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.