Opprobrium was heaped on the Prime Minister's address to the nation which was meant to assuage fears over the freefall in oil pricing. Critics complained that it fell woefully short of specifics on how the Government was bracing for anticipated economic convulsions.
For all the fearmongering, which is quite useful to the "call the elections now" narrative, very few have considered the responsibility of the working public to put shoulders to the wheel. Surely, enhanced productivity could only improve our chances of weathering the beating that's heading our way?
Eef hunting for all-inclusive tickets was a paying gig this column would be about "Hats and the modern man" instead. With all the chatter about Carnival fetes and Road March contenders, how is any work done when there are bodies in the offices but all minds are mesmerised by daydreams of coolers buckling on the weight of sandaled feet, white shorts and getting sprayed with spittle stage-side by screaming performers jumping from venue to venue and cheque to cheque.
Usually it isn't good enough to just show up for work, but in this country even that will get you employee of the year.
This week I went to renew my passport. For the most part I found the staff uncharacteristically attentive, doing their best to provide information in an inherently chaotic, marketplace environment.Things were moving too smoothly I thought. Soon enough, I was reminded that the passport I was renewing was for T&T!
"Sir you have a linx card?" demurred the polite attendant behind a wall of glass. "Linx in immigration, isn't that like a donkey in a discotheque?" "Sorry, what is that?" She could scarcely hear me through the lone voice aperture. "The cashier didn't come out yet, so you will have to wait ah while."
In this country "ah while" is a generally accepted measure of time which means nothing less than an hour, but you can plan for at least three. I only had the "exact change" I was warned to carry so waiting was the only option. The cashier strolled in an hour and a half late. As she held my hundreds up to the light looking out for counterfeit notes, I wondered if I held her up her attendance record whether it would stand the scrutiny of the light.
This tardy immigration employee didn't consider the impact of the "corbeaux effect." This is what happens when a lazy, indifferent corbeaux on a lamp post flaps its wings making everyone else late. This young woman delayed no less than 30 people in getting to work or dropping their children to school. Her poor work ethic had repercussions for the productivity of others.
This effect is undoubtedly indiscernible to her, workers are scarcely able to make the connection between how their dreadful attitudes towards the job indirectly affects their own ability to provide food for their families.
For example, doh-kear workers take sick leave like vacation, amble in late, grumble about pay while coveting the business owner's car and bring almost nothing to the table in the way of experience or education. Yet when the cumulative effect of this poor work ethic and crappy attitude is the demise of the small business which employed them, dat have nuttin' to do wit dem and dey want dey severanz.
Our unions aren't entirely to blame; they share responsibility for this nation of entitlement fiends with the father of entitlement, Eric Williams. But the unions have certainly perpetuated this fine tradition.
Last year 68 National Petroleum workers were reinstated after the Industrial Court ruled that the workers' actions in 2013 didn't amount to an industrial relations offence. They went on strike against the outsourcing of jobs which they believed could be performed in-house. This was crudely disguised as legitimate "occupational health and safety concerns." Upon reinstatement, the long-term vacationers were also awarded 40 thousand dollars each in damages.
Championing workers' rights is a cherished democratic tradition which must be defended at all costs. What we have in T&T, however, is a trade union culture which has convinced employees that they '"own" the companies for which they work. The managers are actually in their employ, and the ordinary workforce has the right to decide the policy direction of any company under the menace of industrial action. This has metastasised to every sphere of labour, compounding an already weak appetite for industrious performance.
A recalcitrant employee can, in some instances, be trained to deliver better customer service. Low productivity can only be excised through threat of dismissal, which seems an almost taboo option.
Even if oil pricing stabilises, the day of reckoning for this country looms. The oil revenues paying the salaries of a bloated public service will dry up. The state largesse that has buoyed Eric William's vision of national orphanhood and the benevolent deliverer undermines any chance we have of growth through productivity.To quote Shakespeare, "Nobordy want to plant de corn, everybordy want to raid de barn."A dishonest day's work, we've come to believe, is a right of citizenship.