By YOURI KEMP
Tribune Business Reporter
ykemp@tribunemedia.net
The Bahamian Contractors Association's (BCA) chief yesterday said the latest Mexican construction workers arriving at Abaco's Baker’s Bay project will not increase its foreign labour component.
Michael Pratt, the BCA's president, told Tribune Business he had been made to understand that the latest arrivals - who were flown in via a Bahamasair charter on Saturday - are working on a "six-month rotation" where they replace rather than increase the number of Mexicans already working on the upscale development's post-Hurricane Dorian reconstruction.
He said: “My understanding is that the ones they are bringing in are on a six-month rotation. There are no new work permits; they are just rotating them. It may be new faces, but they are only hiring them on a six-month basis.”
Baker's Bay Golf & Ocean Club declined to comment yesterday, but said it will issue a statement within the next few days after this newspaper was informed that it flew Mexican construction workers to Abaco at the weekend.
Tommy Turnquest, Bahamasair's chairman, confirmed the charter was executed, as he said: "That's another good bit of change we got." He added that the national flag carrier had taken a group of Mexican construction workers at Baker's Bay home before Christmas, with the latest journey marking its third round-trip and the second group it has brought to The Bahamas.
"I hope we get that business to get them back. I think they've guaranteed us the business to take them back," Mr Turnquest said of Baker's Bay's developer, Discovery Land Company.
Baker's Bay's decision to contract more than 100 Mexican construction workers to kickstart its post-Dorian rebuild aroused controversy in some quarters when the first "rotation" arrived last summer, given that thousands of Bahamians had been terminated or furloughed due to COVID-19 and were in desperate need of work.
Dr Livingston Marshall, Baker’s Bay’s senior vice-president for environmental and community affairs, at the time defended the move as critical to enabling the high-end development to rapidly bounce back from Dorian's devastation. He explained that the Mexicans had helped other hurricane-hit Discovery Land Company properties to rebound speedily.
However, Leonard Sands, the BCA's immediate past president, said at the time that “it vexes my soul” to see so many foreign workers imported when thousands of Bahamians were unemployed due to the combination of Hurricane Dorian and COVID-19.
Pointing out that neither Baker’s Bay nor the Government had ever justified the need for so many work permits, Mr Sands argued that 90 percent of the wages received by the Mexicans will immediately be remitted home and never circulate in the Bahamian economy.
Tribune Business understands that Baker’s Bay had originally applied for as many as 500 work permits, but the Minnis Cabinet - via the National Economic Council - approved only 300, and directed the Ministry of Labour and Immigration Department to complete the process of issuing them.
Given that Baker's Bay acts as the so-called "anchor project" for north Abaco, businesses and residents in the area argued it was vital to the island's overall economic health and revival that the development get back on track as quickly as possible and overcome any challenges posed by Bahamian labour and skills shortages.
Mr Pratt yesterday said he did not know how many Mexican workers are presently at Baker’s Bay, but said he has been informed that qualified Bahamians who are available and willing to work will be given jobs on the reconstruction.
He added: “I am alarmed at any time we have to bring in foreigners for work that Bahamians can do. That's a national alarm. But, at the same time, it's a unique situation that I can't really honestly speak to until I see their contract that they have with the homeowners.
"There are a lot of situations in construction now where people are moving away from the general contractors and they are still performing their jobs. I suspect that there may be one or two of our members also working out of Baker’s Bay involved with contracts, but to what extent I can’t really say."
Mr Pratt added that Dorian's devastation of the island's housing stock also made it difficult for Bahamian contractors from other islands to find suitable accommodation on Abaco.
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