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

Donald Jacob, Catrans fuel distributors, Wewak, 17 July 2005. Catrans shares the same fencingwith SST. Everyday we deliver fuel to SST. SST has three big generators that power the wholebuilding and other machines in there. SST gets a lot of fuel from us. We see that most timesespecially in 2004 around April we ran short of fuel because SST was supplied with fuel andthree of Wewak town service stations ran out of fuel to supply trucks and cars. As a resultservices in town were ineffective. Workers could not get to their workplaces on time.The smell of the factory is very bad. I could not stand it the first time I entered the place torefuel their tank. The fuel tank and the generator house are next to the treatment plant. Thetreatment plant treats wastes and then discharges it into the tho big yellow tanks and later it ispiped out into the sea. The waste itself, according to factory workers, they say it’s safe. But tome it doesn’t look safe at all. The chemical components in the waste might be a threat to themarine life. I have actually seen the waste being pumped out into a slush boat called IONA.And this little boat carries the wastes out into the sea….The workers are poorly paid. I have seen a cheque butt that belonged to one of the workers inthere. The cheque raised was K35.57. To me the amount is very small and I cannot afford tobuy anything good. I see that the workers work long hours and yet they receuve very little tosatisfy their needs. It is not fair for someone to work very hard for two weeks and receive verylittle in the end. A worker is becoming a slave in his or her own province….To me these workers do not have freedom to talk and move around, They are under some kindof strict rules and regulations the moment they enter the gates of the canary. I think they workwith fear in the canary from the way the securities and the supervisors treat them. That is all Ihave to say. I hope no one takes me to court for saying all this. Please use a pen name instead ofa real name.Alice, mother of a St. Mary’s Primary school student. St. Mary’s is located one kilometer fromthe factory. Alice and her family live at Kuia settlement behind Wirui Catholic Mission. 20 July2005.Em long 2oo4 last year pikinini bilong mu istap long grade 4. Nem bilong em Ben. Fes taim emismelim dispela smel emi bin sik yet long skul na kam bek long haus. Taim emi kam kamap longhaus emi bin troaut. Mi bin askim em long wanem emi troaut na emit ok olsem: ‘Mama smelbilong canary imekim bel bilong mi I tainim olsem na mi trouat.’ Ben it tokim mi olsem:‘Mama mi pilim olsem olgeta smel emi winim mi tru na mekim mi het bilong mi ipen wantaim.’159