to the Octopus, and what about the Swordfish and now the Tuna?
The stress and strain on our natural resources calls for urgent
action. We are not against fishing, far from it, but perhaps we
need to create active support for the regeneration of natural stocks
by declaring closed seasons and conservation areas and if necessary,
catch quotas or size quotas.
Once again, we get the feeling that no one is listening.
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