Doing nothing is not an option during tough economic times

FRIDAY, AUGUST 26: There’s nothing quite like an economic downturn to cause “labour trouble”.

Workers have lost their jobs or are afraid they’re going to. Employers are afraid of losing money, and maybe their businesses.

The Government is worried about the money it’s spent, the money it’s not earning anymore, the businesses that are closing, the people who need more help, and the revenue that just isn’t there anymore.

I know there are a lot of people who believe we are in a serious downward economic cycle — and eventually we’ll come out of it and things will be good again.

Look what’s happening in the United States and around the world. Why wouldn’t Bermuda be affected too?

And there are others, no less intelligent, who worry that this downward cycle might not be a cycle at all, but an endless plunge into poverty and oblivion from which it will be impossible to recover.

Take your pick: Would you rather be a fear-monger … or an ostrich with its head buried in the sand?

The most brilliant economists in the world don’t know the correct answer, so why should we?

When it comes to knowing what to do about it, however, the correct answer doesn’t matter very much.

There’s no responsible choice except to fear the worst. We must do everything we can to pull ourselves back from the brink – even if we don’t know for sure how close to the brink we really are.

We can’t afford to do nothing and then find out – after the tourists and international companies have left for good  – that it wasn’t just an economic cycle at all.

It’s not being overly dramatic to say our very way of life is at stake.

We have nothing else.

Every setback for international business and for tourism – already a shadow of its former self – sets back all Bermudians.

It hurts every individual’s ability to make a living and provide for his family, and our Government’s ability to fix roads, educate children, and provide decent medical care.

It’s tempting to get a little angry with tourists and international business. We’ve been good to them. Why can’t they be loyal when times get tough?

But it’s not about us. It’s about them. If we don’t give them what they want, there are plenty of other people who will.

Both businesses absolutely require a welcoming and well-run community, and they won’t hang around while we make excuses.

Tourists, stranded in Dockyard because bus drivers have walked off the job, don’t care a bit whether we use hair follicles or urine to test for drugs.

They just need the bus to be there on time, preferably with a driver who isn’t stoned and won’t crush their hands while they’re climbing aboard.

International business executives, wondering if they might be better off in London or New York, aren’t going to concern themselves with the work schedules of Bermuda’s dockworkers, or whether or not stevedoring is technically classified as an essential service.

But they do expect well-stocked grocery stores, and a lot of other things as well, if Bermuda is going to be attractive to their families.

An economic downturn inevitably means that stresses are higher than normal between workers and employers. Disputes are inevitable.

However, it also means that the consequences of disruptive industrial action are more damaging than normal too.

The country has no choice in these difficult times but to insist that industrial disputes are dealt with through mediation and, where that fails, through arbitration.

It is the right thing to do at the best of times.

Today, it is far too risky to our country to do anything else.