In response to a question at a news conference following a meeting of the National Tripartite Advisory Council (NTAC), Keston Nancoo, chairman of the Employers’ Consultative Association (ECA), said the business sector will hold to the commitment. However, he added that he had not discussed it with anyone but he believed that good sense will prevail when it comes to layoffs in the current economic situation.

The other business representative, Gabriel Faria, Chief Executive Officer of the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce, said that without consultation he could not speak for the hundreds of businesses which are members of the chamber and the different business groups. “We represent a multitude of businesses and while I am sure that the desire and the goal of every business is to retain and grow, we know what’s happening in the economy so, unfortunately I cannot speak for every business in TT. I know today there are companies that are hiring and growing while I know that there are companies that have stark economic realities. So I think we have to be practical as to what we could assume.” Yesterday’s NTAC meeting was the first which included representatives of the labour movement since its withdrawal from the council in March.

It was reported at the time that labour walked off the council to protest Government’s decision to shut down the Tourism Development Corporation, but JTUM’s Vincent Cabrera said the real reason was the lack of consultation before the decision was taken and announced.

Joseph Remy, President of the Communication Workers’ Union, the majority union at the corporation, has said he was informed of the decision in a telephone call lasting just over a minute from Tourism Minister Shamfa Cudjoe, shortly before the decision was announced at a post-Cabinet news conference. The trade union movement saw that lack of consultation as an insult to all trade unions.

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley attended the meeting and participated in the discussions.

Briefing journalists afterwards, NTAC chairman, Camille Robinson-Regis said it was a fruitful two-hour meeting and all sides agreed, “we were in this together and we would work together to foster an ethic that is in the best interest of all the people of Trinidad and Tobago.” She said the prime minister reminded the meeting of the country’s watchwords: “Together we aspire, together we achieve,” and said they were holding fast to those watchwords. Robinson-Regis said there was free and frank discussion and all sides agreed to work together, adding that “We feel quite certain that the three entities, labour, government and the private sector are essential to ensure that the challenges we find ourselves in at this time can be overcome and that it will be overcome if we work together.” In a statement on behalf of JTUM, Cabrera said the meeting represented a process of revitalisation and the return of the labour movement marked the revitalisation of NTAC. He said Rowley conveyed the government’s view that all parties should be forward looking.

However, he stressed that, “We have made our position quite clear as a labour movement, we would not be putting workers as sacrificial lambs but at the same time while we look at fiscal responsibility, we have to look at social responsibility.”

Compare the mudslides in the Maracas Valley and other outlying areas to mudslides in other countries that swallow up entire towns.

Compare the flooding in my area of TT to the recent Hurricane Harvey disaster in Texas.

Consider the heartaches caused as a result of collapses like Clico and the Hindu Credit Union.

Compare that to the fortunes lost to the ponzi schemes perpetrated by the Bernie Madoffs of this world.

Let me assure you that TT can boast of having the most honest businessmen, and the most sincere politicians ever to assume office. And God is a Trini.

Our children can walk the streets safe in the knowledge that they won’t be harmed or kidnapped. Compare this to the hundreds of innocent young girls snatched by Boko Haram in Nigeria.

Our mothers and wives can go to sleep at night without fear of having their throats slit or of being raped. God is a Trini.

Our criminals only shoot each other; they have a high regard for the welfare of innocent bystanders.

Murders may be up, but serious crimes are way down.

Scotland Yard and the FBI are envious of our law enforcement’s high detection and conviction rates.

Now don’t get me wrong, we may have a few problems but we are so blessed that for two days each year our women can dance naked in the streets without fear.

God is a Trini. To the bone. But I tell you this, if ever He decides to migrate I am leaving the very same day. I think I will go to Canada and sing calypso. Bless you all.

TYRONE EVANS Belmont

LOCAL parang queen Alicia Jaggasar is one of the headlining acts for tonight’s Cabaret at the Kaiso Blues Café at 8:30pm.

In this semi-staged production operatic tenor John Thomas plans to treat the audience to treasured classics of yesteryear, featuring oldies but goodies from Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Rogers and Hammerstein.

Others on the cast are Kyle Richardson who plans to spice things up with his tribute to Shirley Bassey, singing one of her more popular tunes, dressed in “character”. L A Rose will add a fusion of both new and old.

Joining them will be young and upcoming Kita Gadsby, who is making a name for herself as a soloist of the Lydian Singers and the EPAF artist collective.

Other EPAF artist collective performers for the evening include Aaron Mark Alleyne, who can be regularly seen on DC Shell’s stages portraying several storybook characters, Music Festival Musical Theatre Champion Jeanine Clarke Jackson, Music Festival Champion Maxine Greaves, ANENO’s Noel Espinoza and UTT music Bachelor student Kiana Tinto.

