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5:30am Barbados Time – Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Overnight Starcom news just provided an update. The two large boulders have been removed and workers continue to remove rubble.
No bodies found as yet.
** We forgot to mention that the Miami-Dade rescue team left Barbados on Tuesday morning. See CBC article here
Dealing Drugs To Belfast School Children Is Risky Business!
No, I don’t recommend this in Barbados, and yes I’m aware that Irish politics might have come into play…
… but for a moment I thought of some of those evil young men who sit on a stone wall in a certain St. Peter location.
UK Telegraph: Tar and Feathers For Belfast Drug Dealer
Filed under Barbados, Crime & Law
Government Of Barbados Has A Poor Record When It Comes To Paying Emergency Workers And Suppliers
When the Barbados Glendiary Prison burned down in 2005 it was the type of a national emergency that saw folks from all over the island helping out in whatever ways they could. Police, fire and and other emergency workers also called upon citizens and businesses to assist in ways that were only acceptable because of the immediate danger to life. Vehicles and special equipment – and even workers – were “requisitioned” by authorities with not a thought at the time as to rates of payment or when the equipment would be returned.
All that is expected – only reality as emergency personnel try to save lives in dangerous circumstances.
After the crisis has passed, the government should compensate people and companies fairly and quickly.
More Workers Unpaid By Government – But The Prime Minister’s Lexus 4×4 Has A Full Tank Of Gas!
We all know that this island has money problems, but it seems to us that those folks who were hired by the government to provide meals to prisoners at the temporary prison in St. Lucy in the aftermath of the 2005 riot should be paid for their services.
Apparently the government has a different opinion.
The most damning statement comes from the workers’ union – that in effect warned the prison workers at the time “You are suckers and the government intends to not pay you no matter what they say”
As I read the following story in the Nation Newspaper, I have to wonder about all the emergency workers and companies supplying to the Apartment Collapse rescue and recovery efforts. Will they be paid? When? And how much will they have to beg?
Still No Pay For School Meals Staff
SCHOOL MEALS WORKERS who provided meals for the inmates at the temporary prison in St Lucy still have not been paid.
Despite encountering this problem they have not spoken to their representative, the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) on the issue.
“We have not said anything because we would have warned them from up front early o’clock [about the arrangement],” said General Secretary Dennis Clarke recently.“My understanding is, and I’m fully satisfied, the Ministry (of Education) did give them correct advice as to what they should have done before they got into the entire exercise.
… read the entire article at The Nation News (link here)
Wrong Priorities And Corrupt Practices Have Left Our Treasury Empty
This government’s borrow and spend policies have virtually bankrupted our nation and we are to the point where various government employees and outside suppliers are not being paid regularly as the government struggles to keep up with the bills. (See BFP’s Is Barbados Going Bankrupt? Part 76 Of A Continuing Series… Attorney General Dale Marshall Comments From His Yacht)
We hope that the government pays folks and companies involved in the current rescue and recovery quickly and fairly.
But unfortunately, the best predictor of future performance is the past.
Filed under Barbados, Disaster, Political Corruption, Politics, Politics & Corruption
Barbados Free Press