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Trying to get a local employed 'extremely difficult'– Ag Labour Commissioner bemoans
She said during the virtual stakeholder’s consultation to address labour concerns held yesterday, February 10, 2022, that there were a number of issues plaguing the department regarding localising the workforce.
She said when an employer places a job advertisement, it is suited for persons that they have already identified to hire, “specific to the details of the person’s resume.”
She continued: “Sometimes the description may have certain attributes that the person who is to be hired needs to have and when it comes here the application that is submitted with it, those skills and so forth are missing for the person they have submitted the application for.”
Challenges to employment for locals
McLean said when the department would protest it would become a problem.
McClean also pointed out that this problem also exempts locals from applying because they would feel they were not suitably qualified for the job being advertised.
“So it is a lot of things in terms of when you try to get a BV Islander/Belonger to fill a position, it is extremely difficult. You could try your utmost to try to get a BV Islander/ Belonger employed, you go through all the schematics they say are required, the person may have all the attributes, all the skills that they say are required and when the person go it’s a problem. Or they may decide they want to hire this BV Islander / Belonger but they still want the person on a work permit, but we have a pool of other applicants.
“It is extremely difficult. The Labour Department still has a mandate of finding employment for BV Islanders/ Belongers and I agree with the Minister we will not have all the employees to fill all of the positions available but at least they need to be given a chance,” she pleaded.
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42 Responses to “Trying to get a local employed 'extremely difficult'– Ag Labour Commissioner bemoans”
If you dont like the treatment or the job is different from the job description you can go back home to Tola VG or JVD. Perhaps they need to implement a system where for every work permit issued there is a system find and to train one applicable local, over time there will be less excuses available as to why they cant choose from the local pool. Certain employers make up fraudulent skill requirements to get their workforce imported, at the end of the day they turn out to be shovel technicians.
The BVI has done itself a horrific disservice with the massive importationoof what they knew to be defective and destructive .
Don't complain, start to train!
most of the charter companies taylor make their adverts for someone they want, all this takes time to research for the labour department and what need to happen is that potetial employers need to justify without any question of doubt to the labour office why indeed they need these " specialist skills". or make it mandatory if a permit is issued then an apprentice
but heres the problem. there has always been a concern, certainly i the expat owned companies..that once a bvi islander is hired, it is almost impossible to terminate their employment if they fail to do the job properly. there has always been an air of entitlement for placement in jobs and because of this, there is a lack of discipline within the workforce because if a supervisor is non bvi, the BV islander sometimes is disrespectful to the chain of command..( here me out please) this is a two way street. foreign supervisors fail to understand the proper man managemnt skills which may work overseas, but just dont work here. dont get me wrong, in the 38 years of owning businesses here i have hires some really really good, hard working bvislanders ( and im not being patronizing) i genuinely mean that, however, i.ve had some battles over the years also,
what we need to do is come up with a proper apprenticeship scheme in place...for every 2 permits thwre needs to be a shadow apprentice earning a wage, and learning the trade.. what ever that ratio is, there has to be an obligation o the companies to train bv slanders i to these positions, but if they dont pull their weight the they get rotated out of the program. we also need to make sure that work permit holders, once they leave their job, that they dont automatically get a new permit. maybe annual renewals need to be looked at also.
the trouble is that employers unfortunately feel more protected by having a work permit employee..because if they step out of line, then the permit isnt renewed and problem goes away. Locally owned companies are some of the biggest offeders of this ( hate to say it), and we all know about the social security issues of deductions being made but not paid in.
i dont mean to offend anyone by what ive said, but it needs to be said, it needs to be talked about, and it needs to be addressed.
if you feel you wish to tear me aopart on the blig for saying all of this, please direct your energy to finding a solution.
labour office has one of the hardest department to run, having to balance local versus expat employment while at the same time supporting businesses to survive and thrive. hats off to them.
respectfully submitted
The people are given appointments and go there for hours waiting and are not even given one of ‘ We’ll be right with you or How can I help you.
Come on man!! Is this BVI love?
I am a BV Islander and I am ashamed when I hear these reports.
A work permit from last July? Come on!!!
labour office needs to engage with the owners of the company more,
PATS ARE TO BE BLAMED AND INSULTED SHOWED OFF ON ? IS IT THEIR FAULT FOR TRYING TO MAKE AN ( HONEST ) LIVING ?
