The cotton picking days are over!- Daniel on bush cutting contracts
According to Daniel, the value of the contracts was dropped from 25 cents per sq ft to 10 cents per sq ft.
“There was no reason given. They [Government] didn’t come out to the public and tell them anything. You only get to know when you got a contract from them and you see on the paperwork that it is now 10 cents a square foot...It was fifteen hundred dollars and now it gone down to three hundred and sixty dollars. The same distance of nine hundred and sixty feet long.”
Daniel said Government should not have cut the bush cutting contracts so significantly “because poor people depend on these bush cutting and cleaning of drains to help feed their families...Everyone who received a contract is affected. It has to be a lot of persons. I would say it affect from district one to district nine.”
Strongly believing that three hundred and sixty dollars is inadequate for the work required to complete a contract, Daniel said she recently decided against executing two contracts she recently received from Government.
“To cut bush from a distance like say from the Ebenezer Thomas Primary School all the way to the shop in Palestina and collect three hundred and sixty dollars for that is no money for that distance of chopping bush because you out there in a sun. How can somebody who do up a book collect eighty five thousand dollars but people out there in the hot sun chopping bush could collect less money for so much work. The cotton picking days are over with.”
Asked if she approached the Department of Public works on the issue, Daniel said she did but was told it was a decision made by cabinet. “I feel that they should have come to the House of Assembly and stated it so that people could know what happened and not by getting a contract and then seeing what happened. That is the wrong way of going about it,” Daniel argued.
Virgin Islands News Online asked Minister for Communications and Works, Hon. Mark Vanterpool to explain the rationale behind the drastic reduction in the value of bush cutting contracts but was told that he was not aware of the new development.
“I am not aware of exactly how that was done but Public Works, as far as I know, has been managing and organizing the contracts. I don’t know if that has been a policy they have changed...I am not aware of it”, Hon. Vanterpool responded.
Efforts to get a comment from the Public Works Department were unsuccessful.
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42 Responses to “The cotton picking days are over!- Daniel on bush cutting contracts”
Work by the hour is fairer unless you get those who sit down all the time. THEN the square ft should come into play as a measure of work ethic.
Tell Mr. Whisker to give the extra 15cents
This is pure nonsense. We have a Solid Waste Department and shouldn't be giving out private cutting contracts period. The Government is only doing this because they realize a lot of people depend on it, but they don't have to do it. Solid Waste have been put to work since this new Government was elected and the bush has been managed well so far. These people need to look real work and stop depending on Government for everything. Tell me where Government supposed to get all this money from to cut bush when so many other things have to be dealt with in the country. No other country you will see this type of stuff happening where so much money is being spent on bush cutting. You better be glad they cut the price and didn't cut it out all together. I would be upset too if I was depending on these contracts but before we open our mouths we need to think. People have this entitlement attitude and neeed to stop. Kishmet is a very talented artist and creator. She can do so much for herself, she doesn't need to be in this political bull balling about bush cutting. She needs to focus on her talents and make that take her through. She can make so much money from her talents but it's politics. 12yrs of brainwashing by the liberator can do that to you.
'distain' is in your mouth my friend. Learn to spell from chatting nonsense. The government is not forcing anybody to do anything. If the price too low for you then find a higher paying job. I never hear more $h!t in all my life. This is a talented artisitic young lady here belittling herself and people cheering her on. Her talents can bring her thousands or hundreds of thousands, I can see her arguing with Government and their Trade dept/National Bank for something like that. But is it really worth crying over bush? Our minds are too small in this place, we need to think big. You already have your craft and skill, stop the bs and try to make those work for you.
Do PWD and WMD have the capacity(labor and equipment) to perform the work? Or the work has to be contracted? And if so what is the market rate for brush clearing? The price like any price should be determine by supply and demand. The price should be fair and reasonable. Is $0.10 or $0.25 a fair and reasonable? The work should be competed and awarded based on market prices.
Though some other bloggers suggested using prisoners to do the work, this is an option but it needs closer examination. Additional supervisory cost aside, prisoners should not be competiting with law abiding citizens for work. Prisoners should be assigned work that does not crowd out or displaced law abiding citizens. Additionally, there was a comment made about the salary of a book writer. Well, professionals are paid based on what they know, not necessarily what they do. No slight intended to unskilled and skilled workers.