Productivity, Pay and Patriotism

Notwithstanding the necessary concern for workers, the citizens of our country must start listening to one another, Government, business and labour must listen and dialogue on the way forward. We may be talking but are we listening? We seem to be asserting our labour rights without reference to other factors. The concept of rights is always balanced with the corresponding concept of responsibility. Rights and responsibilities are never separate values.

As one commentator brilliantly wrote, “The right for you to swing your hand ends where my nose begins.” One must exercise one’s rights in a socially responsible and moral manner. This applies also to wage negotiations. Our current economic challenge is an opportunity to bring together in our national consciousness the notions of productivity, patriotism and pay. These are inseparable bedfellows and a prerequisite of both fairness and economic growth.

Our national consciousness seems to be dominated by the issue of “pay”. Our discussions ought not to begin and end on the sole issue of higher wages and salaries. There are other factors that citizens are not seriously taking into consideration in the present dialogue, namely, productivity and patriotism.

Productivity seems to be marginal to our country and in the present discourse. Productivity and its cousins creativity and innovation are crucial issues that are not being spoken about enough in TT .

It appears that hard work and productivity is seldom a topic that can survive more than a day in the public domain, precisely, radio-talk shows.

Trinidad and Tobago needs a patriotism that would hear citizens saying, “I am willing to work harder for my country”. This is a type of volunteerism. Volunteerism is desperately needed. Can we work without expecting and demanding anything in return? Working without remuneration is volunteerism. This is a lost value. Volunteerism can help us overcome overemphasis on “self”, much to the detriment of the whole. We need more patriots and volunteers.

The Catholic Church has always taught from the time of Rerum Novarum, On the Condition of Labour (1891) that every worker has the right to a fair wage and proper working conditions. The Church has always championed the cause of the worker in its teachings. St John Paul II has said that a worker is not a tool but a person. These are important concepts that must never be forgotten.

Nevertheless, balance is necessary. The worker is a citizen of the country, part of a greater whole - an ailing economy that needs time to recover.

The worker is also accountable to the taxpayer and the government for his or her work ethic. In these dire economic times, we need clear balance in our approach to hard work, pay and wage negotiations.