By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Senior Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

LABOUR Director Robert Farquharson says his department has denied labour certificates in all restaurant manager applications and in the vast majority of applications for construction site supervisors and project managers since September, preventing the applicants from getting work permits.

Mr Farquharson has pledged to clamp down on granting work permits, insisting qualified Bahamians should get the jobs.

He told reporters yesterday: “The application for a work permit must be accompanied by a labour certificate. Section 86 of the Industrial Relations Act gives me the authority to deny a labour certificate if there is a qualified and available Bahamian and so we have through the provisions been extremely vigilant in ensuring that whenever an application for a labour certificate is issued, we do not issue if there is a qualified Bahamian.”

 “We have denied a significant amount of applications or deferred them pending consideration for employees. A prime example, we have a couple of hotels that have submitted applications for labour certificates for restaurant managers. We have denied all because we believe there are too many qualified, available, trained, unemployed Bahamians who can manage a restaurant. We have taken the steps to say to that employer ‘this is denied.’ We utilise our database and we identify in some instances 15-20 unemployed Bahamians and we send them the resumes. We say you must consider these applications before any consideration is given and that process is ongoing.

 “Another example is persons in the construction sector. Many applicants come from project managers and site supervisors. We have too many qualified contractors in our country who have the ability to perform these tasks so we have denied those applications and said to those employers ‘no, here are qualified, available contractors to perform these duties.’ It is that route we’re taking. In addition to that, we have worked with the director of immigration and said to the Immigration Department ‘we have qualified technical people,’ particularly when companies like BTC and BPL apply for foreigners to perform duties that qualified Bahamians are able to do. So they are also denied those applications and asked to consider.”

 Mr Farquharson said since September when he returned to lead the department, 80 percent of construction site supervisor and project manager applications have been denied.

 Despite the position of his department, he said the number of applications submitted has not declined, with many Bahamians unaware of job possibilities.

 “Surprisingly, some employers have said to us that we put out an ad and no Bahamian applies and so that meant to us that maybe the Bahamians were unaware, that they did not see the newspaper articles, so they were very pleased when we would’ve provided the resumes of qualified Bahamians because it’s a cost to employers as well when they have to pay work permits for $10,000 or $12,000 per year,” he said.

 “If they could find a qualified Bahamian to fill that post then that’s a cost they wouldn’t have to incur so we are working with Bahamian employers to utilise the services of the Department of Labour to ensure that they have every opportunity to hire Bahamians. “Additionally, we also want to encourage those Bahamians who are professionally qualified, whether you are employed or not employed, but if you see yourself looking to move from one job to another, to register with our database, go to our online portal, jobsseekers@bahamas.gov.bs and upload your resumes and register and therefore you may have an opportunity to have us send your resume to a prospective employer for you to be considered for a new position.”