The most difficult test for the Dickon Mitchell Administration so far is not the payment of the retroactive pension nor the T. A. Marryshow salary increase dispute. It was the impasse at the St Georges Port.
This illegal strike on the part of the Grenada Technical and Allied Workers Union is a win for no one but the union boss or bosses who are perpetuating this injustice against the people of Grenada.
The Nation has lost millions of dollars in revenues, and businesses have lost millions in sales, not to mention our traffickers, who depend on the little they earn to live and feed their families. They were calling on the Government but they should rightly have been calling on GTAWU to end the farce.
Information surfacing is that the young lady in question was dismissed for issuing a lot of exit passes for imported goods without the bosses at Customs or the Port Authority giving clearance.
One can only imagine the implications of this gross negligence. Illegal arms, drugs, restricted goods etc. entering the country unchecked. Added to that, significant loss of government revenues as no Customs duties or Port charges were paid for these goods. The strike action resulted in delays to the business community with food and other critical imports not reaching the consumer. This to my mind are grounds for summary dismissal.
My understanding is that the GTAWU is fully aware of the circumstances of this matter. If that is true and they called out the workers, then God help us. I cannot fathom that the entire membership will stand for this travesty. That could be me being naive.
The strike was no doubt painful politically, economically and otherwise, and the young administration would not have liked this to happen especially around this time of the year.
The private sector has publicly denounce the strike. I call on all and sundry to speak out against what is a lawless union.
That being said, how this matter is dealt with could derail any attempts at transforming this country.
Sometimes it is necessary to sacrifice a toe, to save a foot. There’s never a wrong time to do what is right.
The Country Man