YOU DON’T have to be a full time protester or activist to do a good turn for a fellow man or woman.
As I write, there are many workers in our city, county too whose jobs may be in jeopardy and they may not even realize it.
Here is what you have to do. When you complete your shopping in your local store/supermarket you can score what could be a winning goal by bringing your basket or trolley to a checkout that is manned or wo-manned and not to any self-service hub.
You will be striking a blow for fair play and respect by your action as it will mean one less customer scanning his or her own groceries at unmanned machines that I believe will cost many good people their jobs sooner rather than later.
Wouldn’t it be brilliant to save local jobs. It would be a hammer blow for greedy store bosses but more importantly it would be a super positive for the hard-working men and women, boys and girls too, most of whom serve Ireland’s shoppers so well.
And there is a little reward for yourself, the spoils of war maybe.
By supporting staff members whose names you may not even know, you may be helping to keep work for the future for members of your own family, parents, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, uncles and aunts.
Big store owners, many of whom by way of continuous price hikes, are easing to millionaires’ row and it seems they would begrudge workers even a small piece of the action.
Cleverly, these cunning owners started out with small numbers of unmanned money collectors but big business doesn’t think small, they have been and will be slipping more machines into their supermarkets.
Workers need to grab the bull by the horns, not tomorrow or the day after, but today, now; talk to their unions or if there is not one in their place of work they need to band together to fight the good fight for their livelihoods or they will rue any day that they dragged their feet.
There may be some decentskins who own giant stores and they just might thank local communities in which they trade by employing staff from the region that so often proves to be heir goldmine.
But I suspect that a majority may cut their costs leaving decent people high and dry.
The ball is in the court of the staff. It is vital that they show passion and determination to hold on to their jobs and it is so important too that they support each other in any campaign of conscience that, if won by workers will strengthen the hand of young job-seekers of the future.
It is up to all of us to support the store workers. Otherwise it won’t be too long until you get your pint of Guinness from a robot in local super pubs and no doubt hoteliers and all larger stores selling all kinds of everything will have a greedy eye on the way the cookie crumbles.
We can strike a blow for our fellow man and woman in the supermarket and other big businesses.
Should workers come out on the wrong side of this battle and fat cats get their way then no one’s job is safe for the future.
So, shoulders to the wheel must be the war cry. The job you save might well be your own or your son’s or daughter’s.
It would appear as if the gurus of big business view workers as a necessary evil. They would much prefer to think of all of us in the past.
People power can put a spanner in the works.
Big business can also be a winner. By kicking out machines instead of people they can earn the respect and support of local communities.
Blackjack is a world game of cards in which the object is to beat the dealer.
Nobody may want to beat anyone but raw deals should not be acceptable.
Meanwhile we should strive to support local business that for the most part tends to give a life to our local community.
Stores that give good service to our people and ensure that their prices are competitive with peripheral shops in local counties, in shop or online, deserve our custom.
