Equal pay for the dominica workers! who wants to fight for that? [Archive]

MylifeatDominica

10-01-2006, 04:01 PM

students are paying the same amount of money, and the professors are probably getting a little bit higher salaries comparing with the ones in the states.

however, the dominican workers who work at ross are not getting equal pay comparing with those workers in the states. while the tuition keeps going up and up, i doubt that the dominican workers are getting a raise at all.

from what i have heard, a security guard at ross probably gets paid for less than 1000 ec!!! whether the person is a professor or a local employee, they are living on the same island. Everything costs the same at Jame's store. everyone else gets paid well, but only the local dominican employees are paid in the dominican way.

many students claim that they want to help people. going to portsmouth once a semester to do bp check or going to the Caribs is not helping much. how can students allow such discrimination exist in a medical school.

students shuold organize, and ask the school to give equal pay to the dominican employees!

1. Your tuition will continue to increase no matter what. After all, most of them are given to Devry shareholders.

2. Your tuition is the school's only income, therefore, you the customer, and customers are always right.

3. The rich shareholders already have a lot of extra money to spare, that is why they invested in Devry. So asking them to share a little profit with the local Dominican worker certainly won't make any shareholders poor, but those little money will certainly make poor dominican workers a lot richer.

4. Paying people differently according to their citizenship is plain discrimination. Physicians are supposed to help humanity.

there are about 1266 students at Ross, the school gets $15,350,250 every four months. Asking the school to share a little with the Dominican people should not be a hard task.

If ross sets a high standard and good example of offering better employment. That will start to raise the standard of living and more and more locals will have more money to fuel the local economy and it will have a ripple effect on the area and more people not wokring for the school will then make more. The school has existed for over 20 years, yet porty remains very poor! And since Ross prides itself on being an American School, it should live up to US standards and expectations and decency. It should care for the litle people who fuel the school and make it run and exist. Because without the common Dominican workers, Ross would cease to exist, and none of you will ever become doctors without them.

Who wants to be the Dominican Robin Hood, rob the rich Devry shareholders' money and give them back to Dominican employees?! End porverty one at a time!

tno77

10-01-2006, 04:13 PM

people get market value for their wages...they dont deserve anything more.

obviously it costs more to get an American to come down to Dominica to work...so they should be paid accordingly.

popozao

10-01-2006, 04:21 PM

more money ?

i don't think so.

stephew

10-01-2006, 04:24 PM

while a very noble notion, you have to realize things aren't that simple for the reasons TNO states. While its not a amtter of "deserving" anything more, it is a matter of fair compensation. A waiter in the US makes a different living than a waiter in the same job in the caribbean. Same for doctors. Schools and other industries have a complex job trying to figure out how to provide fair compensation in a real world where they might want Americans and Locals to work side by side in a situation american workers median compesation would be quite different. =People have held industry outside of the home country for hundreds of years before you realized the inequity in terms of absolute dollars. Instisting on compensating a local in another country at the level of an American in the same job as the US is a wonderful example of how to pave the road to hell with good intensions.

Before you start the picket line, i suggest you educate yourself about these issues and talk with the school and you might find 1) things arne't as disparate as you initially thought and 2) the school might have put more thought into this that you have and be open to any further insights you might have.

DRJJ1

10-01-2006, 04:54 PM

while a very noble notion, you have to realize things aren't that simple for the reasons TNO states. While its not a amtter of "deserving" anything more, it is a matter of fair compensation. A waiter in the US makes a different living than a waiter in the same job in the caribbean. Same for doctors. Schools and other industries have a complex job trying to figure out how to provide fair compensation in a real world where they might want Americans and Locals to work side by side in a situation american workers median compesation would be quite different. =People have held industry outside of the home country for hundreds of years before you realized the inequity in terms of absolute dollars. Instisting on compensating a local in another country at the level of an American in the same job as the US is a wonderful example of how to pave the road to hell with good intensions.

Before you start the picket line, i suggest you educate yourself about
these issues and talk with the school and you might find 1) things arne't as disparate as you initially thought and 2) the school might have put more thought into this that you have and be open to any further insights you might have.

IF YOU FEEL BAD FOR THE WORKERS THEN YOU OPEN UP YOUR WALLETS

stephew

10-01-2006, 05:04 PM

tipping well is one good way to support the locals for a good job.

diphylobrothum

10-01-2006, 05:22 PM

I would not waste to much of your time over this - they are paid what they deserve - the next time you walk to class in the morning, check out the lady sweeping the gutters - after you leave in the afternoon, take a look see how much progress she has made.

b12

MylifeatDominica

10-01-2006, 05:46 PM

simpleman1

10-01-2006, 06:18 PM

who gives a crap. go complain all u want to the Dean or whoever is in charge of money

DRJJ1

10-01-2006, 07:23 PM

vaneleus

10-01-2006, 07:40 PM

There was a thing a while back at Texas A&M where the students and faculty formed some sort of group to push for higher wages for some of the staff at the university. I didn't join in. I think this idea is absolutely silly. People get paid what the market will bear.

