I have never heard a union leader telling his workers to have a better work ethic. All I hear is them calling for work to rule, don’t show up, or strike.
I absolutely agree with Odin Thoor when he says that absentee managers are a big part of the problem. Not just absentee managers, but managers who flaunt their wealth. Good managers do not drive in to work at 10.30 am, in their Porches, dressed to the nines in the latest duds, because this makes workers resentful. You cannot have a business without good business ethics, and treating your employees with respect and dignity is a good way to promote a good work ethic.
But let’s be honest here, our work ethic is almost non-existent. Like everything else, this can only be learned. The same reason we have a serious crime problem is the exact same reason we have a poor work ethic. No good role models; lack of diligent parenting; absentee teachers; and, the worst offenders, the programs like Cepep. These “initiatives” were to give the unemployed, and unemployable, a means of making a dollar. Because these people are not supervised properly, they do a very shoddy job, with a minimum of effort. If they were doing a good job, the country would be pristine. It isn’t.
And what irks me the most about workers, is that almost any that I’ve come across, is that they cannot do the job properly that they were hired to do. Painters are the worst. Didn’t someone say that the paintwork in Maracas looked as though it had been done with a cocoyea broom? We desperately need accomplished trades people.
I would be happy if I could find an old time gardener instead of these weed-whacking gangs we see today. Or a crew that actually cleaned the roadside drain, that didn’t just whack the top off the weeds or leave the mounds of silt at the side of the roads to be washed back in. I once admonished a crew of men mixing cement in the middle of my street. Their response was, “This is Trinidad. We can do what we like”. And unless our ministers get out of their comfy offices and into our communities, nothing will change. They are the very people who should be projecting a good work ethic.
ANNE MURPHY
