NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Bahamian Contractors Association President said yesterday that younger Bahamians in the construction industry need to demonstrate greater consistency and commitment to their craft, citing this as one of the primary reasons foreign laborers have infiltrated the sector.
“We are having a hard time finding consistent Bahamian skilled labor,” said Leonard Sands, speaking on the sidelines of a BCA monthly meeting yesterday.
“There are some persons who have been employed for 20 years and are the backbone of this industry and they are dying out. Their replacements, our young brothers and sisters show up two to three days a week and don’t show up for the rest of the week.
“Meanwhile, our Caribbean brothers and sisters show up every day. That is the common complaint of most contractors. We would like to hire our brothers and sisters. The younger ones, 19-25 need to be more consistent in construction. We need them to be more consistent in construction. That’s why foreign labor is taking over the marketplace.”
Sands said he was ‘encouraged’ by comments from Labour and Immigration Minister Keith Bell at yesterday’s luncheon in which he indicated the officials would be ensuring greater enforcement of the country’s immigration policies in various sectors across the country.
“We recognize that the law is there but enforcement is always lacking. We as an association intend to work closer with Labour and Immigration to educate contractors on the issues. We feel as though many of them simply don’t know and where there is no knowledge there is abuse.”
Sands said that if the Labour and Immigration Departments continue to crack down on the Bahamian construction industry and enforce the country’s work permit policies, the number of laborers in the sector will dwindle. However he noted that this would create a greater opportunity to train Bahamians.
“There is going to be some pain but the pain is necessary. We have to train Bahamians to do the job for Bahamians in The Bahamas. We have not been doing a good job of that and we need to do better,” said Sands.
Speaking with reporters following his presentation at the BCA luncheon Minister Bell said the idea and objective is to meet with all of the key stakeholders in all of the industries, not just construction.
“Construction is one of the industries where a significant majority of persons classified as farm laborers and handymen somehow make their way into the construction industry,” Bell noted.
Bell said that government is looking at some amendments to the law to address such loopholes, noting that officials are cracking down on employers and not just their employees.
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