Caribbean state eyes RP as labor source but trade union objects
The prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, an archipelagic state in the south Caribbean, may find himself in trouble with the local labor union over his preference to hire Filipino workers.
After touring the soon to open Hyatt Hotel, the first five-star hotel in Trinidad and Tobago, Prime Minister Patrick Manning said on Thursday that his government was looking at the Philippines to help solve his country’s labor shortage problem.
Manning said he would be meeting his Cabinet to discuss the government’s approach to providing adequate labor in the country.
Reports said nurses from the Philippines and Cuba are already employed in Trinidad and Tobago’s health facilities.
Workers from India, China and Caricom (Caribbean community) have already been able to find work in Trinidad and Tobago, primarily in the construction industry.
But leaders of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions and Non-governmental Organizations (Fitun) quickly opposed the idea of recruiting workers from the Philippines.
Fitun president president David Abdulah said his group does not think that importing labor from the Philippines is the way to go. The labor organization frowns at hiring workers from non-Caribbean sources.
“We are all for the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) and we have no problem with people from the Caribbean coming into the country to work," Abdulah said in an interview with the Trinidad and Tobago Express.
According to him, the government should first encourage Trinidad and Tobago nationals living abroad to return and contribute to its economic development before setting its eyes on recruiting workers from outside the region.
"We also have persons here always looking for jobs and there are persons here that need to be employed. We do not think that the government needs to be expending large sums of money to acquire labor from extra Caribbean territories," Abdulah said.
Manning said the operation of the 428-room hotel starting January 14 and the surrounding buildings in the waterfront project site on Wrightson Road, Port of Spain was indicative of the progress the country is making.
With an unemployment rate of 5.2 percent, Manning said, ‘you can feel the labor shortages," as he asked Hyatt hotel managers if they were having difficulty hiring workers in the hospitality sector.
"They indicated that it was a challenge but they were getting it done. What it means is that we are running short of labour in Trinidad and Tobago. And in fact I have now come from a meeting in the Ministry of Finance (on that issue) and when the Cabinet meets tomorrow, we are going to discuss an approach to deal with the whole question of providing an adequate amount of labor," Manning said.
"We are going to have to review our immigration laws. We are going to liberalize free movement of skills in the region ahead of other (Caricom) countries that are in circumstances very dissimilar from ours. We are going to have to identify the sources from which we are going to have to get some of the technical skills required to sustain the rate of development on which we have embarked. As it now stands, we are going to go to the Philippines," he further said.
But Abdullah said recruiting foreign laborers "distorts the labor market as these workers are paid less than the market rate in Trinidad and Tobago."
Vincent Cabrera, president of the Bankers, Insurance and General Workers Union (BIGWU), for his part, said Trinidad and Tobago would have to regulate the recruitment of foreign workers in line with the standards of the International Labor Organization.
"We have to look at this in the context of the International Labor Organisation (ILO) convention on migration. This convention is a standard and it states that there ought to be tripartite body consisting of labor, employers and the government and this body would monitor the question of migration of labor," Cabrera explained.
He said the ILO convention on the migration of labor has been adopted by the United Nations and is governed by eight guidelines with regard to human rights.
"Migrant workers have certain standards to work under which they cannot fall. Standards they work under in this country are lower and this has a pull down effect on the labor market," he noted. - GMANews.TV
After touring the soon to open Hyatt Hotel, the first five-star hotel in Trinidad and Tobago, Prime Minister Patrick Manning said on Thursday that his government was looking at the Philippines to help solve his country’s labor shortage problem.
Manning said he would be meeting his Cabinet to discuss the government’s approach to providing adequate labor in the country.
Reports said nurses from the Philippines and Cuba are already employed in Trinidad and Tobago’s health facilities.
Workers from India, China and Caricom (Caribbean community) have already been able to find work in Trinidad and Tobago, primarily in the construction industry.
But leaders of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions and Non-governmental Organizations (Fitun) quickly opposed the idea of recruiting workers from the Philippines.
Fitun president president David Abdulah said his group does not think that importing labor from the Philippines is the way to go. The labor organization frowns at hiring workers from non-Caribbean sources.
“We are all for the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) and we have no problem with people from the Caribbean coming into the country to work," Abdulah said in an interview with the Trinidad and Tobago Express.
According to him, the government should first encourage Trinidad and Tobago nationals living abroad to return and contribute to its economic development before setting its eyes on recruiting workers from outside the region.
"We also have persons here always looking for jobs and there are persons here that need to be employed. We do not think that the government needs to be expending large sums of money to acquire labor from extra Caribbean territories," Abdulah said.
Manning said the operation of the 428-room hotel starting January 14 and the surrounding buildings in the waterfront project site on Wrightson Road, Port of Spain was indicative of the progress the country is making.
With an unemployment rate of 5.2 percent, Manning said, ‘you can feel the labor shortages," as he asked Hyatt hotel managers if they were having difficulty hiring workers in the hospitality sector.
"They indicated that it was a challenge but they were getting it done. What it means is that we are running short of labour in Trinidad and Tobago. And in fact I have now come from a meeting in the Ministry of Finance (on that issue) and when the Cabinet meets tomorrow, we are going to discuss an approach to deal with the whole question of providing an adequate amount of labor," Manning said.
"We are going to have to review our immigration laws. We are going to liberalize free movement of skills in the region ahead of other (Caricom) countries that are in circumstances very dissimilar from ours. We are going to have to identify the sources from which we are going to have to get some of the technical skills required to sustain the rate of development on which we have embarked. As it now stands, we are going to go to the Philippines," he further said.
But Abdullah said recruiting foreign laborers "distorts the labor market as these workers are paid less than the market rate in Trinidad and Tobago."
Vincent Cabrera, president of the Bankers, Insurance and General Workers Union (BIGWU), for his part, said Trinidad and Tobago would have to regulate the recruitment of foreign workers in line with the standards of the International Labor Organization.
"We have to look at this in the context of the International Labor Organisation (ILO) convention on migration. This convention is a standard and it states that there ought to be tripartite body consisting of labor, employers and the government and this body would monitor the question of migration of labor," Cabrera explained.
He said the ILO convention on the migration of labor has been adopted by the United Nations and is governed by eight guidelines with regard to human rights.
"Migrant workers have certain standards to work under which they cannot fall. Standards they work under in this country are lower and this has a pull down effect on the labor market," he noted. - GMANews.TV
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