Friday, November 12, 2004

'T is the season of Industrial Action.

Our bush cutters have gone on strike again but this time the machinations behind it became a bit more clear. As we already suspected it is all tied in with a promise the government made to the Toma clan for a five hundred thousand kina development grant. The origins of this promise are rather hazy and it appears that the way it was granted is less then kosher in the first place. However we are between a rock and a hard place, it is not our money to give, and the project is simply used as leverage on the government. So we are currently looking at mitigating the fall out from this.

Mean while back in the jungle another group of labourers went on strike because they were unhappy that their company got more money from us per man-hour then they did. It took some explaining for them to realise that a company needs some money for their overheads as well. A pretty nebulous concept to most of them. They have now gone back to work but I doubt that this is the last we have heard of that.

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