WITH the increased in protest action by the Scrap Iron Dealers’ Association (TTSIDA) and their cry for leniency, their voices seem to have fallen on the deaf ears of the Government, as the scrap iron workers are expected to step up protest action this coming week.
The Government’s harsh and oppressive six-month closure of T&T’s scrap iron industry could result in a loss of $130 million in revenue as reported as the industry is said to generate close to $260 million annually.
The TTSIDA has been begging the Government to rescind the six-month ban on exports. They have threatened increased protest action and have indicated that they will stage more rallies and protest until the Government listens to them. School is set to reopen in two weeks; many said they could not buy food, nor pay rent or buy school supplies. Many of them wondered how they would feed their families.
They have claimed that the Government just doesn’t listen to their voices and their industry has no other alternative to continue to protest as the workers that work in this industry have to survive. Many of them live by paycheck-to-paycheck and some have various legal problems and criminal charges against them.
So regular businesses and other industries do not want to hire them as they have police rap sheets on their records, that is a list of a person’s arrests and convictions on their past records. They claim that the Government doesn’t have a plan in place to supplement this loss of income within the industry.
This move is cruel and shows that the ban was ill-conceived. Many of these workers need this industry to support their families. The money doesn’t only go into the hands of scrap iron dealers, a lot of the money trickles down to lower-income earners in our society to support the low-income economy. So this harsh and cruel ban will cause more suffering to the lower-income citizens and the Government is really clueless by initiating this ban.
This ban is stifling their livelihoods and the way they support their families and the extra money they earn through this industry would not be trickling down to the low-income sector.
My take is that how the Government can do this without proper consultation and make such a knee-jerk response to the allegedly illegal theft of copper and iron across the country? A simple procedure by initiating a simple contingent plan by putting suitably trained Customs officers and police officers in place at the locations at the major scrap iron yards across the country would assist in curbing the thief of private and state property.
Initiating checking mechanisms that ensure that the scrap iron dealers operate within the law could be done by just dissemination of the Customs officers and police officers. This would have prevented these protest uproars and be more understanding, more humane to the people that make a living from this sector and industry.
The workers are just trying to make an honest living also and take care of their families.
My two cents.
Neil Gosine is the treasurer of the UNC. He was a former Chairman of the National Petroleum Marketing Company of Trinidad and Tobago. He also holds a Master’s in Business Administration MBA, BSC in Mathematics and a BA in Administrative Studies. The views and comments expressed in this column are not necessarily those of AZP News, a Division of Complete Image Limited.
Put in Mechanisms To Monitor Scrap Iron Industry
WITH the increased in protest action by the Scrap Iron Dealers’ Association (TTSIDA) and their cry for leniency, their voices seem to have fallen on the deaf ears of the Government, as the scrap iron workers are expected to step up protest action this coming week.
The Government’s harsh and oppressive six-month closure of T&T’s scrap iron industry could result in a loss of $130 million in revenue as reported as the industry is said to generate close to $260 million annually.
The TTSIDA has been begging the Government to rescind the six-month ban on exports. They have threatened increased protest action and have indicated that they will stage more rallies and protest until the Government listens to them. School is set to reopen in two weeks; many said they could not buy food, nor pay rent or buy school supplies. Many of them wondered how they would feed their families.
They have claimed that the Government just doesn’t listen to their voices and their industry has no other alternative to continue to protest as the workers that work in this industry have to survive. Many of them live by paycheck-to-paycheck and some have various legal problems and criminal charges against them.
So regular businesses and other industries do not want to hire them as they have police rap sheets on their records, that is a list of a person’s arrests and convictions on their past records. They claim that the Government doesn’t have a plan in place to supplement this loss of income within the industry.
This move is cruel and shows that the ban was ill-conceived. Many of these workers need this industry to support their families. The money doesn’t only go into the hands of scrap iron dealers, a lot of the money trickles down to lower-income earners in our society to support the low-income economy. So this harsh and cruel ban will cause more suffering to the lower-income citizens and the Government is really clueless by initiating this ban.
This ban is stifling their livelihoods and the way they support their families and the extra money they earn through this industry would not be trickling down to the low-income sector.
My take is that how the Government can do this without proper consultation and make such a knee-jerk response to the allegedly illegal theft of copper and iron across the country? A simple procedure by initiating a simple contingent plan by putting suitably trained Customs officers and police officers in place at the locations at the major scrap iron yards across the country would assist in curbing the thief of private and state property.
Initiating checking mechanisms that ensure that the scrap iron dealers operate within the law could be done by just dissemination of the Customs officers and police officers. This would have prevented these protest uproars and be more understanding, more humane to the people that make a living from this sector and industry.
The workers are just trying to make an honest living also and take care of their families.
My two cents.
Neil Gosine is the treasurer of the UNC. He was a former Chairman of the National Petroleum Marketing Company of Trinidad and Tobago. He also holds a Master’s in Business Administration MBA, BSC in Mathematics and a BA in Administrative Studies. The views and comments expressed in this column are not necessarily those of AZP News, a Division of Complete Image Limited.