Personally, I don't want my tuition raised so that you can be happy that the locals are getting paid what you think they "deserve." If there was more money to be made at some other security job, or secretarial position then I'm sure they would be going after that.

The plain fact is that they have a job b/c the school is there. Remove the school, remove the job...no money. The school is a benefit to the people, if only monetarily.

I've got a better idea for you Mylifeatdominica, take your gripe over to the UN and develop some worldwide schedule of wages. This phenomenon is not isolated to just Dominica. Perhaps you set your sites too low.

rokshana

10-01-2006, 07:43 PM

I am absolutely horrified by all your selfish nonchalant responses.

It doesn't matter what they do, and how they do it, the people who clean the gutters and bathrooms in US medical schools are doing the exact same job. however they at least get paid by the minimum wages or more.

Just not so long ago, students at U. of Miami oraganized to fight for higher wages for supoorting staffs at UM.

if you think that people should get paid for what they do, do you really think that all the professors at Ross are actually getting paid for what they teach?

Why are the professors and supporting staffs from outside Dominica get paid according to the salaray standards in the US?

Just in case you don't know, if some professor's wife/relative/husband/brother/sister or whatever works as a secretary, that person will get paid much higher than a local dominican secretary at Ross.

You already paid the tution, it is up to the school and devry to decide how much to pay for the supporting staffs. It is not fair, and it is also very rude to call local dominicans "lazy."

You people obviously have no compassion. Go visit one of the supporting staff's home, and see how bad they are living. Then come back and tell us that they deserve for what they do.

are the local workers getting paid LESS than those that work in the local ecomony, doing the same job? If they are, then you have a legitimate complaint. But I would hazard to guess that they get paid BETTER at Ross than if they were doing that job at a local business.
Yes it may be unfair that an ex-pat gets paid more than a local (though do you ACTUALLY have proof of that?), but people doing the same job in different places(even in the same place) get paid differently, even in the US(you think a custodian in Arkansas gets paid the same as one in NYC?).

Like Steph said earlier- the road to hell is paved with good intentions...the western (developed) world always wants to think that THEIR way is the better way and they know what is best for the poor underdeveloped country...generally they are wrong. Trust me if the locals that worked at Ross thought that for one minute that they were getting shafted, they wouldn't work at Ross- if they thought the wages were better out in the local economy, they would get jobs out in said economy.

Before you get on your soapbox- why don't you ASK the local workers if they like working at Ross and think they are being paid appropriately.

Now, why don't you concentrate on your studies and then when you are a big doctor, you can donate lots of money earmarked just for employee wages.

mkulob

10-01-2006, 08:07 PM

If the workers want higher pay, they should by all means organize for it. If at that point they need our support, then I'll be there with picket signs made of old packets, I promise.

Seems to me, though, that a student run fight would only be further disempowering folks. Its a bit colonial to think that we know how to take care of them better than they know themselves.

As for the folks complaining about the laziness of the workers, aren't y'all the same crackheads that complain the MPL isn't cold enough? I can barely study in this weather, I don't know which one of you guys would be able to do manual labor here.

jim

10-01-2006, 08:14 PM

pay is different in different parts of the world due to different costs of living. in dominica, if you are dominican, you pay about $80 US ffor a house. the employees of the university will tell you that they fight for those jobs because they are VERY high paying for dominica.

remember those whiners who screamed a few years back about K-Mart selling shoes made someplace in SEA in "sweatshops" with employees making about $2 a day for work. K-mart dropped the factory to make the do-gooders in the states happy, resulting in the closing of the place that supplied the highest paying jobs in the area. leaving all the previously well off factory workers unemployed and making them poor...really poor. pay is high in the US because its expensive to live there.

Andrew21

10-01-2006, 08:29 PM

are you really that clueless? have you ever lived overseas? in dominica? pay is different in different parts of the world due to different costs of living. here is a clue for you. in dominica, if you are dominican, you pay about $80 US ffor a house. the employees of the university will tell you that they fight for those jobs because they are VERY high paying for dominica.

you remind me of those whiners who screamed a few years back about K-Mart selling shoes made someplace in SEA in "sweatshops" with employees making about $2 a day for work. K-mart dropped the factory to make the do-gooders in the states happy, resulting in the closing of the place that supplied the highest paying jobs in the area. leaving all the previously well off factory workers unemployed and making them poor...really poor. pay is high in the US because its expensive to live there. duh.

amen. and don't get me started on the minimum wage issue as was presented earlier...

stephew

10-01-2006, 10:26 PM

ok children here is the drill: while being ignorant and gleefully cruel are not againt terms of use, insults flames and slurs ARE. If you can't contribute in a useful way to this thread DONT. If you have contructive insight, pro or con to the issues, feel free to share. If you want to advertise yourself as a bit of a jerk feel free, but do so in the lounge and within terms of use. Warnings will be given out without a request to edit if you violate the tos further on this thread.

