By Morgan Adderley 

Tribune Staff Reporter

madderley@tribunemedia.net 

LAST weekend’s “Labour on the Blocks” job fair in Grand Bahama resulted in some people being “hired on the spot,” Labour Minister Dion Foulkes said in the Senate yesterday. 

Mr Foulkes acknowledged that while there have been some “kinks,” the series of job fairs is “definitely working”. 

He said: “We have had… approximately 2,500 persons who have registered in our database as a result of the job fairs…so far.

“Out of those in Nassau, we have recorded so far, and I just spoke to two of the major hotels today in Nassau, we have recorded so far 800 persons who have received jobs.” 

Mr Foulkes continued: “I got a report today out of Grand Bahama and we’re still counting in Grand Bahama.

“Certain persons got hired on the spot and there are a group of persons who are working now as a result of what happened on Saturday in Grand Bahama who are being interviewed by one of the local TV stations.” 

Approximately 1,500 persons attended Saturday’s job fair and some 1,300 were registered, Director of Labour Robert Farquharson told Tribune Business on Tuesday.

However, some in the Progressive Liberal Party as well as Pineridge MP Frederick McAlpine criticised Saturday’s event. Men and women stood in long lines under the hot sun, some with umbrellas, for about six hours.

The long queues were a painful indication of how bleak the employment situation in Grand Bahama is, Mr McAlpine said.

PLP Leader Philip “Brave” Davis complained the job fair was held at a poor location, and questioned if it was a public relations exercise as opposed to offering tangible employment opportunities.

Mr Davis called the entire endeavour “demeaning and degrading”.

Of these critiques, Mr Foulkes said: “Every time there is (a job fair) we learn our lessons. The first one we had at Sarah Ingraham Park we had about 500 persons that showed up over a four-hour period.

“One of the gentlemen who got a job on the spot at Sarah Ingraham Park was a young man. He saw us setting up the tents and he lived right next to the park.

“He came out and he asked us (about the event). And we told him. He went inside, changed, came out in his Sunday best and he got a job that day.”

Mr Foulkes continued: “So this is definitely working. We are trying to take the kinks out of the systems that we are using. The two events we had in Nassau, the days were cool. I think they were in January…around 72 degrees. So we thought that Freeport would be the same.

“But I think Freeport last week Saturday was close to 85, 86 degrees, which is very hot. But as Senator (Jasmin) Darius said, the people did come out. And they came out early, from 5.30 in the morning they stand up and line up at Columbus Park. 

“. . . The great thing about this is that all of these persons that come out to these events are in our database forever.

“They are registered. So, whatever opportunities come up, we are able to send them on job interviews. Whether they get a job now or not it doesn’t matter. We have them recorded.

“In addition to the companies, we had all the training institutions there.

“We have also been approached by two Caribbean countries from CARICOM who want to get our model from ‘Labour on the Blocks.’ I think it’s a wonderful initiative. The directors of labour from these two countries have approached us to do the same thing.”