“The evening promises to be one of nostalgia, and delight, almost bringing back dinner theatre to the island as you can have dinner and watch us perform,” Thomas said in a media release. “It’s not every day you get a stellar cast doing a production of this standard for a nominal nightclub cover-charge!” He described the evening as one full of good entertainment for almost all ages.

The remaining 2018 World Cup qualifiers are of academic importance, possibly a good lime, because the Road to Russia has been bombed.

Already the argument of local coach versus foreign coach has reared its ugly head and the long knives have been drawn.

My view is that we need to stay local with coach Dennis “Tallest” Lawrence. He could at least tweak his coaching staff.

Frankly, the fluctuating quality of play, the individual defensive errors, the gun-shy approach outside the box and lack of fitness by some players were key factors in derailing our campaign.

We also did not make use of our opportunities.

I hold the view that every player must bring his A-game and agonise over poor performances. The team lacked the killer instinct moving as a force to demolish opponents.

At the end of the campaign moving forward, I would like to see football jefe David John Williams put on an “ideas shop” where all stakeholders and fans can have an input in the way forward. After sifting through the noise, he and the Football Association will have a clear idea on the pathway to Qatar.

KEITH ANDERSON via email

Many of us who sell services often think that we haven’t quite found our passion. We move from industry to industry, change jobs but still find that after the glow of the new job fades, we’re back to square one – feeling unfulfilled. Not that we can’t do the job. We are more than competent but there’s something missing, and we can’t quite put our finger on it.

Your success is based on the convergence on the following:

Clarity. Entrepreneur Peter Voogd says that in a world filled with so many options, mindless distractions and evolving technology and information overload, it has become extremely difficult to gain clarity. Most entrepreneurs haven’t come to grips with how important clarity is and how big a role it plays in their success. Clarity brings confidence and confidence raises standards.

Many times we’re advised to follow our dreams, identify our passions, do what we love. If you’re here, stop. I think it’s more important to figure out how you’re naturally wired to perform. What’s your behaviour pattern? Do you like to build on things, do you like to solve problems, do you work best under extreme pressure? Don’t for one second think it’s not important.

Dan Sullivan, founder and president of the Strategic Coach Inc explains it this way: “Has anyone ever encouraged you to improve in areas where you struggle? If you’re like most people, the answer is yes. This is how most of the world thinks and operates. But does it truly make your life better? Do you absolutely love doing it now that you’re better at it? Our guess is no it doesn’t, and no you don’t. Your unique ability is a completely different mindset that honors your natural strengths, what’s already within you and comes most naturally to you. It’s you at your very best —the way you create your best results and what people count on you for. Even if you do have a pretty good idea of what you do really well and are really passionate about doing, you might take it for granted. Most people downplay it, thinking anyone can do what they do, but that’s simply not true. You have a unique way of doing what you’re best at because of who you are as a person — your personality, your unique experiences in life, your natural hard-wired talents… no one is exactly like you.”

This is your zone of genius. You must get clear on what this is for you.

Next you need to do something that creates value and can be sold. We often love to draft strategic plans but to have a REAL strategy, it must really matter to your existing and potential customers and it must differentiate you from others in the same field. You get clarity around this by asking your present AND potential customers. Let them know what you’re designing and find out if it is of value to them.

You must figure out a way to get their attention. Michael Zipursky found of Consulting Success shares this: “The fact is, every [service professional] is different and requires an approach that is a fit for their goals and circumstances. More Facebook advertising or social media posts won’t necessarily help you. Learning how to do cold sales phone calls won’t change things much. While the people pitching you those tactics may be qualified in teaching them, they are far from qualified in teaching you the timeless and powerful fundamentals essential to building a successful practice.”

And finally you need to have a sales conversation. Without it, you won’t get paid for your solutions.

What you need is a clear mind and deep focus on each one of these four steps to execute them properly. Take Michael’s advice: If you’re spending all your time dabbling in different marketing tactics without giving these four steps the attention and care they deserve you’re leaving money on the table.

Opening a Pre-Budget Forum titled Budget for Gender Justice: Make Households Matter to the House, last week at The UWI’s Learning Research Centre, head of the institute, economist Dr Gabrielle Hosein, said the institute had begun developing a Gender Justice Scorecard. A handout circulated at the forum said the goal of the scorecard will be to provide “a gendered analysis of national fiscal policy and its implications for peace, security and empowerment within households, highlighting how the national budget process and budgetary allocations have differential and inequitable impact on women, men, girls and boys in a time of economic crisis.”

