Thursday, January 16, 2020
By Khrisna Russell
krussell@tribunemedia.net
GOVERNMENT officials must take care not to promote xenophobic positions that suggest foreign is bad for the country when compared with Bahamian labour, Gowon Bowe told The Tribune yesterday.
The former Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers’ Confederation chairman branded Labour Director John Pinder’s recent comments as “blunt”, saying the remarks did not fully represent the true picture of labour in the country and were void of attention to wider issues like a skills gap that has called for the assistance of expatriate workers. He said there must also be more attention given to “productivity, investment and expansion” of businesses.
On Tuesday, Mr Pinder said it was his department’s intention to revoke work permits of employers if it is found Bahamian apprentices were not appointed and properly trained by employers.
The move, he told this newspaper, would give the department teeth and earn it more respect in the eyes of employers who have not ensured apprentices are trained for certain jobs currently held by foreign workers, which is a condition of their work permits.
Speaking to the issue, Mr Bowe said the country must abide by its immigration policies and requirements while ensuring its intentions aren’t “impractical” or counter productive.
He also noted that if a business is investing in the country without requiring extraordinary concessions, it should be given the liberty of appointing its executives absent of blanket policies that dictate a Bahamian successor as necessary.
“The first thing we do need is to support the enforcement of the existing laws,” Mr Bowe. “But equally we need to be conscious of the fact that we cannot enforce a law that is impractical or abusive.
“The question that would first arise is whether or not businesses were forced to commit to apprenticeships even though there were not appropriate apprentices because that would actually be counterproductive to productivity and development in the country.
“So when we look at certain skill sets there are certain job classes where the skill sets do not reside in the Bahamas and definitely a business should not be prohibited from bringing in that skill set particularly if they are investing in our country.
“Outside of that if there is a requirement for a Bahamian apprentice or a Bahamian successor it really needs to be very clear in terms of what the expectation is because it cannot be any person that is identified on the street being put into that position and an expectation that they will be trained.
“This goes back to a wider issue which is our skills gap in the country meaning that we need to ensure that we are training our young Bahamians and older Bahamians who are actually capable of being trained to fill positions that we believe expatriate labour has predominantly filled in the past.”
According to Mr Bowe, Mr Pinder’s comments did not do the issue justice.
“I think it’s only telling half of the story to say that some have not complied with it because there may be an absence of the appropriate labour in order to fill it and what we have to be careful of is creating xenophobia that says foreign is bad and Bahamian is good.
“What we should be saying is skill set, productivity, investment and expansion of business is good for the economy.
“I think that his statement may come across as a bit blunt and only a part of the story,” Mr Bowe added.
Major investments should give investors the ability to choose how the labour detail will look, he maintained.
“When you talk about apprenticeship, you are talking about senior executives in a company and when you talk about senior executives in the company, that is not to say that expatriates there have the necessary skill sets. To be honest that is when immigration and labour has the responsibility to say ‘well you are just hiring a person not a skilled labourer’ and that should be corralled and stamped out, but equally if I am an international investor that says I want certain position filled by trusted allies then there should not be a prohibition on that and there shouldn’t be a blanket policy that there must be a Bahamian successor.”
As it stands, Mr Pinder’s intention to revoke permits due to non-compliance on the apprenticeship rule has not been agreed upon and is dependent on further consultation with immigration officials.
Comments
themessenger says...
Instead of boring us with more Union drivel while living off the fat of said unions and the taxpayers, why doesn't Mr. Pinder show us his pilot model by forming his own company and staffing it from the local talent pool?
Would be interesting to see if he was still in business a year later.
Posted 16 January 2020, 9:05 a.m. Suggest removal
sealice says...
this a bunch of BS i don't care how muchbusiness invest in training if you give us a bunch of "D" average dumbarsses that you have coddled in the Bahmians horrible public school system all their lives you can't say it's now on the privately owned business and hold them accountable - you couldn't do better then a "D" don't drag us down to your level of dumassery
Posted 16 January 2020, 10:53 a.m. Suggest removal
Well_mudda_take_sic says...
Mr. Bowe is spot on in his insightful remarks here.
I would only add that Inflexible and irrelevant dinosaurs like D. Foulkes and J. Pinder need to be laid to rest rather than protected by PM Minnis.
Posted 16 January 2020, 11:32 a.m. Suggest removal
Economist says...
Spot on.
Posted 16 January 2020, 2:39 p.m. Suggest removal
padeco says...
John Pinder is just another Village Idiot
Posted 16 January 2020, 4:57 p.m. Suggest removal
SP says...
Ironically, Gowon Bowe conveniently forgot to address the brain drain scenario which is the "real gross wider issue" as to why we have such a skills gap in the first place!
The brain drain especially affects black Bahamians regardless that they are well educated and trained locally and abroad. These Bahamians NEVER get the opportunities and nowhere near the remuneration employers so willingly offer to ex-pats!
