By BRANVILLE McCARTNEY
Democratic National Alliance leader
THE Minister of Foreign Affairs and Immigration stated on March 11, 2013 that it is the PLP’s plan to cease issuing work permits for maids, housekeepers and labourers within a year. The good Minister alluded to the fact that Cabinet will work in conjunction with the Department of Labour and the National Training Programme so that this “cease order” would be put into effect.
The procedure, as it now stands, to obtain a work permit for maids, housekeepers or labourers is for the applicant to fill out an application form from the Immigration Department, advertise in the newspapers for that particular post and obtain a Notice of Vacancy from the Department of Labour.
If the Notice of Vacancy is granted by the Department of Labour that means that there were no Bahamians interested in that particular job or willing to do that particular job.
The application and the Notice of Vacancy are put before the Immigration Board for a determination. It should be noted that the application is not put before the Immigration Board if the Notice of Vacancy is not approved by the Department of Labour.
Therefore, the Notice of Vacancy is a precondition to the application being heard by the Immigration Board.
The significance of the Notice of Vacancy is very telling. If, according to the Minister, there were in 2012, 1,801 work permits granted for caregivers, live in maids and housekeepers and in the category of labourers, gardeners and handymen, 2,340 work permits were granted in that same year, there must have been Notices of Vacancies attached to the applications or the original applications as some of these applications may have been renewals.
The fact of the matter is that Bahamians are unwilling to be live-in housekeepers (Bahamians don’t want to live in other Bahamian’s home) and labourers!
This is a fact recognised by the good minister himself when he intimated that conventional wisdom is that Bahamians do not want to do these kinds of jobs.
So my question to this administration is, what do you do when you cease issuing these permits and there are no Bahamians or very few Bahamians willing to do these jobs?
The repercussions can be far-reaching. The effects would not only be felt in the individual’s homes but throughout the business community.
Maids and live-in housekeepers play a significant role in affording parents the opportunity to go to work and contribute to our economy.
The reality is that such a policy would go as far as retarding the recovery of the economy in this economic recession. Many international investors would look at this policy and be very reluctant to invest in the Bahamas as a result.
It is a known fact that when investors come to the Bahamas, there is more often than not a labour component that is necessary.
In this regard, for the government to blatantly stop issuing permits for labourers can be most detrimental. In some circumstances, there may be certain qualifications in relation to labour that Bahamians may not be qualified to do – as we have seen with Atlantis and Baha Mar.
The position taken by the PLP administration in this matter is quite extreme, lacks foresight and ought to be reconsidered in the best interest of the Bahamas.
Persons who have valid work permits in the Bahamas contribute economically to this country whereas those persons who are here illegally place a tremendous burden on the economy.
Instead of making statements that are detrimental to our economical development, the PLP administration ought to therefore concentrate on dealing with the illegal immigration problem that this country faces.
Comments
Required 11 years, 1 month ago
Many of the live-in jobs that Bahamians refuse to do, and foreigners are hired for, are akin to modern day slavery, and in fact meet the criteria laid out by the official UN definition of this condition. Bahamians are right not to enter into dependencies like that, and government would do well to cease issuing permits for such arrangements.
JohnDoe 11 years, 1 month ago
Please educate me on the UN definition of modern day slavery?
TalRussell 11 years, 1 month ago
Comrade "Bran" I will tell you exactly what will happen if Minister Fred actually carries through and turns down work permits for the major hotels. They will be forced for the first time by any of Bahamaland's UBP, FNM or PLP administrations to actually invest in training Bahamians to fill their positions and not to continue to simply pay lip-service about how they really do want to hire Bahamians. It was used as an guise to obtain work permits from way back in the days of the Montagu Beach Hotel, Nassau Beach Hotel, Sheraton British Colonial Hotel, and all rest them major Hotel operators.
They say that; "Necessity is the mother of invention?" That when people really have no "Plan B" they are left with no other choice than do act to do something to keep your hotels functional. How much more time do they need to get their business heads to figure out a way to do it. That there are NO MORE work permits. Period?
Sorry, you have had since 1967 to be warned to get serious about training Bahamians to replace your foreign workers. Wasn't that more enough of a notice, starting with Pindling back in 1967 .... and still you claim to need more time to train Bahamians?
While we're talking work permits. I strong encourage PM Christie to recommend that the Queen honour Loftus Roker, the best damn no-nonsense immigration minister that Bahamaland has ever seen, with one Liz's Royal Knighthood's?
Sir Loftus sure has a nice accomplishment ring to it?
Puzzled 11 years, 1 month ago
Have you personally ever tried to train someone who is unwilling to learn or who thinks that they already know everything that you have to tell them, I can assure you you would rather employ outsiders!
TalRussell 11 years, 1 month ago
by TalRussell
http://thetribune.media.clients.ellin...">Sir Loftus? by TalRussell
by TalRussell
concernedcitizen 11 years, 1 month ago
no one needs to trip ,this is just PLP mana for the unenlightened public , if Baha mar or Sandals needs permits they will get them ,,so will anyone connected ,didn,t Frank Hanna get all the hatians he needed straight for all those years ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,t this sounds good to the disenfranchised and undereducated....ya know Fred dem ga mess with mother superior
ohdrap4 11 years, 1 month ago
Even if they do cancel all these permits, remember, the ministry of education is being systematically guyanazed. Jamaicans and other carebbean nationals have mostly stopped coming. they don't get work permits, they work cheap and are not pensionable. education could be a source of work for educated bahamians.
john33xyz 11 years, 1 month ago
I agree with ohdrap4. It is extremely difficult for a Bahamian to become a teacher in the Bahamas. COB only offers courses that can be taken by some who is either working as a teacher temp (in the ministry) or is unemployed. The courses are only offered during regular working hours. Well, I guess a croupier in the casino working the night shift could do it.
In addition, they will not list or even reveal to anyone what the names of the various courses are - what courses are needed - and what course is offered at what time. You only know they are 9am-5pm type times and you gotta take "so many" of them to become certified.
And yes, Jamaicans (and many others) do not actually get permits. NOBODY ever enters the Bahamas through a port of entry with an actual work permit in their hand. The MOST they ever have with them is an original or faxed copy of a letter stating that their work permit has been approved - but the actual work permit itself remains in an unknown location. A few times these are mailed to the sponsoring company AFTER the employee has actually finished their employ and left the country.
People come here to work on the HOPE that they will not be deported because "somebody" said that their work permit has been approved. They just hope it is true and do what they have to do.
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