The Tribune

IMMIGRATION Minister Fred Mitchell has urged the private sector to stop complaining over work permits and instead to help the government tackle skills and training deficiencies within the Bahamian workforce.

The private sector has reason to complain because, according to the Mitchell plan, many businesses will be derailed within the next year when they face vacancies that Bahamians – up to the standard that they require – are not available to fill.

Before we continue this article, we want to establish two things. First, we believe that the Bahamas has produced Bahamians who do have the right work ethic, coupled with a tremendous desire to succeed and the skills required for the posts that they desire to fill. However, and this is what this government has to recognise, the Bahamas has not produced enough Bahamians of this calibre to fill positions now being held by foreigners as businesses continue to increase and multiply. This category includes maids, housekeepers and labourers.

Secondly, we believe that qualified Bahamians — and for us the operative word is “qualified” — should have the first opportunity to whatever this country offers and for which they have all the required qualifications. This should be an incentive for those who are not qualified to try to catch up. Employers should be encouraged to search out young Bahamians with the right attitudes and ambitions and help them reach their goals.

The PLP’s Charter for Governance promised to create 10,000 jobs during the party’s 2012-2017 term in office.

This is a promise that can destroy the country if it is not made clear to these 10,000 potential job applicants that jobs are not automatically theirs because of their Bahamian nationality. The job should — and can only be theirs — if they have the qualifications, skills and intention to work hard.

We engage a Bahamian plumber, electrician, a Fox Hill car repairs husband and wife team, a small gardening company — wherever possible we help hardworking, reliable Bahamians who are trying to establish their own businesses in their own country. Talking to one of them this week — a Bahamian who has only succeeded because he knows that to succeed he has to be the best — he despaired over the Mitchell policy. His experience with his own fellow Bahamians is that they have no pride in their work, they don’t arrive for work on time, and when payday comes on Friday, they might not show up on Monday. “Most of them are a complete disaster!” he remarked.

When the gardeners, provided weekly by a small Bahamian company, arrive, we hear only Creole spoken. If and when by the end of next year these Haitians cannot be employed, another hardworking Bahamian, is out of business. Is this the intent of the Mitchell policy? Instead of the unemployment rate decreasing, it will be increasing.

As for Mr Mitchell’s declaration that he will stop issuing work permits for foreign maids, housekeepers and labourers by the end of next year, we agree with Mr Hubert Chipman (FNM-St Anne’s), the Shadow Minister of Immigration, that Mr Mitchell’s approach is too radical.

“The devil will be in the details and we will observe closely the Department of Immigration’s strategies and tactics to ensure that this government does not unduly and unreasonably disrupt the way of life of ordinary Bahamians or the conduct of commerce by attempting to resolve in one year a set of problems that have evolved over a generation or more,” said Mr Chipman.

We have heard loud complaints from Bahamians who depend on foreign housekeepers who are willing to live in to take care of small children or ailing relatives. It is well known that it is almost impossible to hire a Bahamian live-in housekeeper. However, there are foreigners of a very high calibre who are prepared to do so. As for Bahamian labourers, over the years they have made it very clear that such work is not for them – it’s “Haitian work!” Many have commented that they would rather sit on walls than stoop so low. What is Mr Mitchell’s solution for this attitude?

This problem has evolved over more than a generation. It goes back to the time of Governor Sir Charles Dundas (1936-1940) when he and his wife — with the full support of The Tribune – tried and eventually established the Dundas Civic Centre.

“As soon as Mr Dundas took office,” wrote the late Sir Etienne Dupuch, publisher of The Tribune, who as an MP served on several of the Dundas boards, “he made it clear that he did not think the tourist business would serve its highest purpose until the food served on the table of the hotels was produced by Bahamian hands from the soil of their own lands… Mrs Dundas declared that unless – and until – jobs in the hotels were filled by our girls and boys, the tourist business would not be reaching down to the most needy segment of our population, and she turned to The Tribune for support.”

She got The Tribune’s full support, and The Tribune shared the anger that the Dundases attracted to themselves from the many Bahamians who did not agree with their radical ideas.

“Immediately,” wrote Sir Etienne, “ the political bosses hated them because both these activities would free the working people from their control. And many of the coloured leaders hated them because they wanted their people to be something better than farmers and servants, all in one big step.”

Most of the complaints that we have heard so far come from Bahamians — working class Bahamians, who believe that their way of life is being threatened by Mr Mitchell. We hope Mr Mitchell has more than a superficial understanding of this problem — if not, more Bahamians than he now has to worry about will soon join his list of unemployed.