It’s time to move forward and move on family. We have to figure out what’s going wrong in Bermuda and whatever it is we need to do to grow our economy, improve the standard of education of our people, develop our workforce, decrease crime, stop murders, eliminate gangs and drugs; all of which will make Bermuda a better place. Today I think we should focus on developing the workforce and in particular changing the attitude and mindset of workers and unions.First thing we need to do is find a way to create more jobs for Bermudians. Once we get all Bermudians who want to work working; we can then find jobs for our guest workers and get back to that 40,000 number that seems to be the magic formula for a healthy, sustainable, viable and optimal workforce.The Government is doing its part but I worry about the workforce; my fellow Bermudians, many of whom still need an attitude adjustment. Every day I thank God that I have a job. Each day I work to protect that job. I don’t call in sick, never, thank God. Others should try that some time. Those who abuse the sick leave policies, you know who you are. That’s just one of my pet peeves with so many people, both Bermudians, and now I’ve seen guest workers who also seem to call in sick a lot. It’s like some guest workers have caught the Bermuda Bug of thinking that they are entitled to their allotment of sick days and by God they will be taken.I will admit that not all Bermudians are like this and certainly nor are all guest workers; but this kind of thinking, coupled with other factors, has thrown companies into losses. Years ago companies could stomach such poor work ethic because they were making so much money that it didn’t matter so much. But nowadays profits are slashed; its not business as usual; we no longer have rich country solutions; companies are going out of business left, right and centre; so companies cannot accept poor work ethic, inefficient employees and/or inefficiency in any of its forms.So whereas companies kept inefficient employees in the past; they are letting them go today. People just don’t understand that when a company’s employees work in an inefficient manner; that is diminishing the profitability of that company.And now for the piece about the unions. It appears that some unions seem to have an attitude that excludes the reality that a company is in business to make a profit, first and foremost. Yes, companies make money because of their staff; but they pay the staff for the work that the staff do, in addition to paying for benefits programmes which include a mandatory pension.It appears that the ethos of some unions is that companies should stay in business even if they’re not making as much profit as they would like to make, or that companies should stay in business and not make drastic changes to policies or staffing levels if they are just breaking even. It’s like the union thinks that a company should be happy to just break even and profit should not dictate business decisions. This is not sustainable.Years ago companies exploited workers. This was bad, wrong, no good. Unions rightly came to the rescue of exploited workers and ensured that they were treated fairly. Nowadays unions are strong and that is both good and necessary. However, when the tail starts to wag the dog; we have a problem. We might be there today. Most companies treat their staff fairly and we now have very progressive legislation which protects employees against discrimination in any form, whether it be from a co-worker or an employer.Companies are in business because shareholders invested money to make money. When the conditions are such that shareholders’ money would generate greater returns elsewhere; those shareholders reserve and deserve the right to put their money wherever they want to put it. Regardless of what the fallout might be, regardless if people lose jobs, regardless if a business must close down. Sorry, but that is part of the free enterprise system. This is the downside of the free enterprise system.The solution is for all employees to give an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay; for the unions to demand efficiency from their members; for companies to trim the fat and eliminate inefficient employees and processes; for all entities in this puzzle to take all reasonable and lawful steps to create the conditions for a company to make as much profit as possible; and accept the reality that if the company does not make a profit; it will shut down, jobs will be lost and it will all go horribly wrong! Peace … … DJLT