MylifeatDominica

10-01-2006, 11:36 PM

And you are those people who put on your application that you want to save humanity, you want to help people?!

1. all professors get equal pay whether they are educated in u. of west indies or university of london, etc. there is no discrimination there.

2. if some professor's wife works as a secretary, she will get much higher salary than any local dominican secretary. same work load, why not the equal pay?

3. the tuition will continue to increase no matter what. Giving local dominican workers equal pay will only cut some of the profit that those rich shareholders demand.

the shareholder will get less richer, but the local dominican workers will appreciate Ross students even more.

Otherwise, going to Porty to do bp check for the local people is really a waste of time. None of you really appreciate the hospitality the local dominicans provide.

popozao

10-02-2006, 01:47 AM

people want to fight for their grades. not for dominicans.

Dru

10-02-2006, 05:33 AM

Dominica's law does not allow professors' wives to work as secretaries. It is against their visa restrictions.

Only 28% of the people working in Dominica hold service positions, and their wages are high for their standards. The Dominican economy depends on agriculture, primarily bananas, and remains highly vulnerable to climate. Production of bananas dropped in 2003. Tourism increased in 2003 as the government sought to promote Dominica as an "ecotourism" destination. Development of the tourism industry remains difficult, because of the rugged coastline, lack of beaches, and the absence of an international airport. The government began a comprehensive restructuring of the economy in 2003 - including elimination of price controls, privatization of the state banana company, and tax increases. In order to diversify the island's production base the government is attempting to develop an offshore financial sector and is planning to construct an oil refinery on the eastern part of the island.

Activism is great if it is directed at an effective cause. Medical students fighting for the increased wages of Dominicans is a moot point. If the originator of this thread shows equal tenacity in studying medicine, it will only be necessary to spend the minimum amount of time on the island. He or she won't have to worry about injustice that doesn't exist.

stephew

10-02-2006, 09:44 AM

popozao- turn on your PM.
LifeatDom: people disagreeing with you on this issue doesnt necessarily mean they do not care. to the extent that they disagree over the logistics, this is reasonable. to the extent they say they just dont care, you are only satisfying them with indignation.

jim

10-02-2006, 11:49 AM

the tuition will continue to increase no matter what. Giving local dominican workers equal pay will only cut some of the profit that those rich shareholders demand.

equal to what? study economics and you will see that pay is NOT commensurate to the job, but to what the market can bear. pay the dominicans who work at ross what the same job would pay in the states,a nd pretty soon the local economoy would demand that the locals pay the same rent as the states(and therefore, the students would end up paying thousands a month for rent). the result? the only people in dominica who would be able to afford to live would be ross employees. the banana pickers would all end up living in the fields, eating nothing but their crops.

i am not saying what you are saying is not noble. i am saying it is not possible, or realistic. its actually quite communistic. equal pay for everybody in the world would make it such a better place. except that has already been proven to not be possible, by the soviet experiment.

Chianti

10-02-2006, 12:04 PM

The Dominicians who worked at Ross were the laziest bunch of bums I have ever seen and most had horrible attitudes which would've have gotten them fired if they worked in the States.

Their probably getting paid too much as is.

MylifeatDominica

10-02-2006, 01:24 PM

chianti, are you saying that those dominican professors are also "laziest bunch of bums?"

the supporting staffs may not work as hard as they should, because they are not getting paid much. if it is your mother/father who work at ross, maybe you won't call them laziest bunch of bums.

jim

10-02-2006, 02:57 PM

there is a reason whysome of the workers are slack. Dominica has very tough laboir laws. basically, once an employee makes it past their 90 day probationary period, they cannot be terminated without "due cause". to fire them, you need to go to court, and supposedly it takes years to fire someone. Ross had tried to get that law repealed while i was there, and obviously, the local staff fought that one long and hard. it was funny, after we heard about that, we realised we would see new workers working their derriers off, and then after awhile, suddenly downshifting into slow motion. apparently, that was after their 90 days!

Helicon

10-02-2006, 07:25 PM

And you are those people who put on your application that you want to save humanity, you want to help people?!

.

