The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Union leaders yesterday gave their full backing to the "Bahamian understudy" proposal unveiled by the government's labour chief, arguing that too many work permits are being issued unnecessarily.

Obie Ferguson, the Trade Unions Congress (TUC) president, told Tribune Business that the scheme outlined pre-Christmas by John Pinder, director of labour, would not be too costly for employers to implement - as many in the private sector fear.

He spoke out after Mr Pinder said labour certificates, which confirm there are no qualified Bahamians willing or able to take a particular job, will only be issued to companies that provide evidence they have identified a Bahamian "understudy" who will be trained to replace the expatriate worker once their work permit has expired.

The director of labour suggested this will be a "mandatory" policy from January 2020 onwards, with companies given until the 2020 first quarter end to develop their training programmes. He added that the Department of Labour would conduct interviews and inspections to ensure these requirements were being met, and also threatened that, while only a policy, it would be upgraded into statute law if there was too much resistance from Bahamian employers.

"Basically that was a policy that was in effect when AD Hanna, the former deputy prime minister, was in charge of immigration," Mr Ferguson said. "That's going way back in the PLP (Progressive Liberal Party) era. So I see no reason why we should have moved it; it makes sense. It makes sense that a Bahamian always understudies someone who has a particular skill, or a speciality, that a Bahamian can easily adapt to."

Dismissing suggestions it would be too expensive for employers to hire an "understudy" as well as the expatriate, Mr Ferguson said: "It wouldn't be costly because normally it would be employees within their employ; they would have already been employed.

"Let's say, for example, you have a food and beverage director in one of the large hotels. If a Bahamian is a convention manager, or an assistant food and beverage manager, with the proper coaching and counselling and a hands-on situation, within a very short period of time the Bahamian can acquire the practical skills necessary to function in that particular job."

As for arguments there are insufficient willing and able Bahamians to act as understudies, Mr Ferguson said: "That don't make no sense. Because today you have Bahamians who have all sorts of degrees in accounting, in engineering, in hotel management, in banking; the main industries that drive this economy.

"We have Bahamians by the thousands, so I don't think that would be an issue. I think what is more of an issue is to find some persons who can adapt to the image or the philosophy of the particular company, but in terms of academic skills I think that sort of an argument is moot."

Recalling past efforts to implement an "understudy" policy, Mr Ferguson argued: "I would not say it failed, but it is just that those persons who were responsible for policing it did not continue to operate it. I can recall, as president of the Bahamas Hotel Managerial Association (BHMA), we were notified by the late Clement T Maynard, former deputy prime minister and minister of tourism, of all vacancies that occurred at the exchange department. Those vacancies were sent to us and we were invited to submit to Immigration, or the Department of Labour, Bahamians who were qualified for those positions.

"For some reason the Department of Labour discontinued it, and we got no further information from them, so I am glad they have decided to reintroduce it again. In other words we were a part of the exercise; the unions were a part of it, my union, the BHMA, we dealt with managerial and supervisory workers in the hotel industry.

"We were notified every month, and we were not only able to deal with people who were involved in the hotel industry but people who were involved in other industries like banking and so on. So it's a good thing, but you have to have the unions involved because we are the representatives of those workers.

"We would know of availability and when they occur. We would know of dismissals, we would know of a number of persons who have been made redundant but have the skills, so it is a matter of adapting. So I wouldn't want to say it failed, but what I can say is that the architects and those who were responsible for administering the policy, they seemed to have gotten a little lax."

Theresa Mortimer, president of the Bahamas Financial Services Union (BFSU), said she "totally agrees" with the intent behind Mr Pinder's proposal. She said: "I think too many work permits go out there for foreigners and there is no Bahamian understudying. Most of the time, Bahamians can get these jobs.

"I find that, especially in the financial sector, a lot of people get let go just for them to bring their [foreign] peers in, and when their peers come in they have to pay for housing, they have to pay for a car, they pay for everything for their counterparts that come from these foreign places, while in Nassau our people suffer.

"So I totally agree with it. I feel like this was something that should have been said a long time ago. Even in the commercial banks, where you have persons coming even though they come from Barbados or Trinidad, the point is they are coming here but why can't someone here do the work, and what are they doing that someone here cannot do?"

Responding to concerns that an "understudy" programme would raise employer costs, Ms Mortimer said: "I don't think so, because my thing is when you bring a foreigner here you have to pay for a work permit, but when you get someone here from home you aren't paying for a work permit, so that's a saving within itself. I don't see bringing a foreign here driving up the cost - it's driving up the cost for the foreigner, but not for the locals at home.

"We have too many of our young people coming back with degrees. Just earlier this year a young lady said to me: 'How am I ever going to get the experience if no one gives me a chance?' She has the degree and she is saying to me I don't have the experience. I keep telling people you can't have the experience and the degree; you have to suffer one for the other.

"But the point is if they have the degree, why not give them a chance. Let's say give them a six-month training. Let's see how this can work out. But you find some people can work without the paper, and you find some people who have the paper and can't work."

Ms Mortimer added: "I think our problem is we need to learn to meet our people on a scale. We look like we are willing to take a chance on a foreigner but not a Bahamian on the scale.

"I said this to the immigration man (former minister for immigration, Brent Symonette) the other day. I feel before you even give out a work permit for a foreigner to come in and take up the work, we need to look at our people; we need to give our own people a chance.

"I don't think Bahamians get a chance at showing their skills or showing what they can do because they are told too often they don't have the experience."