It is common knowledge that Bahamians educated abroad refuse to return here because they know without question that ex-pats are overwhelmingly favored for the best high-end positions regardless if they are less qualified.
These same black Bahamians are sort after and snapped up many times even before graduating from universities by foreign corporations all over the world, and are well known abroad as serious, productive, leading employees.
A frank conversation must be started on the existing apartheid mentality successive governments allowed employers to get away with under this false guise that there are no qualified Bahamians!
We have to face this reality and deal with it!
Posted 16 January 2020, 5:30 p.m. Suggest removal
Well_mudda_take_sic says...
These same black Bahamians are sort after and snapped up many times even before graduating from universities by foreign corporations all over the world, and are well known abroad as serious, productive, leading employees.
Posted 16 January 2020, 5:58 p.m. Suggest removal
Well_mudda_take_sic says...
> "These same black Bahamians are sort {sic - sought} after and snapped up many times even before graduating from universities by foreign corporations all over the world, and are well known abroad as serious, productive, leading employees."
@SP: These words of yours would seem to suggest you believe racism is alive and well, but only in the Bahamas. I therefore can only conclude you must believe today's younger Bahamians are just as easily manipulated and divided as their parents and grandparents were by the playing of that tired 'ole worn out racism card, which is still being used time and time again by corrupt FNM and PLP dinosaur politicians alike. Well, you're wrong and you only have to look at the number of mixed marriages there are today in our country within a much younger and colour blind electorate.
Posted 16 January 2020, 6:23 p.m. Suggest removal
Chucky says...
Wow, you live in fantasy land don’t you !
Do give us one , yes just one example of one of our “snapped up” Bahamians that are leading in some industry somewhere abroad.
Never heard such laughable dribble in all my life.
Posted 16 January 2020, 7:31 p.m. Suggest removal
bogart says...
Pinder just seems another part of a Political party Sydicate system organized somewhat like the closed organized system.
The world has changed with the flow of professionals all around the world working for International Businesses. Many Bahamians flow, gets transferred, stationed, attend monthly meetings in other countries as part of the overall success of the jnternational businesses.
Mr. Pinder should know many Bahamians are abroad in finance, engineering, medecine, operating satellites, aerospace, power plants etcetc. and vice versa foreign professionals in finance industry come here.
Banking workers commonly are moved from country to country to have better skills for overall success of all in all company's business.
Mr. Pinder ought to know that the world has changed.
Posted 16 January 2020, 5:50 p.m. Suggest removal
Chucky says...
Please cite some examples.......
Posted 16 January 2020, 8:06 p.m. Suggest removal
bogart says...
Dr. Sands can pull out the Medical School graduates and give the list of some 600 nurses shortages at PMH, all medical positions. List can also include Pharmacists, Doctors who went abroad never retirned even met them with their clinic in US.
Posted 16 January 2020, 8:58 p.m. Suggest removal
Chucky says...
That’s just people who went to school abroad and chose not to come back.
Doesn’t mean anything.
One thing for sure, the ones that do come back certainly don’t seem to be any shining stars.
Posted 17 January 2020, 9:08 p.m. Suggest removal
SP says...
Lol....All of you in denial about the brain drain problem are the ones involved in this apartheid!
What you people are suggesting is that black Bahamians are not good enough and are too stupid to learn anything, so you have to bring in ex-pats. However, the same ex-pats you bring in and treat so well are then trained by Bahamians.
Huge numbers of Bahamians, have "lost" loved ones abroad that refused to return because of entrenched employment apartheid practices here. You ingrates have no idea what it feels like for parents to proudly make all sorts of sacrifices investing in educating children abroad only to have them refuse to return after graduating because of your apartheid practices.
Posted 16 January 2020, 9:18 p.m. Suggest removal
Economist says...
I am aware of Bahamians, both white and black, who have been recruted before they left university. One in the US and one in Canada.
But one thing that most of the Bahamians who work abroad are prepared to do and that is move around. This done because it gives them the experience of dealing with different problems, different cultures and better equips them for their job. Companies, in turn promote such people.
Bahamians in the Bahamas feel that they do not have to move to a different country to to climb the ranks.
Could you imagine the noise in the market if the government hired a foreigner to run the Central Bank? There was no out cry in the UK when the government there hired a Canadian to head the Bank of England.
We need to look at how business operates around the world.
Posted 16 January 2020, 9:27 p.m. Suggest removal
SP says...
A frank conversation must be started on the existing apartheid mentality successive governments allowed employers to get away with under this false guise that there are no qualified Bahamians!
We have to face this reality and deal with it!
What say you Chucky boy?
Posted 17 January 2020, 8:22 a.m. Suggest removal
hrysippus says...
Any one who takes John Pinder's words at face value has only himself to blame if he or she finds that they have been led into a non existent wonderland. Has the man ever actually held down a regular productive job in the private sector or has his whole life been supported by union dues or a government paycheck? Watch out real world.
Posted 16 January 2020, 10:19 p.m. Suggest removal
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