National interest first
Please allow me to correct and clarify some issues raised in an article published in The Sunday Gleaner of May 18 regarding my tenure and exit from the Senate. I was neither axed nor was I sacrificed. I voluntarily resigned from the Senate to allow for the appointment of a new minister of national security.
My decision to resign was firmly based in the nation's interest first, as we all want to see this monster of crime tamed, and in the party's interest second.
In respect to my contributions, as a rookie senator, I felt it prudent and necessary to listen and learn from my more experienced colleagues. There is value in listening and learning before you speak.
- Ian E. Murray
Industrial action
The system within an organisation should allow its employees to air their grouses and search for truth without resorting to drastic measures such as strike action. The employees involved in a discussion need a level of trust in their managers if reasons given are to be accepted as truth.
This trust for the 'powers that be' is not inherent to Jamaica. Our society is rife with conspiracy theories, so much so that logical arguments and even written proof sometimes get dismissed as propaganda. If employees are denied a pay increase on the grounds that no money is available, then resort to strike action and receive an increase afterwards, the system is severely tarnished and future negotiations are jeopardised.
What does industrial action say to you? To me it says, 'The system has failed.'
- Gary Thompson, GaryOThompson@yahoo.com, Montego Bay, Via Go-Jamaica
Teachers' role
I am a teacher who works in an inner-city environment. I am thankful that there are still persons who believe that the education system playing field is not level.
Primary and infant schools and all learning institutions which are packed with non-readers cannot be compared with schools that contain readers and have children who are from home environments where education is priority.
Many of these schools that are deemed below level contain students who live alone, are absent from school frequently, or sleep under their beds many nights because of escalating violence. We cannot continue to compare schools which have different types of material/resources working with.
Teachers are not to be blamed. Parents need to take responsibility and show an interest in their children's development. Tell me then, how can we pay teachers based on the school's performance?
- Kesha Shirley, shirleykeshalatoya@yahoo.com, Via Go-Jamaica
