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VIslanders not wanting to work is a myth- Hon. Christian
The topic at the time was centred on labour issues with specific emphasis on employment, which one of the guests on the programme Deputy Premier and Minister for Natural Resources and Labour, Dr. Kedrick Pickering described as one of the biggest challenges facing the Territory and which Government seeks to address in the immediate and foreseeable future.
According to Dr. Pickering, he has discovered that there are a lot of young people who want to work but don’t necessarily know the process to go about seeking jobs in the particular area that they themselves might want to work.
“So when we look to develop the aspects of labour that is so critical for the development of the country within the Department of Labour, one of the things that we are going to pay special attention to is the employment side of labour because labour has two big sides-there is one that deals with issues surrounding disputes- you have a job and there is a problem related to the job- but there is the other side of the coin where people are looking jobs. That happens to fall under the responsibility of the Department of Labour but we want to redefine it in a way so that area of the Department has a specific remit so that people who are looking jobs will know how to go about inquiring if there are jobs available in a particular field.”
The Deputy Premier also noted that the Minister for Education, Hon. Myron Walwyn, has been doing a registration drive of all unemployed young people in the Territory and that in the not so distant future he will pass that information over to the Department of Labour, along with specific recommendations on how “we could best go forward”.
Another guest on the programme, District 8 Representative Hon. Marlon Penn, opined that training was critical to ensuring the Territory’s young people have the requisite skills to perform the job in the private sector.
Meanwhile, a series of public meetings on labour issues will begin on Thursday January 19, 2012 from 7:30 p.m. at the East End/Long Look Community Centre.
According to Dr. Pickering, there are deep seated issues within the wider Virgin Islands community, which he hopes would be brought to the forefront by persons in attendance.
“With respect to labour, which I think has some of the greatest immediate challenges facing us as a people, we have decided that it is extremely important to have a public dialogue on labour issues. Labour is critical for the overall development of the country, both from the employer and employee standpoint and how best to build a better working environment is critical to development of the country. There are issues on both sides and it would be good to hear from different sides of the spectrum in a non-confrontational environment.”
Hon. Christian added that the public meetings are a good indication that “we are serious about ensuring that our people are employed and that we keep the unemployment numbers down”.
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