The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

THE reported reclassification of foreign labourers at The Pointe has been condemned as “disingenuous” by Bahamas Contractors Association President Leonard Sands.

Mr Sands, a one-time candidate for the governing Free National Movement, yesterday said he had no intentions of “picking a fight” over the issue, but implored his former political contemporaries “to do right by the people” and ensure more Bahamians are employed at the site.

“If you are saying workers at The Pointe are now laying blocks and doing finish work, there is no way you can say Bahamians aren’t skilled in those fields,” he said.

“You are being disingenuous when you say that these persons are doing work Bahamians are known to do, all while hiding behind the argument that (foreign labourers) were being brought in to do tasks our people can’t.”

Mr Sands’ comments came yesterday in response to Immigration Minister Brent Symonette’s indication that foreign labourers at the project were reclassified as semi-skilled and skilled labourers in recent weeks.

Those comments by Mr Symonette were made, in part, to clarify comments made by Attorney General Carl Bethel in the Senate on Monday.

During the sitting, Mr Bethel said he observed foreigners doing jobs they were not needed for.

Mr Bethel told the Senate: “When the minister of labour first raised this issue of employment at The Pointe hotel, the answer that was given back is the kind of work being done was not the kind of work Bahamians were either skilled at or wished to do. That was my best understanding of it and that when they got to the stage of laying blocks and all the finishing work that was necessary, this is when more Bahamians would be taken on.”

Mr Bethel, who insisted he saw the labourers first-hand, added: “… I see that (foreign labourers) laying blocks there and I don’t see no Bahamians working there so that is unacceptable.”

He continued: “I immediately called my colleague and he promised to get cracking on it and I trust that good sense is going to prevail because there is no way on God’s good earth that we need to have any foreigners lay blocks in the Bahamas. If it’s one thing Bahamians can do, it’s lay blocks and it is time for that foolishness to stop. There is no way you can have a job in the Bahamas and Bahamians can’t work on it.”

In response on Tuesday, Mr Symonette explained: “I noticed this morning that I think the attorney general had made comments on the question on seeing people laying blocks.

“With regard to The Pointe, there have been applications processed in the initial phase. They were for labourers.

“The Ministry of Labour met with China State Construction and we sorted that issue out and the labourers have been reclassified in the appropriate work class section and paying the increased fees that relate to semi-skilled or skilled labourers.”

The heads of agreement between China Construction America, a subsidiary of China State Construction, and the government states 70 percent of the workers are supposed to be Bahamian and 30 percent should be foreign.

The Department of Labour found in May a disproportionate number of foreign workers to Bahamian workers at the downtown project.

At the time, there were 73 foreign workers and 24 Bahamians working on the site.

Despite this, Labour Minister Dion Foulkes said the developers were not in breach of the agreement.

Meanwhile, addressing the entire scope of the development yesterday Mr Sands stressed more communication with local contractors is needed.

“If there was communication with any minister and it was disclosed that the project had moved to the point that we are now hearing about, Bahamian workers should have been made aware of it.

“(The minister of labour) should have advised us that they were at a stage where they could engage Bahamians workers, I would have thought the minister would have reached out to us. He has my number.

“The BCA would have been more than happy to get things rolling in a direction where Bahamian contractors could get on that site and where Bahamian labourers could have been out there,” he added.

In both January and February, this newspaper observed workers on the site. Dozens of Chinese builders walked to the site every day from a building, which lodges the workers opposite the development, and no Bahamians were anywhere to be seen.