Tribal member working as an ambassador for manufacturer
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Posted Wednesday, August 18, 2021 12:00 am
A member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians is among the five employees selected by Winston Plywood and Veneer selected to represent the company to attract new employees and mentor new hires through their ambassador program.
Shaunery Thompson was among the employees selected. Thompson is a member of the Choctaw Reservation and has recruited several team members since joining the company in 2018.
Bruce Warren, CEO of Winston Plywood said that members of the Winston team who were selected as the initial ambassadors participate in job fairs and community events, share Winston’s culture with potential new hires and coach new team members during their employment transition.
“What makes Winston special is our people, many of whom are true leaders in Louisville and its neighboring communities as well as in the mill,” Warren said. “We know that to compete and win, we’ll need to continue to attract, hire and retain the very best talent possible.”
He said that each ambassador has distinguished themselves as mentors and community stewards who share their work experience as a peer resource for questions, mentorship and camaraderie.
“By creating this new Ambassador Program, we’re investing in those who have already taken a leadership role and asking them to help us build an even stronger team in the years to come,” Warren said.
Three of the five ambassadors started with the company in 2017. Thompson has the second shortest time with the company with Levon Pickens, who joined the team in May 2021, being the newest.
“In many ways, Winston Plywood is the heartbeat of Louisville, Mississippi, and we take that responsibility very seriously. This Program recognizes those who have made the commitment to help us be great, every day, and to help us find those who want to build their careers as part of our family. We could not have chosen a more amazing group of people to be our first Ambassadors,” said Chasta Rauccio, Vice President of Human Resources.
The Ambassador Program is supported by the company via a new referral bonus program to reward current employees for each new team member they recruit, with more earnings possible based on the longevity of the recruited team members, Rauccio said.
Winston Plywood and Veneer produces and distributes engineered specialty plywood and veneer products for industrial markets and plywood for the building product markets in North America from its “state-of-the-art facility” in Louisville. With more than 375 associates, it is one of the most modern and efficient mills in North America, Warren said.
Myanmar Ambassador Threat
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Two Myanmar citizens have been arrested in New York in relation to a plot to assassinate Myanmar’s Permanent Representative to the U.N. The two suspects in question, Phyo Hein Htut and Ye Hein Zaw had allegedly been conspiring to tamper with Envoy Kyaw Moe Tun’s car to force a deadly malfunction. Both have now been charged with plotting an attempt to kill a diplomat on American soil. According to an FBI investigation, Ye Hein Zaw was acting as an intermediary for a Thai arms company Chaiseri Metal and Rubber Co. Ltd. He contacted Phyo Hein Htut online, offering him $4,000 to carry out the attack on the outspoken critic of Myanmar’s military junta. Phyo Hein Htut then requested an additional payment in exchange for hiring attackers to murder Kyaw Moe Tun.
“Phyo Hein Htut and Ye Hein Zaw plotted to seriously injure or kill Myanmar’s ambassador to the United Nations in a planned attack on a foreign official that was to take place on American soil,” said U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss. Additionally, a volunteer security guard at Myanmar’s UN headquarters reportedly informed the FBI that Phyo Hein Htut had told him about his plan “to hire a hitman to kill or injure the ambassador.”
The trans-Pacific conspiracy to murder a diplomat has definitely produced widespread international condemnation. Yet the military government in Myanmar and the Thai arms dealer have both deflected accusations of engineering the plot. Ambassador Tun has been unapologetic in his opposition to Myanmar’s new totalitarian regime. Back in February, he called upon the U.N. to use “any means necessary” to stop the coup after protestors were met with rubber bullets and stun grenades. Since the takeover, the military has killed over 900 people as it asserts its dominance over a nation that, after 60 years of military rule, is yearning for social progress, institutional reforms, and individual rights.
Kyaw Moe Tun was fired by the nation’s newly installed military government but refused to step down and has been given U.N. support. Since then, he has become somewhat of an international figurehead for the pro-democracy, underground National Unity Government (NUG) “who claim to be the legitimate representatives of the Burmese people.” This clandestine civilian authority has intersecting intentions and overlapping members with Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD), who won the November 2020 election with more than 80% of the vote. Such an overwhelming leap in the direction of the dismantlement of the military state prompted military leaders to contest the results and level claims of extensive fraud. Then, in February, they declared a one-year state of emergency, arrested civilian political leaders, and shut down access to social media sites.