Hey ,
How much each Dominican owe their bank? I'm 150 thousands dollars in debt for this education. People salary come from my loan money. Who are the poorest people here? Medical students or Dominican? They got 1000EC/month. Big deal? I have negative 150K dollars on my belt. Do you want to put in another thousand dollars per semester to give a pay raise to Dominican? Why don't they go borrow it from their bank if they want more money, why asking me to take out more loan and give it to them for free?
Dominican workers are protected by its country law. No matter how lazy they are, we cannot fire them. Who on earth will give a pay raise to lazy employee?

simpleman1

10-03-2006, 12:17 AM

Hey
How much each Dominican owe their bank? I'm 150 thousands dollars in debt for this education. People salary come from my loan money. Who are the poorest people here? Medical students or Dominican? They got 1000EC/month. Big deal? I have negative 150K dollars on my belt. Do you want to put in another thousand dollars per semester to give a pay raise to Dominican? Why don't they go borrow it from their bank if they want more money, why asking me to take out more loan and give it to them for free?
Dominican workers are protected by its country law. No matter how lazy they are, we cannot fire them. Who on earth will give a pay raise to lazy employee?

well put my friend....

MylifeatDominica

10-04-2006, 03:03 PM

If you think that you understand the meaning of being poor, then you should fight for this injustice. the only reason that you think that you should not fight for this is because you think that you will have to open up your own pocket.

Students who are studying on other rich islands pay about the same amount of tuition, and those local workers certainly get paid at a much higher rate. Look at SMU at Cayman island, they certainly can't pay those local employees 1000 EC/month!

So for those rich capitalists who invest in devery, they are certainly happy that their profit margins are much bigger comparing with SGU, SMU, etc. If SMU has to spend 20% of budget to pay local employees, maybe Ross only needs to spend 5%.

Asking the shareholders to share their profit with the local Dominican people is only a humane thing to do! And whoever says that paying them more is harming them is no different than those white masters claiming that black slaves can't be freed because they are too lazy, etc, etc!

For all those who disagree with me, you simply have to realize this simple fact - the tuition will continue to increase no matter what. Your debt will continue to increase significantly. It is not because you are paying too much to the local employees. The school will certainly not stop increasing your tuition just because you don't care about the poor living conditions the local dominical employees have.

Rob the rich shareholders' money, and give them to the poor employees!

mcnocturnal

10-04-2006, 03:11 PM

Why give ross another idea to raise the tuition fee, isn't it high enough already?

Cardinal

10-04-2006, 04:04 PM

Das Kapital anyone?

tno77

10-04-2006, 04:11 PM

I'm still shocked that the original poster is still fighting for this. He has continually shown his poor understanding of basic economics and his ideas are actually dangerous to Dominica.

The reason why AUC and other islands pay their employees more is because those islands (like St Maarten, Antigua, etc...) are tourist islands with significantly more money coming from sources aside from the school. Dominica has none of that. The wages in this country are set by demand for services. People are willing to work for a certain amount of money. If you believe Ross is underpaying their workers, then why is a ross job in such demand? People would never want to work here if they were being paid poorly.

Secondly, why should a Ross janitor be paid more than one who cleans up at the bank? What makes their job more valuable? Because they are cleaning the crap of american students?

Ross is paying these workers exactly as they deserve, in accordance with the pay of other workers on this island. Paying them more could and would inflate the market for work in this area, much like how housing prices have gone through the roof in Picard.

And if I'm an American coming down here to work, I would want 1000x more money than I would be offered back home. It's the facts of life. You need to entice people to come down here.

DRDRWMD

10-04-2006, 04:29 PM

I'm still shocked that the original poster is still fighting for this. He has continually shown his poor understanding of basic economics and his ideas are actually dangerous to Dominica.

And if I'm an American coming down here to work, I would want 1000x more money than I would be offered back home. It's the facts of life. You need to entice people to come down here.I do not think Economics is a prerequisite for medical school. There is a reason we learn to treat the patients and economists treat the economy. It would be a sad day if doctors suddenly could make policy changes for businesses and businessmen could start performing surgery without any prior training. Obviously, in some parts of the world, neither doctors nor economists know what they are doing; instead, they all run for political office. I will stand firm in the idea that you get what you pay for, but don't forget diminishing returns when you adjust to extremes.

tno77

10-04-2006, 05:37 PM

I do not think Economics is a prerequisite for medical school.

Not but it should be a prerequisite for running your mouth on topics that concern economics.

vaneleus

10-04-2006, 05:43 PM

Not but it should be a prerequisite for running your mouth on topics that concern economics.

Agreed. We're not asking for a master's degree, but a general understanding would be nice. The OP glosses over all the valid responses and goes straight to the same arguement regardless of how many holes people have poked in it.

