If local law prohibited them from continuing their services with CUC, the problem is not with CUC’s management alone. It was the law that played a vital role in our power crisis.
Exhaustion (be it in human or in a machine) could trigger an unintentional mistake and unavoidable neglect to the point that the engine might be in a very serious condition that will lead to an eventual breakdown.
Rain or shine, or even if we are about to sleep, about to eat or rest, if circumstances arise, the need for our services to come to attend to a troubled engine, we could not say no due to our social and mandatory obligations to maintain effectiveness and efficiency in the plant operation.
These are how we exposed ourselves to extremely dangerous and hazardous workplaces and yet they are treating us like commodities.
Maintaining an exhausted engine and over-fatigued personnel (due to overworking) could trigger mistakes and may cause an explosion anytime in any power plant operation.
That makes as a very very vulnerable in an accident that could hurt or even kill a utility worker but these are not most likely to happen in a well-maintained, well-managed and with highly trained technical and dedicated staff in the facility.
Now, once again the governor and Legislature have allowed CUC to hire alien workers to address the severe manpower shortage at CUC’s power generation division. Is it humane to re-hire alien workers to fix the troubled engine and, after two years, they will find themselves jobless again?
I understand that the lawmakers are just doing their job to protect the interest of the local workforce by allowing them to find employment replacing foreign workers, but did they do it right at CUC? Who suffers now from the frequent power outages?
I’ve said it before and I will say it again — lack of training and lack of exposure to the job is not acceptable in any highly technical industry.
CARLITO J. MARQUEZ
Puerto Rico, Saipan