It added that by stimulating wider engagement with “gender-sensitive budgeting, the scorecard will also support Central Statistical Office (CSO) capacity building for better governance, and will provide an example of action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 4 – Health; Goal 5 – Gender Equality; Goal 8 – Reduced Inequalities and Goal 16 – Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.”

However, Attzs said such an objective might risk being impeded by a lack of relevant data or gender analysis of economic developments in the country, observing that it was important for policymakers and researchers to have the kind of data to help them make informed decisions and recommendations. “The issue of data paucity cannot be ignored. We are essentially feeling our way in the dark, trying to make decisions, trying to mainstream gender, trying to develop things like

the gender scorecard, trying to achieve gender justice, but we don’t have the data to support the path that we want to take.”

By way of illustration, she showed a slide of a table on this country from the World Development Indicators which she said she had downloaded “in the last 24 hours” so that it was as current as possible. The table showed that information broken down by gender in a number of key areas was either missing or incomplete. She said the table was informative “in a perverse way” because “if we don’t have data then we can’t make policy decisions that help us achieve the desired outcomes”. She said “essentially, we treat Ministries and budgetary allocations as if they are operating in silos and not really understanding and recognising that if we are to achieve the empowerment, or that greater gender balance in terms of how our men and our women develop and how they access services and how they ultimately become empowered.”

She said the society was talking about improved access for women to various programmes so that they could improve their lives and become more empowered and more active participants in the economic space, “but we don’t have the dis-agregated sets of data to allow us to see what touch points of intervention are required to help us to achieve that particular outcome.”

Hosein referred to a number of calypso classics such as Singing Sandra’s Crying, Shadow’s Poverty is Hell, Sparrow’s Capitalism Gone Mad, and Brother Resistance’s Ah Cyar Take That, which all chronicled the hardships of poverty, saying these songs “all spoke to everyday life and the stresses of providing care for children and the elderly as well as the effects of violence on families, the pressures of unemployment, under-employment and informal work and an inability to make ends meet.”

Hosein said the project being undertaken by the institute was to provide data to respond to the cries of the calypsonians and to empower civil society advocacy for State accountability to these realities. She said the global political economy must be held accountable at a time of economic and ecological crisis, adding that “the current global and national economic models cannot solve this crisis because neither oil nor gas will get the country out of the economic and ecological crises it faces.” She said, “its permanence makes focusing on the insecurity it causes a matter of urgency. At the very least national fiscal policy and planning must be held accountable for how it addresses the causes and effects of this crisis on everyday life. “

She said that the country’s “big dreams” for development, peace and sustainability also require gender justice and where gender justice exists, ideas about womanhood and manhood do not reproduce discrimination, denial of rights and vulnerability to harm and inequitable access to power and resources. “States, communities and individuals all actively committed to transforming these into just opportunities, outcomes, norms and relations from women, men, girls, and boys.

She said that according to UN Women, the United Nations entity for gender equality and the empowerment of women which became operational in 2011, gender budgeting is not about creating separate budgets for women or solely increasing spending on women’s programmes, rather it looks beyond the balance sheets to investigate whether women and men fare differently under existing expenditure patterns. She said it calls for adjusting budget policies to advance gender equality and more equitable distribution of the gains of economic development, adding that it is a step toward greater public transparency.

The idea is not a new one. Hosein said that as far back as the 1970s, “Caribbean feminists showed how structural adjustment policies impoverished families and communities. Two decades later, they began to push for gender responsive budgeting with organisations like the Network of NGOs of Trinidad and Tobago for the Advancement of Women, and the Women’s Institute for Alternative Development, taking the lead. Two decades later, we continue to build on that legacy. Our goal is to press forward national conversations about the everyday life of this current crisis and its different impact on women, men, boys and girls. It’s the differential impact that makes commitment to and advocacy for gender justice so key. Our goal is therefore to begin to provide gendered analyses of the national budget process and budgetary allocations and their implications for peace, security, empowerment and gender equality as experienced in everyday life and in our households.

Hosein said that over the next three years, the institute will be working to produce a gender justice scorecard which will aim to access five sectors in terms of gender responsive budgeting: labour; social services; health; education and agriculture. “And we have a special focus on cross-sectoral concerns related to gender-based violence and the care of the economy. We hope that this will help to empower citizens to advocate for greater fiscal accountability to people’s lived realities, to influence the budget process and to press governments to meet international commitments, among them the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, the Inter- American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of violence against women and the Sustainable Development Goals 2016 – 2030.”

“It promises to be a spectacular event as the people of TT and the region will come together to raise funds to rebuild Barbuda,” Fabien said.