MylifeatDominica

10-05-2006, 02:15 PM

I will stand firm in the idea that you get what you pay for,

so should the school pay the Dominican Dean and professors according to dominican standard?

The students are paying the school according to US standard, why should the school be allowed to pay the local employees the domican way?

You would think that local people should be very eager to work for Ross, but in reality, they are not getting paid very well at all. So people sometimes actually quit the job at Ross, and go work for some local companies at Roseau.

You people are only only helping the rich shareholders to get richer.

stephew

10-05-2006, 02:36 PM

there is nothing wrong inherently with shareholders getting richer. that's why they invest in a business. Investment isn't inherently evil. if that is the premise of your assuption youre likely never going to come to an agreement with the people taking issue with some of your statements.

jim

10-05-2006, 03:06 PM

MLID is basically a communist. he may not know it(i would suspect, with his demonstration of his knowledge of economics, that is the case), but he sure is!

stephew

10-05-2006, 03:09 PM

that's fine if s/he is (though that begs the question : your demonstration of the understanding of communism) . the issue is if there is a ground for discourse on the topic.

rokshana

10-05-2006, 03:11 PM

so should the school pay the Dominican Dean and professors according to dominican standard?

you know if the Dominican Dean and profs would stand for it - sure why not? and to be honest, how do you know they're not? Did they tell you their salary?

The students are paying the school according to US standard, why should the school be allowed to pay the local employees the domican way?

because Ross can get away with it- its a BUSINESS - the demand is there so they can charge what the market will bear (it could be worse- you could be paying the tuition that we do at SGU!!!)

You would think that local people should be very eager to work for Ross, but in reality, they are not getting paid very well at all. So people sometimes actually quit the job at Ross, and go work for some local companies at Roseau.

well then your fight is unecessary- if enough of the staff goes for those higher paying jobs in Roseau, then Ross will have to raise the wages to get enough employees to stay - ummm... its called supply and demand...surely even the amount of econ you got in high school is enough for you to understand the concept

You people are only only helping the rich shareholders to get richer.
well maybe Ross students should buy some DeVry stock...might as well recoup some of that tuition money!!

..........

Dru

10-05-2006, 04:58 PM

This is why my mama always told me to pick my battles.

While communism is a theory advocating elimination of private property and a system in which goods are owned in common and are available to all as needed...

Socialism is economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.

Dominican culture and economics are not proponents of either of these theories. Their legal system is based on English Parlimentary styles, and their economic system is capitalistic. So in other words...it's none of our business.

tno77

10-05-2006, 06:36 PM

Dominican culture and economics are not proponents of either of these theories. Their legal system is based on English Parlimentary styles, and their economic system is capitalistic. So in other words...it's none of our business.

And as sad as it sounds, what Ross/DeVry do with tuition money is none of our business either.

We are paying them a fee to teach us a curriculum and gain an MD degree that is comparable to others in North America. Nothing more. We aren't paying for "more study space", "cheaper housing" or "ross rumours."

Whether Ross funnels all its profits to shareholders is not something we have any claim on.

I hate how students on this forum keep assuming that Ross owes them above and beyond what they are getting. If the school sucks, dont pay the tuition and go somewhere else. You get what you pay for.

As for the original poster, why dont you practice in Dominica and offer free medical service to the Ross workers...maybe that will offset their terribly poor wages.

rokshana

10-05-2006, 06:46 PM

I'll have to admit though this thread has kept me quite amused and mylifeindominica has given me a great avenue to avoid my patient write up!!:p

XII27

10-05-2006, 08:25 PM

this is so funny. I think you should go to physicians for human rights and see if they will protest on behalf on the school employees, or better yet--ask some of the employees themselves how hard their lives are and then come back here and report your findings to the rest of us!

XII27

10-05-2006, 08:27 PM

I will even ask one of the employees myself how they like working at ross and let you know tomorrow, mylifedominica

Andrew21

10-05-2006, 08:54 PM

"It would be a sad day if doctors suddenly could make policy changes for businesses and businessmen could start performing surgery without any prior training"

I am only MSII, but I have worked in a surgeon's office. I can assure you that ANY screening that went on was cleared by insurance companies first. I know there are medical professionals employed by insurance companies, but let's face it: Between insurance and HMOs, the business men are running the show!

