In just a matter of hours, protest action undertaken by Wesley residents on Tuesday, June 22, 2021, came to an end when their demands were met.
On Tuesday morning, truck owners and drivers in Wesley gathered near the construction site of the new resettlement in that community to voice their concerns over what they said was a lack of employment for them in the project.
“Months now since this project started and I was one of the first to go to the contractors to speak on behalf of the truckers in Wesley and Marigot and it’s been a run around,” protest organiser and trucker Vaughn Dodds stated, adding, “still, we are seeing truckers from different areas in Dominica making five and six trips a day in Wesley and we have truckers here but we cannot get not one trip; that’s crazy.”
He said that they had already conveyed their concerns to the Parliamentary Representative for the Wesley constituency, Fidel Grant, who promised an amicable solution but that had not materialized.
Dodds said the impromptu protest action was as a result of a trip by the Wesley truckers being called off enroute while truckers from other parts of the country were allowed to work on the same day. As such, he insisted that their action was justified and promised that, “until our message is not heard, this will not end.”
By midday, as support grew for the truckers’ action, it appeared that the message was heard loud and clear and they received word from the contractors that their services were engaged with immediate effect.
Though the agreement was verbal, Dodds said he had full faith in the government and the contractors of the project to make good on their promise to provide further employment for the villagers.
“The roads were unblocked as we reached an agreement on the matter. But I can tell you that no other trucker will work on the project in the Wesley area if the Wesley truckers are not involved,” he said.
Dodds continued, “Some may say that our action was not called for but if we don’t stand up for ourselves now, later on, people will say we did not do anything to help ourselves. We have to survive, we have families to take care of and we the people of Wesley deserve employment on projects in our community.”
“United we stand divided we fall.”(John Dickenson).
That quotation dates back to 2,600 years to 6th Century B.C. the first attributed use in modern times is by the American founding fathers, John Dickenson in his song he wrote: ” The Liberty Song.”
I am prowed of your actions Vaun; like the village boy of Wesley I am, I would have done precisely the same thing!
Just about all of the boys born about my time, and prior to us, including my late father, Hector and his brother Vasalow would have done the same thing; as a matter of fact, work would not get started unless at least half the workers were from Wesley.
We had a situation like that when they were building the old blown-down school near the recently blown away Methodist church; the late Fred Cold-burg Henry started the revolt; in a matter of hours the contractor builder Blackman, a Bardaian got his act together, and work continued.
Anderson, Andrew, Titus, Masterville, Amos, Dodds my uncles, their sister Yvonne;…
The sad thing about this situation and other situations in dca is that unless you protest, no good results will come into effect.
Malaprop France, you are definitely suffering from SKERRITISIS. If you don’t mention Skerrit’s name in each and every comment you write, it doesn’t seem you will feel good. It looks like the medication, 18 for you to take 3 times daily is doing you well. Come the next election we may have to increase the dosage for you. 21 to take at once with no refills. Prescribed by the DOCTOR DOCTOR WORLD BOSS.
The Labor Party government is setting a very bad precedent by waiting until there is a protest before agreeing to reasonable requests from citizens. Already, the UWP loves protests too much. But by forcing citizens to protest before receiving benefits the government is setting a very bad precedent. With so much experience under his belt one has to wonder why Skerrit keeps committing so many unforced errors.
Skerrit tell them man, ‘ look for all you to pass in all you mouth”. After thoughts we are. We are not the first choice for national development of our OWN country.
Great outcome. Seems like these days is only protests that can get us what we deserve.
Now we just need to rally the public officers because that 1.25% salary increase was a joke. We too need to protest and demand higher salaries to compliment the degrees we have and the hard work that we do (not all public officers sit there all day giving people attitude).
A little 30$ extra is not practical when Domlec, Dowasco, Save alot, Astaphans, Rubis and even DIGICEL AND local farmers raise their prices.
Alas, when you see we protesting I don’t want anyone to point their camera in my direction because the victimization in this country is real.
I still want my job, I just need a little more to help pay off my student loans.
…and whilst doing so, make sure to relieve the rogue PM from his office. He and his clown have overstayed their welcome.
The POWER of the PEOPLE is stronger than the PEOPLE in POWER.
Everything about Mr. Skerrit is FAKE. His doctorates are fake and so is his bravado. The bus drivers, the teachers at DSC and now the truckers protested and this sheep disguised as a lion has buckled. Force makes water go up hill.
The whole of Dominica should take their cue from these incidents. Now is the opportune time to protest en masse for :
+proper accounting of the CBI funds
+implementation of the electoral reforms recommended and well documented by OAS, Commonwealth, CARICOM
+removal of the current Chief of Police (complete disgrace)
+CBI monies to be deposited in the consolidated fund (every cent of it)
+withdrawal of the bogus charges against Mr. Linton and the others
+the $64 000+ monthly expenses for the castle on the hill
Stand up for something Dominicans otherwise you would fall for anything.