‘WHAT STRIKE?’ ASKS TOBAGO LIFEGUARDS

LifeGuards in Tobago are not on strike. In fact, contrary to a television report Saturday evening, they were never engaged in “strike” action.

That was the word from lifeguards who were on duty at Store Bay and Mt Irvine beach on Sunday when Newsday visited. At the sparsely populated Mt Irvine beach, Charmaine Prescott made it clear that she knew nothing about any strike by her colleagues; likewise her co-worker Charlie Murray. “It is the first time I am hearing about that,” Prescott told Newsday. “I heard about it on Saturday from one of my colleagues when I came to work. I don’t know anything about that. I am on the job!” Further questioned, Prescott denied being involved in a strike. “If I don’t know anything about it, I can’t be part of it!” she stressed. Told of the television report, Murray said he knew nothing about it either. “I was hearing about some protest action; (but) I don’t know anything about any strike.” Both lifeguards however requested that their photographs be not taken. Meantime, an acquaintance nearby was making fun and “kicksing off” about a certain lifeguard who was on television “making noise for his money.”

Across at Store Bay where the mostly sun-bathing crowd was out, there were three lifeguards — Beverley Joseph, Adam Hackett, and Richard “The Lion Heart” (the surname he gave Newsday) — on duty. Richard acted as a sort of spokesman for the three, nudging Hackett into silence on several occasions. Richard emphasised that they were never on “strike,” but on “sick-out,” because they had not been paid their fortnightly wages. “There was no day that we were never on the job; we always here,” said Hackett. “We are to respond; we are trained lifeguards, we would not let anybody die,” Richard replied, when asked what would happen if someone was in difficulty. “Strike! That’s what we said in a way to force them to give us our money”, Hackett told Newsday. But, they insisted, “Sick-out; not strike.”