FireFighterMD

10-06-2006, 01:40 PM

:p
These folks are happy with their jobs . I got to know quite a few of them while I was there on the island . Working at Ross for them is like being a " big thing " in the country . Imagine ross local workers who reside in roseau get FREE daily transports to and from school - thats a distance of 3 hours they commute each day ... why ? BEcause they know they have it good at Ross . Imagine when i live din the banana trail , the cleaners got ec 142 a week from the landlord who was making more than 15 000 us dollars a month in rentmoney from students who BORROW money to live there . Yet these same cleaners had their own house in glanvilla , portsmouth , etc and they had all the furnishings and comforts of the us in their homes . Dont underestimate these dominicans - imagine security officers at ross having their own houses , more than one car and going on vacation to other islands ? Yes i know all of this BECAUSE I GOT TO KNOW THEM .. not saying I spent inoridnate amts of time on this , but they are nice people and quite proud of their standard . These are happt folks .
You dont know what you are talking about . It seems like you just want people to know that you are a caring person . TERRIBLE PHILOSOPHY if u ask me .
In the us , we have it hard - the average little box in ny costs over 500 k , people here in the us just work to pay a mortgage , get by and very stressed ... the folks in dominica are just happy on the other hand ... every see the cleaners after 1pm at the back of the school by the beach " taking breeze " .. they are happy .

MylifeatDominica

10-06-2006, 03:09 PM

What you described is NOT the majority. It is a sin for you to say that they are happy for what they are making now! It is no different than saying black slaves are happy being slaves. And lots of you still have that mentality! You think that poeple are happy to be poor, and giving more money to local employees will make their life harder! Go to porty, and see how many people have cars, and how many live at a house that have AC!

I am utterly utterly shocked by all those people who say that it is not your business, it is ok for the rich shareholders to exploit poor dominican employees!!! If so, why waste your time going to porty market once in a while to do bp check or go to salibary!!!

I am not even suggesting that the school should pay the local employees super high salaries. I am only suggesting that the school pays the local employee the same amount of money that a person would get paid in the US. It is the same discrimination when women and men were paid differently.

Everyone else is getting paid according to the US standard, only those poor local employees are being treated differently. professor's brothers, husbands, wives are paid much higher. Further, a person who cleans the bathrooms at SMU gets paid much higher. and SMU students are only paying less than $9000/semester!

One thing is clear, it is because you are not the one who is getting paid. So you don't care!

tno77

10-06-2006, 03:18 PM

What you described is NOT majority. It is a sin for you to say that they are happy for what they are making now! Go to porty, and see how many people have cars, and how many live at a house that have AC!

People at the "porty" market don't work for ROSS.

What the hell is your argument now? I thought you were trying to increase pay for Ross workers? Now you are trying to save the common man who sells bananas at the market?

If it wasnt apparent from your very first post, it is now - you are just wasting our time with your cluelessness.

emt2md

10-06-2006, 03:22 PM

[Go to porty, and see how many people have cars, and how many live at a house that have AC!]

MLD
You are showing your true (protest) (discomfort) is not fighting for higher wages, it is living in Dominica, a developing country. The country is poor, yes and many live w/o AC, but Dominicians are in general happy people. I think you will find this after you live there for a few more months and adjust. And you might learn that money and AC are not a neccessity to happiness. People are not starving in Dominica.

Dominica is one of the few underdeveloped islands left in the Carib and it will become more and more of a nature vacation and money will flow in, this is not a medical students job to increase, it is the governments.

By the way the workers at the school have higher paying jobs than the average Dominican.

MylifeatDominica

10-06-2006, 03:37 PM

I have another thread about that. People's reactions are appalling. I think that I need to start this one to call the attention of all members of Physicians for Human Rights on campus.

Everyone should be treated equally. It is a discrmination to pay local employees cheaper while pay high salaries to some professors' brothers, sisters, wives and husbands when they don't even do much. Every other employees at Ross are paid by the US standard, including the Dominican professors. So there is no reason why the local supporting staffs should be paid much less! Women and non-whites have fought hard for equal pay in the US. This is the same discrimination based on a person's nationality.

Equal pay for everyone. That is not too much to ask. There is no need to waste your time going to nonsense meetings, talking about things that are not even remotely related to you or the people of Dominica, when the injustice and the discrimination exists right on campus! I hope that I can hear some good news from members of Physicians for Human Rights.

As quoted from your website: "Using medical and scientific methods, we investigate and expose violations of human rights worldwide and we work to stop them. We support institutions that hold perpetrators of human rights abuses, including health professionals, accountable for their actions. We educate health professionals and medical, public health and nursing students and organize them to become active in supporting a movement for human rights and creating a culture of human rights in the medical and scientific professions."

The next meeting agenda should be the discussion about this matter under the guidance of Dr. B. Hopefully, one of you will come back and tell us what your group decision is.