I gave this example to point out that we are second class citizens in our own Country. A lot of our young, energetic, bright young people go on to college, graduate and return home and are forced to return to another man's country because over six months and someone with their Bachelors and Masters Degrees cannot find work. We know already there isn't a BVIslander available who can throw a few ingredients in a machine to make icecream.
The Head of Government hiring actually showed us only persons who were born, raised, educated and worked in the U.S. for a number of years are suited to hold the top positions in their HR Department. It wreaks of dehumanizing BS. Sure there are BVIslanders who are lazy and do not want to work. Nobody asked you to hire those, but not one can be found, nor two, nor three? Unfortunately, if you let a man wake up every morning and sit on his behind watch movies, play games and ride about on bikes, after a while you won't want to work either. That is a free life. They manage to eat and clothe themselves on their parent's dime without a 9:00 to 5:00. But every country has this or should I say every country in the Caribbean has this. There are, however, lots of locals who wants to work, who are interested in changing jobs and would experience more upward mobility if not for the widespread use of persons on work permit. That is what is different in other Caribbean countries. Good, bad or indifferent, I have a right to first preference in my country. Because you have a good worker and she has a sister or brother in her home country, you do not have a right to a work permit unless a local cannot be found. It happens for entry level as well as high-level positions and it is wrong. Why? Where is the reciprocity? Even nurses, I can speak about at least five nurses who got the requisite experience and came home and no one at the hospital was interested in hiring them in their country and they simply had to pack their bags and leave.
I pray for my country and I want the best for it. But their will eventually be an exodus of expats, both our Caribbean brothers and sisters and those from further afield because of this dysfunction in Government and the high cost of living. And some of these businesses should be left without workers for months and let the decision makers have to do the work so they can see the benefit of hiring at home. Some are saving costs by paying less and, of course, you will work harder if in another man's land.
Yikes.
SOME OF THEIR WORK ETHICS IS DESPICABLE.
Culinary program and it's a shit show at this moment. That's Hospitality.
Constrution... which one of my people gone to get trained in masonry, plumbing, electrical board certified? Very few for the amount of work it has throughout the BVI.
Government is not doing anything training wise or are they allowing private entities to do so. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Not enough is being done to train Belongers for positions.
Not enough patience towards Belongers in the hiring and maintenance of employment.
Too low wages for positions well requiring higher salaries.
Not enough training facilities to encourage great hospitable skills.
Terrible attitudes of employers toward Belongers, especially if last name and provenance amasses to vast real estate, monies, and access to social and political power.
I am convinced that there is a workable solution but it will take all of us, employers, employees, Belongers and others, to recognize this.
Can we change the attitudes of expat employers towards Belongers?
This is the 64 million dollar question that has to be answered for the betterment of the country!
The Virgin Islands government need not put all its eggs in one basket in similar fashion, however. Are there a minority of Virgin Islanders and belongers with a poor work ethic who would be more liability than asset to any business operator? Yes. But does that mean that all Virgin Islanders should be tarnished with the same brush? Absolutely not. Quite a few of us have been applying and applying, only to hear that we are 'overqualified' when advertisement placers deign to respond. It is frustrating all around.
I would suggest that given the current infrastructure and institutions on island and the fact that not everyone CAN or SHOULD remain in such a small territory, the Government of the Virgin Islands would do well indeed to investigate the possibility of facilitating locals emigration to other locations where we can hone our skills, earn a living and send REMITTANCES back to the Virgin Islands as a percentage of our earnings over the first few years, in recompense for this facilitation. There is nothing to be gained from having Virgin Islanders sit idle and Virgin Islanders of the past were more than capable of making it abroad in St. Thomas, the Dominican Republic, New York and elsewhere. Just because we are local does not mean that we have the capital needed to start and run our own businesses, nor is entrepreneurship for everyone.
I implore the Ag. Labour Commissioner to set aside a small task force to investigate the possibility of helping Virgin Islanders go abroad in this age of globalisation and to make ourselves and our country proud while easing the unemployment burden. There are countless Virgin Islanders abroad, and the surplus here is not to anyone's benefit. In this way, regardless of the conditions of the local economy, the remittances stream from abroad can help just as it does in countries like the Philippines and Nigeria (among countless others) that do EXACTLY this instead of putting all their eggs in one basket.