The path forward is labyrinthine. Short of an interventionist overthrow of the regime, it seems likely that it will continue to rule into the foreseeable future. That being said, a protest movement has galvanized amidst the flames of harsh repression and the nation has seen demonstrations in the hundreds of thousands. Increasing aid to the nation would likely result in military interception and utilization for nefarious means. Sanctions, as seen in Iran and Cuba, stimy the growth of the economy and hurt working people. Thus, it is my view that the international community has to pledge support and organize a coalescent funding initiative around the National Unity Government. This rhetorical and financial aid can be funneled through Kyaw Moe Tun to the surviving non-arrested leaders of Myanmar’s underground faction. With funding behind them and the international community galvanized around their cause (refusing to recognize the junta as legitimate and persuading China to curb its implicit endorsement of the regime) the domestic movement can gain traction and validation. Overall, the military has an innate position in government given its rewriting of the constitution in 2008, which entitles them to 25% of parliamentary seats regardless of vote share. Thus, the constitution ought to be rewritten as even when Aung San Suu Kyi became the nation’s leader, her political goals were obfuscated by belligerent military-business interests. According to Justine Chambers, Associate Director of the Myanmar Research Center, the military still has built-in control over “defense, immigration, and also the judiciary” despite the guise of democracy.
In summation, the establishment of surreptitious funding lines between the U.N. and NUG, along with vocal and consistent rhetorical support from the U.N. Assembly for the mass protest movements should be the next move from the international community. This should be followed by collectively calling out China on the global stage for welcoming the military junta and offering socio-political assistance (operatives, advisors, literature) to Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD to devise a strategy to implement democratic institutional and constitutional reforms. Maybe then, the people of Myanmar will no longer have to deal with a takeover by insecure authoritarians.
UK ambassador who stayed behind in Afghanistan says team has ‘days not weeks’ to get people to safety
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The UK’s ambassador to Afghanistan, who has stayed behind to personally help process applications, has said his team is “working on the basis” that they have “days not weeks” to get British nationals and Afghans who have helped the UK during the conflict there to safety.
Sir Laurie Bristow said they had managed to get around 700 people out of the country on military flights on Tuesday.
“What we’re aiming for is at least 1,000 a day so that we can get really through the large number of British nationals we need to get out, the large number of Afghans who’ve worked with us we need to get out,” he said.
Very proud of the team here at the airport. Colleagues from across government doing everything they can to get people to safety. pic.twitter.com/sLNrTIfgfO — Laurie Bristow (@laurie_bristow) August 18, 2021
The collapse of the Afghan government and subsequent Taliban takeover has sparked a scramble from the likes of Britain and the US to evacuate their nationals, as well as Afghans who have aided the mission.
The ambassador has been working from the airport in the Afghan capital Kabul alongside Home Office staff, diplomatic workers and the armed services.
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Sir Laurie has been hailed as a hero for staying behind to help.
Asked about his decision to remain in Afghanistan, he said: “We had to take decisions about who stayed in very very difficult circumstances at speed as the situation unravelled.
“It’s my choice to stay here. All of my staff here are volunteers and I pay tribute to them for that.
“We’re working very very closely with our military colleagues and others across government to get through the workload to get the people that we need to get out of here to safety.”
Sir Laurie posted a series of images of the team working to get people out of Afghanistan, saying he was “very proud” of them, as well as a video message providing an update on their efforts.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Why are people fleeing Afghanistan?
On the question of how much time the team had to complete its operation, the ambassador said “it really depends on other things outside our control, the security situation, the approach of the Taliban”.
He continued: “We’re working on the basis of days not weeks. So we really do have to get those numbers through.
“We’ll put everything we can on this for the next few days, trying to get out everyone who we need to get to safety as soon as we can.”
Sir Laurie said it was “interesting” that the Taliban was not impeding the UK’s operation to evacuate people from Afghanistan.
“My assessment is that they see it as in their interests to help it to happen in an orderly and clear way,” he said.
“Obviously it’s in our interests for them to see it that way. So we’re working with them where we need to, at a tactical, practical level.”
A Foreign Office spokesperson on Sunday said the UK had “reduced” its diplomatic presence in Afghanistan, “but our ambassador remains in Kabul and UK government staff continue to work to provide assistance to British nationals and to our Afghan staff”.
They added: “We are doing all we can to enable remaining British nationals, who want to leave Afghanistan, to do so.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman on Wednesday said he did not want to “set a time limit” on when the evacuation of British nationals would be finished.
But he said there was an aim to extract 1,000 people a day from the country.
“That’s the number we’re aiming to operate on a daily basis but again I’d caution against putting a hard figure on it given the situation on the ground,” the spokesman told a regular Westminster briefing for journalists.
He added that although the situation on the ground was “currently stable”, that could change.