By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The 500 work permits granted to The Pointe’s Chinese developer were yesterday branded “a slap in the face” of unemployed construction workers, and a sign Bahamians “are second class citizens in the own country”.

Opposition politicians queued up to blast the Christie administration for negotiating an agreement with China Construction America (CCA) that “disadvantages” Bahamians, given that locals will form just 40 per cent of the project’s construction workforce.

Branville McCartney, the Democratic National Alliance’s (DNA) leader, criticised the Government for failing to “stand its ground” against Chinese demands.

He argued that the 500 work permits, and 60/40 workforce split in favour of foreign (mostly Chinese) labour), was especially galling given that the agreement for The Pointe would have been negotiated in the run-up to Baha Mar’s demise.

CCA was also the general contractor for that project, and Mr McCartney said evidence revealed to-date suggested that the company had at least been partially responsible for a saga in which more than 2,000 Bahamians lost their jobs.

And K P Turnquest, the Free National Movement’s (FNM) deputy leader, branded the CCA deal as “egregious” given the Bahamas’ near 15 per cent unemployment rate and weak domestic construction market.

Suggesting that many Chinese workers appeared to be performing jobs that Bahamians were qualified to do, Mr Turnquest said: “This is unacceptable, and every unemployed Bahamian ought to see it as a slap in the face.”

In disclosing several details of CCA’s agreement with the Government, Leslie Pindling, its director of external affairs, said the developer/contractor had gone beyond what was required of it.

He said the current workforce split was 49/47 between Chinese and Bahamians, respectively (no mention of the other 4 per cent), and promised that the local labour component would increase once The Pointe neared the closing stages.

Mr Pindling also suggested that the eight-foot fence around the construction site obscured many of the Bahamians who were working on the project.

However, with a general election campaign imminent, Mr Pindling’s work permit and labour force split admissions have been eagerly seized on by politicians seeking to attack the Christie administration.

“When you have an unemployment rate in the vicinity of 30 per cent for those persons aged between 16 and 35, and you see developers are coming to the country and getting 500 work permits in a sector where Bahamians can do the work, it is very questionable as to whether or not the PLP really believes in Bahamians,” Mr McCartney said, seeking to use the Government’s campaign slogan against them.

Describing Mr Pindling’s comments about an increase in the Bahamian workforce component as “speculative”, the DNA leader told Tribune Business: “In terms of the 500 work permits, it shows again that Bahamians are second rate citizens in their own country.

“Our Government has not been strong enough or had the wherewithal to say these are job opportunities for the Bahamian people, and to stand its ground.

“Our Bahamian people are out there suffering because they can’t find any jobs, and we’re so weak as a government that they will succumb to any type of request to the detriment of the Bahamian people.”

Mr McCartney said investors acquiring, and developing “prime property”, such as CCA with the land adjacent to the British Colonial Hilton, needed to maximise their use of the Bahamian workforce.

Alluding to the Ministry of Works’ Building Control Unit issuing a temporary ‘stop work’ order to CCA, after it went further than permitted by its then-approvals, Mr McCartney said the Chinese state-owned contractor had negotiated its “sweet deal” at the time Baha Mar was heading into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

“The Government was negotiating with the same construction while Baha Mar was going through its demise, and saying it was a mediator,” the DNA leader added.

“It granted 500 work permits, when I can guarantee you that most of those jobs can be done by Bahamians.”

Mr McCartney repeatedly questioned whether the Government knew Baha Mar was headed for meltdown when it was negotiating The Pointe project, “and coming to an agreement that the Bahamians will be disadvantaged compared to the Chinese on employment at that project”.

The number of work permits issued for The Pointe is several times’ higher than those granted for other Bahamas-based developments of comparable dollar value.

It will be interesting to see how the likes of Atlantis react, given that it has used a significantly lower proportion of foreign labour, yet has a ‘Most Favoured Nation’ clause in its agreements with the Government that stipulate it must be treated no less favourably than any other investor in the Bahamas.

Mr McCartney acknowledged that The Pointe project fitted the ‘modus operandi’ employed by China in all its overseas investors - requiring companies to accept the export of hundreds of Chinese workers, and the use of its construction materials, in such developments. This was also true of Baha Mar.

Mr Turnquest, meanwhile, accused the Christie administration of “hypocrisy” over the labour agreements for The Pointe, given that it had complained vociferously over the 8,000 work permits agreed by its FNM predecessor for the much larger Baha Mar project.

“It is certainly hypocrisy for them to, three-four years later, come back and do exactly the same thing,” he argued, branding the Government’s actions as “egregious”.

“In a period of growing unemployment in the country, and here in Nassau, they have taken the position that they will entertain foreign labour,” Mr Turnquest said.

“If you pass by that project, you will see any number of foreign individuals - or who appear to be foreign - doing common labourer work. That is unacceptable, and every unemployed Bahamians ought to see it as a slap in the face.

“The Baha Mar situation should have been illustrative of what kind of deal not to make going forward. We all understand the times Baha Mar was negotiated in. However, be that as it may, it is inconceivable in this day, at least with the unemployment we have, that anyone would go out and negotiate a deal that disadvantages the Bahamian workforce.”

Mr Turnquest said the agreement struck over The Pointe suggested the Government was “desperate” for the development to take place.

“The only ones able to get a job in the Bahamas appear to be the Chinese,” he added. “We appear to be facilitating the expansion of the Chinese economy and its workforce at the expense of Bahamians.”