‘No one will lose their jobs @ BVIEC’ - Hon Mark H. Vanterpool
It was reported in another section of the local media that workers of the BVIEC were “up in arms about reports of a foreign company with an initial 11-member team to "co-operate" the Pockwood Pond Plant and that this was expected to cost Government millions.
Efforts to seek clarification from General Manager of the BVIEC Leroy A. E. Abraham proved futile.
However, when we called Minister Vanterpool, he offered a clarification, saying that nothing has been signed with the foreign company, whom he said was Wartsila, the supplier for the power generators.
“Nothing has been completed but there is a discussion with the company that has provided the generators - Wartsila. [It will entail that assisting, not running the plant but assisting the corporation by training the local operators.”
He said that the arrangement will be a temporary one until the knowledge is transferred to the local staff.
However, with regards to the amount of money the arrangement is to cost the Government, Honourable Vanterpool said such details of the contract he does not have as yet. The Minister confirmed that the management of the BVIEC has been discussing the issue with the workers.
“No one will lose their jobs. The company will be on a mission of training so that they could manage the new equipment that is coming in. So there should be no fear absolutely,” said the Minister.
Honourable Vanterpool added that while he is not sure of the timeline he does not believe that it will be very long before it is implemented. He said that the negotiations will continue between Wartsila and the management of the BVIEC over the next couple of weeks.
About Wartsila
According to research, Wartsila is a Finnish corporation which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the marine and energy markets. As of 2014 the company employed close to 18,000 workers in more than 70 countries and it is headquartered in Helsinki.
Wartsila has three main businesses; Power Plants focussing on the energy market, Ship Power focussing on the marine market and Services which is supporting both markets.
Follow Us On
28 Responses to “‘No one will lose their jobs @ BVIEC’ - Hon Mark H. Vanterpool”
Due diligence in protocols and negotiation processes- If this corporation knew that they were intending to buy new generators from this company- “Why didn’t arrangement made to have a select group from BVIEC go to Helsinki to train and bring back their knowledge, exposure (different operational practices), and experience in which to train the others? Isn’t this much more effective, beneficial, and inexpensive than the reverse in the short and long run? Why do we hate each other so much to continually “Exclude Our People” from benefiting and getting ahead? When did we adopt this type of attitude? Why do we allow the “green god” we have come to love and trust so much to cloud our thinking and consume us?” A definite pattern of unsustainability!
You sound so STUPID! This is why BVI will always lag behind, we promote ignorance and stupidity every step of the way. Same people on here talking bullsh*t are the ones complaining about frequent outages and other issues. It's long overdue.
In my opinion, what we are agreeing to do is to consent to yet another manufactured form of “transgenerational” servitude. But we must overcome our post-traumatic slavery disorders which seem to have been encoded into our DNA and have programmed us into believing that we are incapable of producing and competing at the highest levels anywhere we chose to. We need to learn how to pull each other up despite our differences; every other human group have already learned this lesson and are progressing everywhere they have decided to inhabit together.
Our story has already proven that any foreign entities who are not fully vested with their hearts, souls, and monies- into our country, will bail out when things get too tough for them to maximize their shareholders’ interests, only to sell to the next highest bidder, and the cycle continues.
It will certainly be in our best interest to learn how to “fish for ourselves” and build our workforce to produce and compete at worldwide acceptable standards.
These are not the first set of machinery bought from this company. The first engines at Pockwood pond was bought from this company and they stayed after they finished and trained the staff at the power station. at that time they also left boxes of parts to service the engines. The present ma***** was the one who went and bought the second set of cheap engines. This is to say Wartsilla is no stranger to BVIEC. they train workers before they hand over their equipment. I know because I was one of those trained.
Instead of constantly laying out our lavish red carpet spending for all these foreign companies (including sun, sand, and sea pleasures)- why not have our people get the exposure and experience working and training in their overseas location; thus allowing for our people to “expand” in terms of experiencing different “modes of operations,” possible practical best practices, and know-how in similar industries oversees. We can also rely on our negotiating advantages.
Conversely, we allow our ministers to jet set around the world on our monies to do the Peoples’ business, including their own (China, etc.), so why can’t we negotiate to allow our people to benefit more from foreign industry exposure? Thus creating positive-feed-back-loops, improved productivity, efficiency and outlook for all stakeholders involve.
Need to stop lying to the people. These people are required to provide 40 hours of training to the locals a year. Is that any training? This government is not looking out for the people.