Over 170 artistes will be performing soca, calypso, chutney, tassa, dancehall, reggae, comedy, theatre and much more.

Assisting Fabien in the concert’s presentation is No Laughing Matter, a group of conscientious and professional individuals within the theatre, arts, media, cultural ambassadors, business, and people with a passion for TT and the Caribbean.

One Island will feature 12 hours of performances in aid of victims of Hurricane Irma which battered several Caribbean islands including Barbuda. The public is being asked to make a contribution of $50, together with three canned items (expiring not before 2018) or a case of water at the event. “We have a 40-foot container on site waiting, and it will be stuffed as items come in, and on Monday the container is going to leave the Oval and go to the port to go on its journey,” Fabien said.

He is hoping to raise $1 million to assist in the rebuilding of Barbuda.

“The impetus is for Barbuda because when we saw the other places that were affected by Hurricane Irma we knew they have help from some other countries because they are Dutch or French or English.

But Barbuda have the Caricom.

We are Barbuda’s big brother so we are seeing about them.

Therefore One Island the Concert is reserved for Barbuda.” With the residents having all been evacuated from the island since Irma, Fabien noted: “Barbudans are all living with families in Antigua.

So that is why we need the help of people on the ground to get items to these specific people, hence the reason we are working with the HALO Foundation, an Antigua-based NGO.

They have been doing work there for a long time just as Feel has been doing in TT .” He then stated that ambassador Gail Christian from Halo will be coming for the event while Gaston Browne, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda has sent his appreciation and his love, and the people of Barbuda, their gratitude.

Among the artistes who have confirmed their attendance are Blaxx, Shurwayne Winchester, Teddyson John (St Lucia), 3canal, Vaughnette Bigford, Ziggy Rankin’, Ronnie McIntosh, Orlando Octave, Baron, Michelle Xavier, Isasha, Swappi (Grenada), Myron B, 5Star Akil, Kevon Carter, Johann Chuckaree, Dane Gulston, Denise Belfon, Pternsky, Jason Seecharan, Adesh Samaroo, Raymond Ramnarine, Neval Chatelal, Sharlene Flores, KV Charles, Oscar B, Christian Kalpee, Asten Isaac and Nadia La Fond.

Performances will also come from top dance, parang, spoken word artistes and popular DJs. Also listed are Imij & Co, Los Alumnos, Malick Folk Performers and Wasafoli, Shiv Shakti dancers, D C Shell Theatre — Bollywood Dance, Wendy Sheppard, Lujoe & Gifted, Freetown Collective, Militant, Rembunction, Chantwell, Prince of Theatre Darrion — spoken word, Ninja, Allan the Entertainer, Rodey, Hamidullah, Bon Bassa, Leandra and Tyler Head, Anuradha Hansraj and Nigel Rojas.

Fabien is also hoping that Alison Hinds and Rupee will be able to make it.

Knight Riders, who chose to bat first after winning the toss, compiled a total of 68 runs for the loss of six wickets after their mandatory 10 overs. Junior Johnson stroked an unbeaten 19 runs while Shiva Roopchand and Harvey Rampersad contributed 15 and 13 respectively .

Strikers’ Kishan Baliram claimed three wickets for two runs while Brandon Harrylochan copped one wicket for 13 runs .

In their run chase, the Strikers were not able to reach their target, despite Jason Jairam’s topscore of 22 .

After their 10 overs, Strikers could only get 52 runs for the loss of two wickets. Johnson also contributed with the ball as he claimed one wicket for six runs, including a maiden wicket over .

Marcus Serattan got the other wicket in the innings as he went for 16 runs after his two overs .

In the end, it was the Knight Riders who walked away with the trophy, bragging rights and the $8,000 jackpot while Strikers had to settle for the runners-up prize of $5,000 consolation prize .

Johnson was named as the Manof- the-Match .

Teams – KNIGHT RIDERS: Suresh Baal, Harvey Rampersad, Hyden Rampersad, Shiva Roopchand, Jarred Phillip, Zard Clarke, Antonio Samlal, Brandon Ganga, Junior Johnson, Marcus Serattan, Michael Jordan, Shyan Moonwha, Reynold Jerome .

STR IKERS: Jason Jairam, Hanuman Moonsammy, Dave Baboolal, Brandon Harrylochan, Dalyon Angard, Dilip Ramnanan, Raphael Teeluck, Nishan Sookhoo, Joel Gayah, Steffon Roopnarine, Ricardo Martin, Narin Rampath, Kemchand Deosaran, Kishan Ballira .

