Fishy business. The Social Impact of SST.pdf - Act Now!

strategy is very well used by foreigners to side with thieves to steal our resources. Say 20years from now if that same attitude continues we will give our country and the futuregeneration to the dogs and the devil. It gives me encouragement to see such young man likeyou who has the potential to change the course of our direction. Our hope of the future ofPNG lies in your hands, especially your generation and if you can’t you may as well die thatto live and see the sufferings of your country. My generation has fail this country and givenit to the dogs – we have to clean it up and your generation will have to complete thecleaning and rebuilding for a better and brighter future of PNG.I really want this report to bring out a comprehensive report and bring to the public theinformation people need to know. This we act as a check-and-balance and applaud the effortand commitment from such young man like you.I worked as Manger Personnel for SST for 12 months ending 25 December 04. My positionwas made redundant my the General Manger. I was given no prior warning nor a reasonwhy they wanted me out of the job but that was the decision. I wanted to have a meetingwith the General Manager to explain my situation but he avoided all this time. So I gotnaturally angry by the manner in which I was treated. I was asked to move out after 2months for the date of notice from the company house and handover the vehicle. Anyhow, Isought advise from a private reputable law firm to take the matter to court but they advisedthat legally I have not case. That is really surprising to me. Because if I was in a similarposition with the government that I have a good case but such law don’t cover seniormanagers in private sector, which is off course something I didn’t know before.I lot of people in Wewak now have all kinds of misconceptions about my ouster from SST.They think I stole money from the company and got sacked as a result. But I got sackedbecause I stood my grounds on principles. Moral principles are hard to have but when youcompromise it you are nothing but a vehicle of evil to prosper.I fought for three things, and the company didn’t want to keep me:1. Change in the labor rate from present 65 toea to at least K1.002. Company transportation for night shift workers (because at the moment there is none),3. Accommodation - the company to provide flats/units for some of our skilled labourers,because I wanted to make sure that we have long term labour that we can relay on. At themoment we have people who come and work for few months and run away giving theirreason as no accommodation.Anyway, I have done what I did trying to improve the working conditions of my people andI was also a threat to the company to pushing for such decisions to be made so shutting mewas in their self interest and not for the wider picture. I worked 20 years in the business ofHRM with Ok Tedi so I have other plans to peruse.Believe me if the women went on strike this SST factory will be closed. I will help themestablish a union to give them a voice because they are working very hard under terribleconditions.Edward and Helen 9 July 05Edward is a Diploma graduate of Tourism and Hospitality Management of Divine WordUniversity. He worked in Mount Hagen with Trans New Guinea Tours before joining the SouthSeas Tuna Loining plant in Wewak. He worked in the Catering Department for 3 months before141