THE LABOUR SITAUTION IN GRAND BAHAMA AND THE COUNTRY

The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Immigration Fred Mitchell will visit Grand Bahama next week for a series of meetings with stakeholders on the labour situation in that island.  In comes in the face of complaints from Bahamians in Grand Bahama that they are being planned out of the economic benefits of the city.  Nowhere is this complaint more voluble that in the Grand Bahama Shipyard.  The Bahamians complain that scores of foreign workers are doing jobs that Bahamians can do.  The company replies that they are unable to find Bahamians with the skills to fill the jobs they need done in a timely fashion and at the speed with which they are demanded.  Into the mix comes the Immigration Department.  Fred Mitchell indicated that there is a review that the government is doing with regard to labour and this includes the mass employers in Grand Bahama and the management hiring practices of the hotel sector across the country.  In the hotel sector, Mr. Mitchell indicated that there appears to be a glass ceiling where Bahamians can only get so high in the sector but not into management positions in the nation’s number one industry.  He says that the Department of Immigration will work with the Department of Labour to get to the bottom of the issue and in the best interests of the Bahamian people.