On the other hand, it appears that Government’s policy on the restructuring initiative is operating on an extemporaneous basis, using pivoted moves driven only by financial expediency rather than that of strategic intent or diversification.

Let us examine the Government’s recent decision with respect to the Caribbean New Media Group (CNMG). This company was launched in 2005 after the failure of Trinidad and Tobago Television (TTT). Now in 2017, some 12 years later and because successive governments could not make CNMG profitable, it is now decided that the company will revert to its original TTT brand.

We were assured by the Communication Minister that new employment will be created, due to increased roles for content producers, cameramen, videographers, etc. However, 122 employees and 37 freelancers will soon be out of a job, although all were invited to reapply for employment with the new entity. I, for one, cannot understand how this can be sold as new employment. Is it not the same job roles, with the same required skill sets needed at both CNMG and its intended successor TTT?

So far, these restructuring initiatives have either resulted in outright closure and/or the creation of a successor entity doing the same thing, in the same way and with a majority of the same people. A very recent example is the new Tourism Development Company (TDC) plan. This, however to my mind would create an end result no different from what previously existed with a revolving door effect. The restructuring initiatives seems devoid of any clear strategic platform or foundation of diversification.

In the case of closure Caroni Green Ltd for example, we heard that the initial seed financing was all that was invested, as the former CEO claimed that the enterprise was a self-sufficient operation. However, we heard explanations contradicting those claims coming from the Minister of Agriculture. I am to wonder if Government ever attempted to determine if Caroni Green Limited could have ventured in partnership with Agricultural Research Department of the University of the West Indies or even considered the rearing of livestock. Was it possible to sell the company as a going concern if indeed it was self-sufficient?

Now, regarding Petrotrin, the Joint Select Committee (JSC) of the Parliament produced a report in June 2016 with respect to that company’s administration and operations. The JSC recommended that the organisation should find ways to defer payment of some bond commitments, explore options to optimise existing cost structure, assess the integrity of assets; and perform a manpower audit to determine its ideal workforce size along with skills and competence gaps of its human capital.

This report seems to have been ignored. Instead, the Government created a special committee to make further recommendations. The public is now aware that the recommendations of this 2017 report speaks to breaking up Petrotrin into three separate entities being Exploration and Production, Trinmar and Refining and Marketing. The report, however, made no recommendations of private (foreign or local) partnership, nor the reduction of the existing workforce.

I am still waiting to be convinced how these three entities working together will ease the financial burden on tax payers occasioned by Petrotrin’s current massive international debt.

As I understand it, they will still be producing the same petroleum products, in the same way and targeting the same markets. We would be back to that ‘revolving door’, as breaking up Petrotrin into three entities is not a full solution to our diversification needs and therein lies the problem.

Indeed, it was the Economist Dr Patrick Watson who recently offered that he “is not optimistic about future oil prices, as new products are being manufactured away from the use of hydrocarbons as people are finding cheaper, cleaner alternative sources of energy”.

Since 2009 Middle Eastern oil producers have been finding ways to diversify their industry away from a strict reliance on hydrocarbons. Today Saudi Aramco is delivering Saudi Arabia’s National Science, Technology and Innovation Plan (NSTIP), towards a knowledge-based economy. In this regard, the NSTIP have been working with European, US and other researchers, and product manufactures to create innovative new products from crude oil and gas.

Dubai’s Raven Petroleum also supplies oil field equipment and logistical services apart from its oil and petroleum products. Even British Petroleum has rebranded its slogan to Beyond Petroleum as it attempts to diversify into other renewable energy products and markets.

Going forward, I suggest that critical ingredients for effective restructuring must include new product or service offerings for different segments of the market. This is sure to trigger a change in organisational culture, which more than often, is what is required to guarantee a successful transition to a new entity.

Why didn’t the thinkers behind these decisions, not seek to identify CNMG’s value chain for enhanced local content and consider possible mergers with CreativeTT to commercialise the video graphing and cinematography skills that must exist within the organisation.

We need not be reminded that if we do the same things all the time, we will only get the same results every time.

Struck several times with a Taser, you become comatose. No need for a gun. With our history of rampant domestic violence, Tasers could provide another form of giving “loving chastisement.” They do not want you dead, just in a lot of pain.

Do I need to walk down the road of naughty teenagers running about with cans of pepper spray? Bullying in school will reach a new dimension.

Who is going to provide legislation to prevent misuse of these deterrents? Who would sell them? A doomsday scenario shows more women injured and beaten with their own Tasers. There might well be an increase in blind young people in all communities because bullies do not know when to stop.

Shops selling Tasers and pepper spray could outdo the Chinese restaurants that are often raided.

LYNETTE JOSEPH Diego Martin