Charged in the US for a sin that is practiced every second in Guyana
Indian diplomat, Devyani Khobragade, was arrested in New York and charged for visa fraud after she stated in an immigration application for her helper that she paid her US$4,500 monthly. The arrest came about because the helper told police that her income was actually less than six hundred a month, making it far less than New York’s minimum wage of US$7 an hour.
The strip search of Ms. Khobragade’s on her arrest has rightfully incensed the Indian nation and I believe most people in the world. Surely, you do not do that to a diplomat of one of the world’s top democracies. The brutal treatment of Ms Khobragade has obfuscated the grueling mistreatment of domestic workers in many countries who come from poor lands to earn a living.
The case of Ms. Khobragade can be likened to police brutality. If a recalcitrant pedophile is caught, the police have no privilege to kill him; as a human he has rights. But while we condemn the police, we must not lose sight of the pedophile’s harmful behaviour. Khobragade was not supposed to be treated like that (placed in a cell with drug users). But her relation with her helper should galvanize us in the world to focus on the abuse of labour, particularly in Guyana, especially domestic workers and security guards.
As a human rights activist, I am simply sickened by the complaints I received over the decades of super-exploitation of store employees, supermarket workers, security guards and similar categories. This is an area I can write books on. I shop every day, not almost daily, but every day. I meet these people and they meet me. Their stories are tragic.
Do you know there are two supermarkets where none of the cashiers, not one of them, remains on the job for more than six months? I know this just as how I know that one and one make two. It is a fascinating thing to behold.
Cashiers and workers at these supermarkets just go after three or four months. Is it the nature of the job? Here is where the comparative method comes in. It cannot be the nature of this type of work, because there are two other big supermarkets that do not experience this type of turnover of staff. I patronize all the supermarkets regularly and these two supermarkets have the same staff for over two years now? Is super-exploitation the answer? It is.
Take working hours. They sign on for eight hours daily. But then they leave after three additional hours making it eleven hours for the same pay. They are told that they have to pack up, do this and do that. When it is time to leave, they would have stayed back working for three additional hours. Workers at a particular gas station told me that they get the same pay for Sundays and holidays. Talk to security guards and they will relate horror stories to you.
I am not going to name any business here because the last time I did that (four years ago on this page), the businessman pulled his advertisement. I have learnt bitterly that the life of an independent media operative in a small country not only jeopardizes the person himself but also the newspaper. And it is far worse in a hell hole like Guyana.
For this reason I chose not to name the new kid on the block that sold me the worst pizza ever baked since the Italians gave modern civilization that food.
Exploitation of the labouring classes in this country is a story of horror and terror. I once wrote in this column that if the opposition ever wins the government, I would like to spend time working as a labour officer. I will investigate the bestial exploitation of the lower classes by family-owned entities.
It is simply demonic to see how these families live, their luxurious lifestyles, their stupendous assets, yet they rob their workers in the most merciless ways that any government, whether capitalist or socialist, should put them before the courts.
Of course we have a situation that once an employee is charged for theft, the bail is enormous (some magistrates in this country are unfit to be on the bench; they are cruel to the lower classes that come before them). You can be placed before the courts for stealing from your employer, and put on a million dollars bail, but it is legal for your employer to rob you of your hard-earned wages.
Oh my! I forgot! We have a working class government!
