Opportunity for the workers

THE EDITOR, Sir:

REGARDING THE massive lay-off announced by United Estates and the divesting of farms ­ is anyone (the NWU and MOL) considering the workers buying the farms and running business themselves? With a lot of countries considering privatisation and employee-owned enterprises as a means of poverty reduction, this is an opportunity for these workers to not only keep their jobs, but to control their future for a change.

Of course, these workers may receive some kind of compensation package, but in Jamaica's economy how far will it go? We have enough taxis and mini-buses. These workers have the opportunity to tap into the export market ­ citrus is not the only thing they can export and the US is not the only marketplace to target. This might be a frightening time for these workers and with families to feed it is not easy ­ But this might be an opportunity for bigger and better things. Privatisation and employee-owned is the way to go.

I am etc,

AUDREY CLARKE

E-mail:

aclarke@ibtci.com

Falls Church, VA, USA

Via Go-Jamaica

Back to Letters