So I hope that the moderator will let me keep this thread. And for anyone who wants to discuss this issue, just click on here.

http://www.valuemd.com/ross-university-school-medicine/122018-equal-pay-dominica-workers-who-wants-fight.html

ps: this thread is for members of Physicians for Human Rights only. If you are NOT a member, and you want to reply, click on the above link. I want to see how they will respond to this request. If they disagree with me after their group meeting, I will rest my case. And it is sinful to say that "he doesn't care about them." I will gain nothing if one day they will finally get paid equally!

simpleman1

10-06-2006, 04:03 PM

why are you so freakin concerned about them???? I think ur fighting on the internet is invain. I am serious...dont waste ur time and our time reading this kind of posts....And I am going to act like a father now "Go Son, study and excel, and dont waste ur time"

For the workers, if they feel they are not getting paid well, they should rebel and do something, it is not ur job to act on it. Good luck on ur quest.

MylifeatDominica

10-06-2006, 04:09 PM

what you just wrote are no different from firefighterMD. I am sure that you two will agree that black slaves were also happy people, because under white masters, they didn't have to worry about food, or housing. if they were not happy, they should be "happy."

emt2md

10-06-2006, 04:14 PM

A comment like that didn't dignify a response. I will no longer respond to anything you write hear and I believe others have already choosen the same.

MitchDC

10-06-2006, 04:30 PM

He doesn't care about them. He is just trying to cause a stir on this forum and to know people are reading what he writes. Something has got to be done about this nonsense. Dru?

-M

why are you so freakin concerned about them???? I think ur fighting on the internet is invain. I am serious...dont waste ur time and our time reading this kind of posts....And I am going to act like a father now "Go Son, study and excel, and dont waste ur time"

For the workers, if they feel they are not getting paid well, they should rebel and do something, it is not ur job to act on it. Good luck on ur quest.

XII27

10-06-2006, 04:48 PM

142 EC a week and they are happy and have houses and cars?? hah that is the funniest thing I have heard all week. Don't you mean that they have a shack and an EC to catch a ride to their job? If it is so cheap to live here then how do the locals get away with ripping us off for 800 US a month for an apartment when a house is 80 US as someone else on here mentioned. shoot, I can't even pay for electricity for a week with 142 EC, let alone rent, food, ect. Mylifedomincia is completely right, but at least they have jobs though unlike most of the people walking around here during the day

FireFighterMD

10-06-2006, 04:51 PM

:evil: :evil:
my life at dominica - STOP making my school look bad . ok ? I'm proud of Ross and everything it stands for . Without ROSS , many dominicans would not have a chance at life . Its true .
Stop making Ross look like a sweatshop - cuz it isnt . I have visted the homes of some of the folks that work at Ross and I know for a fact that they are well taken caren of by the school . They have many benefits that no other employer on the island would offer them . Just ask my security guard friend who now laments his job loss at Ross since he was found stealing . If you must know , he lives a few blocks from portsmouth hospital , drives a pathfinder and now is at a total loss since he has lost all his benefits , retirement etc . Can james store , the banks , the hotels , digicel or other companies match ROSS benefits ? I would guess not . THEY EVEN HAVE FREE TUITION at devry's highly rated online programs . Theres a dominican girl that i used to date , she worked at the school and i got to many of her coworkers and others who were very satisfied at ROSS . Its not Ross's job to save dominican people . They have a choice and are not stupid . If it was so bad for them , they would just leave and go work elsewhere

anyway dude , STOP DEMEANING ROSS .. OK !!!:evil: :evil:

XII27

10-06-2006, 05:02 PM

THEY EVEN HAVE FREE TUITION at devry's highly rated online programs .

HAHAHAH now that is some benefit I bet they are glad to have

FireFighterMD

10-06-2006, 05:05 PM

Dude i'm telling you about real people and real experiences

The cleaners that I'm referring to all have gardens and have animals and d their husbands are either fishermen , farmers , transport drivers or tradespeople .. carepenters etc .. i'm talking about actual people

they all have their own houses - owning a house in dominica is NOT A BIG DEAL LIKE IT IS IN THE STATES :shock:

In some places u can get land for 2 ec a square foot . Many of these folks just inherited houses or built up their houses by themselves or with the help of relatives who helped with the construction . They OWN their houses. I know this for a fact . Also , many dominicans have relatives overseas who help them out .

like a local friend told me , all he need is some lentils from his garden , some rice from the store and some fish which he catches himself .

you have to understand that almost all of these people provide their own food even tho they may buy some produce at the market

I'm not syaing they have life in london " .. I actually have gotten to know them very well and they are doing quite ok . THEY HAVE LESS RELIANCE ON CASH . In ny , without money u will starve . In dominica , thats not the case .

Case example - one of the cleaners at my old apt ( rose was her name )
- she made 142 a week for cleaning apts , she grew most of her food , her husband is a carpenter and her son catches fish once a week .. fresh good fish .. they eat very healthy .. much more than the ave american

she drives an old toyota .. not a lexus like some people who think a fancy car is a necessity .. but yes she has a car ..

america has more 100 X poor people than dominica

MylifeatDominica

10-06-2006, 05:07 PM

don't tell me about your cleaners, etc, etc.

Go ask the security guard, go talk to the cleaning lady at Ross, ask them how much they are making if they are happy. if they have their own houses, their own cars!

And that is a simple request for anyone who disagrees with me, who thinks that the local employees are "happy."

FireFighterMD

10-06-2006, 05:20 PM

??? u confuse me man . are u for real ?
1. A car is not a neccessity . Everyone knows this . I was a cop at one time in ny and I didnt have a car . I dont need to go and ask every local at ross wheter they own a car or wheter they have a house .

2. Did u realize that it may actually be cheper for some employees to use a 1 ec transport than get a car and buy gas ?

3 a.It depends on well one can manage money . One security guard has 5 cars which he rents to students . Another one just spends his money at Hibiscus .. u know where that is ? I guess not .. well u can blow money there quite quick ( no pun intended .. lol ) .. an hr there with a senorita can cost u 200 ec ...

3.b You can pay someone 1 million and yet they may have nothing to show for it . Example - I had a friend workin in maintenance at Ross .. sturdy guy who worked out etc .. Do u know what he did with his Ross pay ??
He spent it on kubuli , some weed and spanish hookers on the weekends . This is by his own admission . He still had a roof over his head , clothes and good fresh food . Nice guy too . He always smiled .
Maybe thats what u need to do - just calm down and smile :)

DOES ANYBODY REMEBER Dr R ( the old dean at ross ) .. he still visits ..
he's the spanish cardiologist - in his lecture once , he mentioned that half of the world survives on JUST 2 US DOLLARS A DAY ..

so - put things in perspective
Ross takes care of its employers wheter local or not .
If someone is not happy for whatever reason , just leave

MY LAST POST ON THIS NONSENSE

MylifeatDominica

10-06-2006, 05:25 PM

It is "nonsense" to a lot of you, because you are not the one who is getting paid with the paltry salary. And you are not the one who works for an american school, yet live in a 3rd world apartment.

Go take pictures of their homes inside and outside and to post them up on here then put pics of an apartment of a student or a professor to compare

Do you think that this is fair?

In the US, staff at a US PRIVATE UNIVERSITY would not be living like this, They would have AC, would have car, would not have to grow lentils in their garden. They don't have to live off lentils and fishes every day

tno77

10-06-2006, 06:41 PM

I have an awesome idea. If we are going to pay the support staff US salaries, why not just import American citizens to work here? I would be all for that. There are many Americans who need work and I'm sure we could find 100 of them willing to work here for US salaries in US dollars.

Thanks for the idea Mylife, fire the Dominicans, and hire US employees. After all, why should rich shareholders get richer by giving jobs to locals? They should be helping the American economy.

Good idea. Brilliant. Lets make this happen. And maybe for once the toilets wont be overflowing at 10am.

popozao

10-06-2006, 08:40 PM

STOP

FEEDING

THE

TROLL

Uh Uh Uh. NO.

STOP. DON'T TOUCH THAT.

NO, REALLY.

DON'T.

MylifeatDominica

10-07-2006, 07:41 PM

UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html)

On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 23. (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.

-----------
Hold a Human Rights Campus Activities Fair (for members of Physicians for Human Rights at Ross university)

Action Toolkit - On Your Campus (http://www.phrusa.org/students/campus_action.html#7)

One great way to kick off the year or semester is to hold a joint human rights Campus Activity Fair. Invite all the health and human rights organizations (both on and off campus) to participate in a one day affair. This event can allow each group to advertise their own events/issues and simultaneously become part of a larger network of health and human rights groups. Make sure to gather the contact information and email addresses of all the leaders who attended. See Holding a Health and Human Rights Fair for more suggestions on activities.

FireFighterMD

10-07-2006, 10:08 PM

[quote=MylifeatDominica;512284]UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN
Article 23. (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work. ]

yes Einstein , so that means that since in the states , a mechanic at a dealership can make as much as 75 k a year ( I know because some of my cousins do this job )- yes that means that in dominica , mechanics at the dealership in canefield , dominica should also make 75 K a year .
Similarly , Suffolk county cops ( ny ) make 70 k a year to start where as NYPD ( nyc ) make 25 K a year to start .. they all work in ny .. yes lets fight for them all making the same money .. equal work right ?
and while we are at it , lets fight to have the dominican police make 70 k a year to start also ..

you have foolish reasoning and absurd intentions
the whole local economy would collapse if anyone even bothered with your nonesense

DRJJ1

10-07-2006, 10:17 PM